Sukkot
The third and final harvest holiday was once the greatest festival of the Jewish year. As communities celebrated the fruit harvest and gathered in the last of their produce before the oncoming fall, they would live in the fields for seven days, feasting and partying in rustic lean-to shelters, or sukkot.
For seven days we eat, study, pray and hang out in the Sukkah. Decorated with local wildflowers and harvest vegetation, each night we call in different ancestors and guests to join us, and each day we shake the lulav and etrog, gathering together the four species and connecting Masculine and Feminine. The holiday ends with Sh'mini Atzeret - a special call for rain and following this holiday we move immediately into Simchat Torah
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What's happening this year? | What is Sukkot? | Where is the Meaning?
A Little History | So what is Sukkot and why do we celebrate it?
Sukkot was THE holiday in the ancient Jewish world. Mentioned more than any other holiday in the Torah, if s Jew could only make one of the pilgrimage holidays this is the one recommended. The Holiday has actually changed over time and has been influenced by our diaspora and our neighbors in current day Israel/Palestine.
This Holiday is connected to the harvest season and the ingathering of crops. The sukkot (Booths) that people gather in today in their homes and synagogues may have originally been built on the roof of the temple in Jerusalem by and for the Kohanim and Levi'im. Only during the first exile into Babylon did this practice become a personal one that was then brought back to Jerusalem during the period of the second temple. The tradition and holiday have been with us like this throughout our diaspora and continues to this day.
The Mystical Meanings | Some Psycho-Spiritual Meanings and Themes
Sukkot, like all other Jewish Holidays, has a myriad of themes to connect to on a psycho-spiritual level. Each holiday has the ability for interpretation and reflection. Each year the holiday can mean something else because, as the years pass we change, and how we see the holiday changes with us. Here are some themes that you may want to work with this year or in years to come.
- When you are in a sukkah you are not protected from the natural world but have to rely on the grace of G!D
- We are asked to bring guests into our Sukkah each year, how does the Jewish Spirit of hospitality come through in you?
- It is said that our ancestors also come to visit us on this holiday. What ancestors are you calling in?
- Share your ideas with us!