Sukkot is a Jewish holiday that lasts seven days and commemorates the harvest and forty years of exile. Jews build temporary housing structures called sukkahs, which they decorate and spend time in. The holiday involves special meals, travel, and the use of “four species” during services.
Sukkot is a seven-day Jewish holiday, which begins on the fifth day after Yom Kippur. It marks the harvest and commemorates the forty years of exile of the Jews after their flight from Egypt. There are several names for the holiday. It may be called the Day of Tabernacles, or the Feast of Tabernacles. It can also be called The Days of Our Joy. Ashkenazi Jews often pronounce the holiday as Sukkos.
The meaning of cabin is related to the definition of sukkot. Essentially a sukkah is a temporary housing structure. These structures are thought to symbolize the temporary huts in which the Israelites lived during their exile.
Jews are commanded to spend as much time as possible in their sukkahs. They can actually live in their sukkah during the holidays, which means eat, sleep and just hang out, or they can just eat there and live in their homes. Jews who do not keep this holiday and its associated commandments, however, like most Reform Jews in the United States, do not build these structures. Reformed children, on the other hand, can build small symbolic structures out of popsicle sticks.
There are specific requirements for building a sukkah. It must have at least two walls – although it usually has four – and it must have some sort of covering (sechach) which once came from the ground. Palm branches are often used for sukkot covering. Also, that cover doesn’t have to totally block the rain. Consequently, people may leave the sukkah if the elements are bad.
It is also customary for Jews to decorate their sukkot. Common decorations include hanging vegetables and children’s artwork.
Jews often travel on Sukkot as a symbolic gesture towards the wandering of their ancestors. Jews often visit families or friends in the evening and eat special meals together. Some use Sukkot as a time to make a pilgrimage to Jerusalem, or simply to take a special family trip.
During Sukkot services in an Orthodox synagogue, the ceremony usually includes the use of “four species”, also called luvav and etrog. These plants are identified in a passage from Leviticus in the Torah and consist of the luvav – one palm branch, two willow branches, three myrtle branches – and an etrog, which is something similar to a lemon. The branches are intertwined together and are held in the right hand, and the etrog – pronounced esrog by Ashkenazis – is held in the left hand.
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