Sukkot
Beginning five days after Yom Kippur, Sukkot is named after
the booths or huts (sukkot in Hebrew) in which Jews are supposed to dwell
during this week-long celebration.
Sukkot is the ancient autumnal harvest festival. Much of the
imagery and ritual of the holiday revolves around rejoicing and thanking God
for the completed harvest. The sukkah represents the hut that farmers
lived in during 40-yers of wondering the dessert.
Many of the most popular rituals of Sukkot are practiced in
the home. As soon after the conclusion of Yom Kippur as possible,
often on the same evening, one is enjoined to begin building the sukkah, or hut, that
is the central symbol of the holiday. The sukkah is a flimsy structure with at least three sides, whose
roof is made out of thatch or branches, which provides some shade and protection
from the sun, but also allows the stars to be seen at night. It is traditional
to decorate the sukkah and to spend as much time in it as possible. In commemoration
of the bounty of the Holy Land, we hold and shake four species of
plants (arba
minim), consisting of palm, myrtle, and willow (lulav ),
together with citron (etrog ).
As with all festivals, services play an important role in the
communal celebration of Sukkot. In addition to special festival
readings, including Psalms
of Praise (Hallel), on Sukkot additional prayers are
included in the service asking God to save us (hoshana, from which we get the English word hosanna). During the
Hoshana prayers, congregants march around the synagogue sanctuary holding the
lulav and etrog. The seventh and last day of the festival is called Hoshanah Rabba, the “Great Hoshana.”
Hol Hamoed (Intermediate Days) Sukkot
During the intermediate days of Sukkot, one is allowed to
pursue normal activity. One is nonetheless supposed to hold and wave the lulav
and etrog on a daily basis, eat one’s meals in the sukkah, and continue
to dwell in the sukkah for the remainder of the holiday.
The enforced simplicity of eating and perhaps also living in
a temporary shelter focuses our minds on the important things in life and
divorces us from the material possessions of the modern world that dominate so
many of our lives. Even so, Sukkot is a joyful holiday and justifiably referred
to as zeman simchateynu, the “season of our joy.”
Based on https://www.myjewishlearning.com/article/sukkot-101/
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