Sukkot Countdown

Sukkot, the Feast of Tabernacles, is a seven-day Jewish festival of harvest and gratitude, marked by dwelling in a temporary hut called a sukkah.

History

Sukkot is one of the three pilgrimage festivals of the Hebrew Bible, kept since ancient times beginning on 15 Tishrei, five days after Yom Kippur. It carries a double meaning rooted in scripture: it recalls the fragile shelters in which the Israelites are described as living during their journey through the wilderness after the exodus from Egypt, and it celebrates the autumn harvest as a season of thanksgiving. While the Temple stood in Jerusalem, Sukkot drew pilgrims to the city, and rabbinic sources describe a joyful water-drawing ceremony, Simchat Beit HaShoevah, held through the nights of the festival with music, torches and dancing. After the Second Temple was destroyed in 70 CE, the observance moved to the home and the synagogue, and the sukkah itself became the festival's defining feature. For more than two thousand years Jewish communities have built the sukkah — a temporary booth roofed with cut branches, left open enough to see the stars — and gathered in it to eat and, for some, to sleep through the week. The festival also features the 'four species': the palm branch, myrtle, willow and citron (etrog), held and waved together in a gesture of joy and unity. Communities from Central Europe to North Africa and the Middle East developed their own decorations, melodies and recipes, hanging fruit and painted panels from the sukkah roof. Sukkot concludes with the linked celebrations of Shemini Atzeret and Simchat Torah, which mark the completion of the annual cycle of Torah readings.

Meaning

Sukkot balances joy with humility. Leaving the comfort of a solid home to dwell in a fragile hut is a yearly reminder of life's impermanence and of gratitude for shelter, harvest and the simple gifts of the season. It is also called 'the season of our rejoicing', and its mood is warm and hospitable. Meals are shared with guests in the sukkah, and the gathering of the four species expresses a spirit of togetherness and thanksgiving.