Sukkotסֻכּוֹת

Sukkot (Hebrew: סוכות or סֻכּוֹת, sukkōt, or sukkos, Feast of Booths, Feast of Tabernacles) is a Biblical holiday celebrated on the 15th day of the month of Tishrei, which falls between mid-September and mid-October, and it runs for seven days. It is one of the three biblically mandated festivals Shalosh regalim on which Jews were commanded to make a pilgrimage to the Temple in Jerusalem. Sukkot carries a dual meaning that gives the holiday its emotional texture. Historically and theologically, it commemorates the temporary dwellings (sukkot) in which the Israelites lived during their forty years of wandering in the wilderness after the Exodus, recalling God's protection during that journey (Leviticus 23:42-43). Agriculturally, it is the festival of the autumn harvest and ingathering ("Chag HaAsif," the Festival of Ingathering at the year's end, Exodus 34:22), a season of thanksgiving for the year's crops. The fragile sukkah itself, with its temporary walls and a roof loose enough to glimpse the stars and let in the rain, is traditionally understood to teach that true security comes from trust in God rather than from sturdy structures. Sukkot is also known as "Z'man Simchateinu," the Season of Our Rejoicing, marking it as the most joyful of the pilgrimage festivals.

Sukkot begins on 15 Tishrei and runs through 21 Tishrei, falling between mid-September and late October on the Gregorian calendar. Observance differs by location: in Israel the first day (15 Tishrei) is a full festival day (Yom Tov) with work restrictions, followed by five intermediate days of Chol HaMoed (16-20 Tishrei), with the seventh day being Hoshana Rabbah (21 Tishrei). In the Diaspora, both the first and second days (15-16 Tishrei) are observed as full Yom Tov before Chol HaMoed begins: the same seven calendar days, but with two festival days at the start instead of one. Sukkot is immediately followed by the separate holiday of Shmini Atzeret (22 Tishrei); in the Diaspora a second day of Shmini Atzeret (23 Tishrei) is observed as Simchat Torah, while in Israel the two are combined into a single day. Some Reform and other communities outside Israel observe a single festival day rather than two.

On the First Day of Sukkot the Torah reading is Leviticus 22:26-23:44, with the maftir drawn from Numbers 29:12-16 (the festival's mussaf sacrifices); when the first day falls on Shabbat, the passage is divided into additional aliyot. In the Diaspora, the Second Day repeats the same first-day Torah reading. The intermediate days (Chol HaMoed) read the relevant daily-sacrifice portions from Numbers 29, and Shabbat Chol HaMoed reads Exodus 33:12-34:26. The First-Day Haftarah is Zechariah 14:1-21, the eschatological vision in which all nations come up to celebrate Sukkot in Jerusalem; the Second-Day (Diaspora) Haftarah is generally 1 Kings 8:2-21, Solomon's dedication of the Temple at the festival. The Megillah of Kohelet (Ecclesiastes) is read in its entirety on Shabbat Chol HaMoed, before the Torah reading, reflecting the holiday's theme of life's transience and impermanence. Kohelet is one of the Five Megillot; where it is chanted with cantillation, it commonly uses the shared "Three Megillot" pastoral melody also used for Song of Songs and Ruth, distinct from the joyful Esther trope of Purim and the mournful Eicha trope of Tisha B'Av. Practice varies widely, however, and many congregations read Kohelet with little or no elaborate trope.

The central mitzvah is building and dwelling in a sukkah, a temporary booth with at least three walls and a roof of s'chach (cut organic plant material such as palm fronds or leafy branches, loose enough to see the stars), in which meals, and traditionally sleeping, take place throughout the seven days. Each day of the festival except Shabbat, worshippers take up the Four Species (Arba Minim): the lulav (palm branch), etrog (citron), hadassim (myrtle), and aravot (willow), held together and waved in all directions with a blessing. The Kabbalistic (Lurianic) custom of Ushpizin symbolically invites one of seven spiritual guests (Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Moses, Aaron, Joseph, and David) into the sukkah each night (some communities also invite the matriarchs). Hoshanot are processional prayers circling the synagogue bimah with the Four Species while reciting "Hoshana" (save us) supplications; on Hoshana Rabbah, the seventh day, there are seven circuits and the beating of willow branches, a day regarded as the final sealing of the year's judgment begun on Rosh Hashanah. The festival also recalls the joyous Temple-era Simchat Beit HaShoeivah water-drawing celebrations.