Sukkot, That Wonderful Holiday Observed Completely in Israel More Than USA Except By Synagogues

 Nadene Goldfoot                                                      

    In Israel we used different rugs for hanging sides on the Sukkah.  

Sukkot translated means "Tabernacles" ( a fixed or movable habitation, typically of light construction.): This is a Torah Commanded Holiday.  Moses said to celebrate and remember how we lived in these booths during the Exodus for 40 years.  Religious Jews remember the best, reading about it in (Lev. 23: 42).   It's one of the 3 pilgrim-festivals beginning in the Hebrew month of Tishri and lasts for 7 days.  This year it takes place on the 17th of October, so we start the celebration traditionally at sundown the night before on the 16th.  Actually, as soon as Yom Kippur was finished, people started looking for wood to make their sukkahs.  It is remembered as a festival of harvest from (Exod. 23-16; IIChron. 7-8).                                         

                                                              

    It is celebrated by taking the 4 Species, which are PALM, CITRON, MYRTLE, AND WILLOW, and carrying them in procession in the synagogue, and of course, actually dwelling -or at least eating all meals in the Sukkah for that period.  During Temple times they added the celebrating of a water  libation festival during that last 7th day of Hashana Rabbah.  It also recalls the booth-like structures in the fields in which the peasants lived  in during the harvest in Israel.  

Sukkot is known as “the Time of our Happiness.”  This year we are remembering the hostages taken that have never been returned, and so it's a very sad time.  

 The problem is, I didn't see it as another holiday like Chanukah, celebrated in full by appreciating the history of our ancestors or any other way except doing some special decoration in a type of booth.                   

    Cities gave out prizes for the best Sukkah.  Here's a fancy one.  It's larger than most.  

 I moved to Israel and really got into it with our own Sukkot; decorating it and serving desserts in it to our friends who dropped over.  Why, we even were on holiday from work!  Schools were closed for this holiday!                                 

      In the synagogue the reading with the 4 species takes place

We move from the introspective and solemn mindset of the High Holidays to unbridled joy, which may seem a bit strange since on Sukkot, we are asked to leave the material comfort of our homes, and build a structure that is imperfect, temporary and open to the elements. But the sukkah’s reminder that our existence is fragile helps us to treasure the joyous moments of life, and its outdoor location helps us focus on the beauty of the world in which we live. 

Indeed, the Sukkah has no roof - but instead is covered with schach, greenery or bamboo, so that we can see the stars when we look up at night. And, the sukkah is a gathering place, a place where it is traditional to welcome guests and enjoy spending time together. You might also see some Jews walking in the street during Sukkot carrying an interesting collection of plants. These are the Arba’at Haminim, or the Four Species. We are commanded to take these four plants and use them to “rejoice before God.” 

And from Israel AM: The holiday of Sukkot (Tabernacles) begins tonight and runs through next weekend.  Added 10/16/24 at 1:01PM

During Sukkot Jews live (eat and sleep) in a hut-like structure called a Sukkah.

The Talmud states two reasons for the mitzvah of living in the Sukkah for seven days.

The first is to commemorate that our ancestors dwelled in Sukkahs in the wilderness. The second is to remember the “clouds of glory” that surrounded and protected the Jews in the desert. The Talmud seems to lean towards the second explanation. If this is the case, then why do we use a hut to represent the clouds? Wouldn’t it make more sense for us to live out in the open air, under the clouds? Wouldn’t that give us more of a feeling of complete dependence on the protection given us by God?

Although, in truth, living out “under the clouds” does starkly represent total dependence on God, real life isn’t as clear cut. We all try to build structures to provide us with security and protection. We live in these structures and feel safe and in control. We view these structures as permanent and without them we could not function. The reality, however, is that our structures are really just flimsy huts that create for us the illusion of permanence and security. They fall apart when we least expect them too.

The Sukkah that we live in for seven days reminds us that our own structures of security – our houses, careers, social status – are just temporary. They last for a week, a month, a year, several years, but are then taken down. The Sukkah reminds us that our real security and protection comes not from the walls that we build but from the graces of God.

May we all be blessed with the wisdom to differentiate between the security that is true and comes only from God and the false security of the hut that just looks real, but is only an illusion. And may we blessed with peace in Israel and the entire world. 

[Taken from my book Deep Waters.]  comment from Israel AM

Resource:

The New Standard Jewish Encyclopedia

https://www.ajc.org/news/what-is-sukkot-and-why-is-it-celebrated

The Seven Joyous Days of Sukkot

Nadene Goldfoot                                                              

Our Jewish history goes back so far that we have accumulated a lot of historic facts.  Moses, from the Levite tribe,  lived from 1391 to 1271 BCE.  It could also have taken place as far back as 1445 BCE.  Egyptian history indicates a period during the reign of Pharaoh Merneptah (1225-15 BCE).  Some think Rameses I or II was the Pharoah of the story which is the city where Jews left Egypt from.  Thutmoses III is a good possible of the pharoah in question, putting the Exodus in 1440 BCE.  To remember and celebrate a period  that happened at least  c. 3,404 years ago is just part of how we remember this important event.  Now we're about to embark upon another  happy holiday that starts tomorrow night (Wednesday the 18th) and lasts for 7 days.  It's a camping out under the stars holiday commemorating the Israelites during their 40 years of wandering in the desert with Moses when they left Egypt as slaves.  The Israelites were the 12 tribes of Jacob, son of Isaac who was the son of Abraham.  Jacob had 12 sons by his 2 wives and 2 concubines and one lovely daughter, Dinah.  The 70 people were held captive as slaves from the time they had entered Egypt to the time they left with Moses, an event called the Exodus.  Of course, by the time they left, all the slaves who were following Moses numbered about 600,000.  Their trek is quite a story.  Moses actually took a census of each tribe.

They built little booth-like structures that they slept in. In essence,  we role play this period of time by actually reenacting the experience.  The best part is that work is prohibited on the first day in Israel, but the first 2 days in the diaspora because we want to be sure we are doing it on the day the people of Israel are also doing it.

Families try to eat all 3 meals and snacks in their succah.  We have a special recipe for building our succah (booth) like a rectangle missing a side  that resembles a dining room in a way but with 3 sides which is found in the Mishnah and Talmud treatise "Sukkah".  The roof is of special importance  and must be made of leafy boughs or sometimes straw with the shaded area bigger than the unshaded.  This means that we have holes in our roof so we can see the stars.  Walls can be made of anything, usually blankets, and only 2 really need to be completed.  The booth is to be decorated with curtains, fruits, and symbols of the holiday like pumpkins, such things from a harvest.                                  

Sukkot is one of 3 pilgrim-festivals beginning on the Hebrew calendar on Tishri 15 with the 8th day of Shemini Atzeret being a separate holiday which in Israel is combined with another festival of Simhat Torah.  It's also called a festival of harvest.  The tradition is to celebrate it by taking the  4 species; palm (lulav), citron (etrog), myrtle and willow and carrying them in a procession in the synagogue and by living in your Sukkah.  Each of these 4 kinds represent a different type of Jew.  It is a symbol of our oneness as a people.  We all need one another. The 4 kinds are waved in all 4 directions; east, west, north and south and up and down, signifying that G-d is everywhere.  This gives me the shivers, because right now we are experiencing the return of all our Jews from the 4 corners of the earth, something that has been prophesied

We are told that during those 40 years of wandering in the wilderness, the Jewish people were surrounded by protective "clouds of glory."  We remember this awesome event in our history to enhance our awareness of G-d's all-embracing love and protection.  We were commanded "In Sukkahs (booths) you shall dwell, seven days."  (Lev. 23:42).  It's great since this holiday is so much fun and makes us really remember the history.  Mothers will bake different harvest breads like banana, zucchini breads, etc, the more the merrier to entertain friends with.  Also, it's a breather from school that had just started, our last hurrah before buckling down and studying.

The period of living in our sukkah is to help us  become more exhilarated with life.  We had just experienced 7 solemn days between Rosh Hashana and Yom Kippur.  Sukkot will bring us happiness in all the weeks of the year to come.  It is a great time to recall.

Resource: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/10/02/sukkah-jews-eat-sleep-and-give-thanks-in-sukkot-photos_n_1933625.html
The New Standard Jewish Encyclopedia
http://www.bible.ca/archeology/bible-archeology-exodus-date-1440bc.htm
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pharaohs_in_the_Bible
Your Tshrei guide from Chabad, 1996