Sucot

Sukkot, also spelled Sukkos or Sukot, is a major Jewish festival also known as the Feast of Tabernacles or the Festival of Booths. The name derives from sukkah, a temporary hut in which many of the festival rites are celebrated. The holiday commemorates the Israelites’ dwelling in booths during the Exodus from Egypt and, in the agricultural calendar, the harvest in the Land of Israel.

It begins on the fifteenth day of Tishrei, about five days after Yom Kippur, and lasts seven days in Israel. In the Jewish diaspora, the celebration includes two additional days of observance at the start. The period is followed by Shemini Atzeret, and in many communities Simchat Torah is celebrated on the same day as or the day after Shemini Atzeret, depending on locale.

Central observances include building and dwelling in a sukkah, a temporary outdoor shelter whose roof is made of s'chach (natural branches). Participants eat, and in some cases sleep, in the sukkah. The ritual also includes taking the Four Species (arba minim): etrog (citron), lulav (palm frond), hadassim (myrtle), and aravot (willow), which are waved in prayer on several days, especially on the first day. Communities often decorate the sukkah with fruits and ornaments.

Special prayers, processions called Hoshanot with the lulav and etrog, and festive meals characterize the week. The seventh day, Hoshana Rabbah, is a focal rite with symbolic processions; the holiday culminates with Shemini Atzeret and, in many communities, Simchat Torah, celebrating the completion and restarting of the annual Torah reading cycle.

Historically, Sukkot is one of the Shalosh Regalim, the three pilgrimage festivals. It is both an agricultural harvest festival and a memory of the desert wanderings. In modern practice, Sukkot is widely observed by Jewish communities worldwide with various customs and levels of observance.