The Festival of Sukkot
From: The Jewish Holiday Home Companion, Behrman House

 In order that future generations may know that I made the Israelites live in sukkot when I brought them out of Egypt.
Leviticus 23:42,43

The Bible calls Sukkot “The Festival.”  Already ancient by the time of King Solomon, it was one of the most important holidays of the year.  In the fall, with the harvest safely stored, the Israelites commenced a week-long celebration of thanksgiving.  Many went on pilgrimage to Jerusalem. There they stayed in makeshift little huts which eventually lent their name, sukkot, to the festival itself.

                Later generations saw a symbolic connection between those huts and the tents of the Israelites in the Sinai wilderness.  For them the holiday became a reminder of our ultimate dependence on God.  Today we build big sturdy houses and buy our food in supermarkets, but once a year, we sit in a fragile little sukkah, open to wind and sky, and remember our own limitations.

                Many commentators linked the sukkot to the huts built by our ancestors at harvest time.  These farmers had to work continuously, lest the produce rot in the fields, so they built little huts close to their fields and worked from first light to darkness.

                Today we sit in the sukkah at our leisure.  In the pleasant evening air, we sing and eat in the sukkah, lingering as long as the weather permits.  Some people even sleep overnight in their sukkah.

AT HOME
                The Rabbis gave detailed instructions to sukkah builders.  A sukkah must have at least three walls.  These can be made of the flimsiest of materials, even cloth as long as it does not tear in strong wind. The roof is covered with leaves or branches, thick enough to give shade but sparse enough to let you see the stars at night.  The structure is decorated with fruits, vegetables, artwork, or anything festive and special. The construction is done before the holiday; some families begin to build a sukkah right after breaking the fast on Yom Kippur.

                A mystical tradition holds that certain of our ancestors come to sit with us in the sukkah. They are called ushpizin - “holy guests.”  When we enter the sukkah, we stand in the doorway and greet them with an ancient welcome:  “I invite to my meal, honored spiritual guests Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Joseph, Moses, Aaron, and David.”  In recent times, some have expanded the list of ushpizin to include important women in the Bible: Sarah, Rachel, Rebecca, Leah, Miriam, Abigail, and Esther.

                The Zohar, a collection of mystical lore, warns that the ushpizin will not join our celebration unless we also invite the poor.  This teaching reminds us of the Jewish tradition of hospitality. Honor the ushpizin by inviting family, friends, and neighbors to your sukkah.

                The holiday opens in the sukkah with the candle blessing, Kiddush, and Ha-Motzi.  The Sheheheyanu blessing is added on the first night of the festival.  Then comes a special blessing for Sukkot followed by a festival meal.  Interestingly, there are no particular foods associated directly with Sukkot.

IN THE SYNAGOGUE
                On Sukkot, the priests of the Second Temple performed an elaborately choreographed ritual.  Our own festival observance preserves some of those ancient ceremonies.

                For example, many Jews come to Sukkot morning services carrying a lulav and etrog, known collectively as the “four species.”  The etrog is lemon-like fruit or citron.  The lulav bundle contains three different types of tree twigs: palm, myrtle, and willow.  Their use as ceremonial objects goes back to biblical times:  “On the first day, you shall take the fruit of a goodly tree (etrog), palm branches, thick boughs of trees (myrtle), and willows and rejoice before God” (Leviticus 23:40).  Some rabbis have likened each of the four species to different types of Jews; while held together they symbolize the unity of the Jewish people.

                During the synagogue service the lulav is shaken in every direction - to the front, to the right, to the back, to the left, up and down - demonstrating our recognition that God is everywhere.

THE EIGHTH DAY OF SUKKOT
                Sukkot closes with the holiday of Shemini Atzeret, an “Assembly of the Eighth Day.”  Originally Shemini Atzeret was a day of meditation and rest.   Like other holidays, Shemini Atzeret took on a second day in the Diaspora.  By the eleventh century, that second day became a separate holiday - the irrepressible Simchat Torah.

 SUKKOT FOR CHILDREN
                The sukkah is a perfect instrument for delighting and instructing children.  Building and decorating a sukkah can be a family project in which children of all ages can participate.  Paper chains, drawings, paintings, and photographs, in addition to fruits and flowers, make colorful, lively additions to the sukkah. Some families save their Rosh Hashanah cards to hang in the sukkah as well.  The length of the holiday also provides many opportunities for children to invite their own guests to join family meals in the sukkah.

SIMCHAT TORAH
From: The Jewish Holiday Home Companion, published by Behrman House
Turn it (the Torah) again and again, for everything is in it. Avot 2:8
               
Simchat Torah translated as “rejoicing in the Torah,” celebrates the annual cycle of Torah reading.  On Simchat Torah we finish the last portion of Deuteronomy and begin, again, with the first chapter of Genesis.  The holiday could have evolved into a dry salute to scholarship, but it is instead a dancing and singing holiday, one that has been compared to a joyous wedding.  It brings the Torah closer to all of us, scholar and nonscholar, adult and child.

IN THE SYNAGOGUE
                Adults are called up to the Torah to chant the blessings, an aliyah. In some synagogues, the last aliyah is given to all the children.  A large tallit, prayer shawl, is held over their heads and everyone in the congregation chants the Torah blessings with them.

                During the service, every Torah scroll is taken out of the Ark, or Aron Hakodesh.  Singing songs, we parade around the synagogue in a series of seven processions called hakkafot - circlings.  By the end of the last hakkafah, everyone who wants to has carried the Torah.  Children wave flags and march along too.  Some scholars have likened these flags to the twelve tribal banners of ancient Israel.

 SIMCHAT TORAH FOR CHILDREN
                With its dancing, flag waving, and wonderful sense of abandon, Simchat Torah is a holiday with particular appeal for children.  They can make their own flags to wave and cap the celebration with jelly apples and other sweets.