Tishri, the seventh month, is considered the holiest month of the Jewish year. The fifteenth of Tishri is Sukkot, the fruit harvest.
The Torah commands all Hebrew males to appear three times a year at the temple with offerings: on Sukkot, the fruit harvest; on Pesach, the barley and lamb harvest; and on Shavuot, the wheat harvest. These three festivals are called the Shalosh Regalim, the Three Pilgrimage Festivals.
In ancient times, by far the most important of the Shalosh Regalim, the three Pilgrimage Festivals, was Sukkot. It was called The Festival par excellence. Some scholars believe that the Hebrews used to gather every year for a special celebration. They link that yearly gathering of the Hebrews with Sukkot.
Sukkot takes place five days after Yom Kippur, on the 15th of Tishri. Sukkot eve always takes place, therefore, when there is a full moon, as do Tu BiShvat and Pesach. As people connected to the lunar cycle, the Hebrews clearly viewed the full moon as an important, propitious time. Our sages compared the Jewish people to the moon. Just as the moon waxes and wanes, so too does our well-being as a people increased and decreased.
The Torah commands us to take "the fruit of a goodly tree," palm branches, leafy boughs, and willow branches, and "rejoice" (Leviticus 23:40). We call these four varieties of vegetation the Arba Minim, the Four Varieties.
Our sages decreed that the "fruit of a goodly tree" was the etrog, a citron (related to the lemon, but larger and more fragrant). The leafy bough was myrtle. By wrapping palm, myrtle, and willow branches together, they created the lulav.
It is interesting to note in Chapter 8 of the Book of Nehemiah that when Ezra the Scribe read the Torah laws about Sukkot to the people, they went and brought "leafy branches of olive trees, pine trees, myrtle, palms, and leafy trees to make booths and they dwelt in booths." Apparently at that time the rabbinic definitions of the Torah terms were not yet set.
The lulav and the etrog are shaken together in all directions on Sukkot: north, south, east, west, up, and down. Our sages maintained that this shaking ritual reminds us that God is everywhere, in all directions. Historically, shaking the lulav and etrog served a more specific function. The primary concern of the Hebrew farmer during this season was the coming of the fall rains. If it didn't rain during the fall season, the average Hebrew farmer would starve. Thus this holiday season was tinged with tension. All of the vegetation used in the lulav require a great deal of water. By waving the lulav and etrog, our ancestors may have been working at an early form of rain creation.
This is certainly hinted at in Taanit 2b . The seventh day of Sukkot, called Hoshanah Rabbah, included additional rituals with the lulav. When the Temple was still in existence, there was a special Willow-ceremony every day of the festival. On the seventh day, palm twigs were beaten on the ground. Traditional Jews continue the tradition of carrying lulavim around the synagogue on Hoshanah Rabbah seven times and beating willow branches on the ground, though this tradition is no longer practiced by most Reform congregations.
The major water ceremony during Sukkot when the Temple still stood was the Water Libation and Water-Drawing Ceremony , a time of great rejoicing. During Sukkot it is traditional to build a booth, a sukkah , and both eat and sleep in it. The Torah tells us that doing this reminds us of our desert wanderings when we lived in booths, sukkot. In all likelihood, the custom of staying in booths is more closely linked to the pragmatic needs of harvesters to remain in the fields during the harvest. Temporary shelters were built for the workers so they didn't waste time returning to their homes.
The sukkah had to be a temporary structure built outside, and it was not permitted to be under a tree. The walls could be of any material, but they could not be fastened with metal. The major building regulations concerned the roof of the sukkah. It had to be covered with organic material which had been separated from its root source. The most ubiquitous substance was corn stalks, called s'chach. There had to be enough s'chach on the roof to provide more shade than sun.
In Europe people would decorate their sukkot (plural for sukkah) with tapestries, rugs, lights, and paintings, and they would live in the sukkah during the entire festival. A magnificent example of such decorations can be found in the Jewish Heritage Museum in NYC. Aryeh Steinberger, a shochet in Budapest, retired in 1924. He spent the next eighteen years creating an incredible canvas liner for his sukkah.
Although it is a mitzvah, a commandment, to eat and sleep in the sukkah, our rabbis emphasized that anyone who tried to be pious by eating or sleeping in the sukkah while it was pouring was a fool and a blasphemer.
Many Israeli apartments are built with special balconies that allow a sukkah to be built on them, open to the sky.
It is praiseworthy to invite guests to join us in the sukkah. Our sages included on their guest list some of our ancestors: Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Joseph, Moses, Aaron, and David. These special Biblical guests are Ushpizin. Many liberal Jewish families are offering new sets of Ushpizin that include as role models a variety of women from our tradition.
It has become a tradition to read Kohelet (Ecclesiastes) on Sukkot. Kohelet isn't really a book with Jewish content; however, because it states that it was written by King Solomon, the sages included it in the Ketuvim, the Writings, division of the TaNaCH. The book focuses on the basic futility of life. Our sages made the book Jewish by noting that the book really says that without Torah, life is futile. Some scholars believe that the reading of Kohelet was connected to Sukkot as a sobering influence on a holiday which the sages feared might get out of control. The grape harvest and anxiety about rain and survival sometimes led to uncontrolled behavior. Our sages hoped that raucous gaiety would be limited by reminders of our own finitude and futility of our actions.
The Torah adds another holiday at the end of Sukkot, an eighth day called Atzeret. Our sages emphasized that this holy day was separate from Sukkot. They likened it to a king's inviting his friends to a feast. At its conclusion he took some special friends aside and invited them to stay over another day so he could enjoy their company. That added day is Atzeret, and there is no known reason reason for it. Traditional Jews living outside of Israel add a ninth day, Simchat Torah, after Atzeret. Liberal Jews and Jews living in Israel celebrate Simchat Torah on the eight day from the beginning of Sukkot. It is the only time during the Jewish calendar that Reform practice and traditional practice result in holidays being celebrated on completely different days.
