Shalom friends!
Did you know that Jews live and sleep in tents, eat, celebrate, invite guests, dance and have fun?
Day of Sukkot ( סוכות) is the name of the Jewish people’s seven-day holiday. The period falls at the beginning of September through October, the so-called Tishrei (month of the beginning of the year according to the Jewish calendar) from 15 to 21 Tishrei.
This year Sukkot falls on September 20. Outside of Israel, where the holiday days double, the first two days of Sukkot have the status of yom tov, followed by five days of Hol a-moed.
On this day the Jews spend 7 days living in special buildings, which symbolize the memory of the Israelites who lived in them after the Exodus from Egypt.
Sukkot is considered one of the most important events in the Jewish religion since the First Temple of Sukkot. For 4 days before this holiday the Jews celebrate one more important holiday, which has the name Yom Kippur — day of the fasting, repentance and remission of sins!
The first Yom Kippur, according to some accounts, took place when the Israelites went down to mount Sinai, where God gave Moses the 10 commandments.
At that time Moses saw that his people were worshipping the golden calf, so he broke the sacred tablets, but because the Israelites had atoned for their idolatry, God gave another set of tablets to Moses and forgave the people their sins!
An interesting fact: The transition of Yom Kippur to Sukkot is found in the book of Tehillim (Psalms of David) Psalm 97:11 — “Light is sown for the righteous, and gladness for the upright in heart.”
Unlike other holidays when Jews sacrifice animals, Sukkot is the bloodiest because on these days they sacrifice about 70 bulls, 98 sheep and 7 deer. Another holiday, one of the bloodiest is called Passover, during which they sacrifice about 14 bulls, 98 sheep and 7 deer. All of the animals are sacrificed to God and then eaten inside the tents (Sukkot) by the priests and worshippers.
In addition, in the Torah the holiday of Sukkot is in the period of the “Harvest” at which time it begins on Tishrei 15 and lasts seven days; the eighth day is a separate holiday of Shmini-Atzeret. The Torah says: “On the eighth day [shmini] you shall have a feast [atzeret] — do not do any work.”!
On the second day of Sukkot, all people (women and children in particular) must attend a public reading of the Torah law in the Temple of Jerusalem.
The most famous symbol of Sukkot is the four branches:
- The Citron (Etrog).
- The closed branch of the palm tree (Lulav).
- The branches of the myrtle (Hadas).
- The branches of the willow tree (Arava).
These branches are shaken during the celebration of Sukkot. There is mention of a palm tree branch in the Bible (Leviticus 23:40) but other branches were never mentioned, so most likely these symbols were added later.
