A Sukkot Guide for the Perplexed, 2024

Ahead of this year’s celebration of Sukkot, here are some things you should know about the “Feast of Tabernacles”:

1. Sukkot is a Jewish national liberation holiday. It commemorates the Biblical Exodus — the transition of the Jewish people from bondage in Egypt to liberty in the Land of Israel, and the sustained Jewish ingathering to the Land of Israel, which inspired the US Founding Fathers and the Abolitionist Movement.

2. Sukkot, the Feast of Tabernacles, derives its name from the first stop of the Exodus — the town of Sukkot — as documented in Exodus 13:20-22 and Numbers 33:3-5. Sukkot was also the name of Jacob’s first stop west of the Jordan River, upon returning to the Land of Israel from his 20 years of work for Laban in Aram (Genesis 33:17).

The construction of the Holy Tabernacle, during the Exodus, was launched on the first day of Sukkot.

3. Sukkot is the third Jewish pilgrimage holiday (following Passover and Shavuot/Pentecost). It highlights faith, reality-based-optimism, can-do mentality, and the defiance of odds. It is also the third major Jewish holiday — following Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur — in the month of Tishrei, the holiest Jewish month.

According to Judaism, three represents divine wisdom, stability, and peace. In addition, the third day of the Creation was blessed twice.

4. Sukkot underscores the gradual transition from the spiritual state-of-mind during Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur, to the normal routine of every day life, and from religious tenets of Judaism to the formation of the national, historic, and geographical Jewish identity.

5. The roots of the Hebrew word Sukkot (סוכות) are wholeness and totality (סכ), shelter (סכך), and attentiveness (סכת). The numerical value of סכך (every Hebrew letter has a numerical value) is 100 (ס=60, כ=20, ך=20), representing the totality and unity of the Jewish people, and our history, roots, education, and legacy.

6. The seven days of Sukkot — which is celebrated in the 7th Jewish month, Tishrei — are dedicated to seven supreme guests-in-spirit and notable care-takers (Ushpizin in Aramaic and Hebrew): Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Joseph, Moses, Aaron, and David. They were endowed with faith, reality-based-optimism, humility, magnanimity, principle-driven leadership, compassion, tenacity in the face of daunting odds, and the belief in peace-through-strength.

7. Sukkot features the following four species (Leviticus 23:39-41): citron (representing King David, the author of Psalms), the palm branch (representing Joseph), three myrtle branches (representing the three Patriarchs) and two willow branches (representing Moses and Aharon, the role models of humility).

These four species are bound together, representing unity-through-diversity and strength-through-unity. They embody four leadership prerequisites: a solid backbone (palm branch), humility (willow), a compassionate heart (citron), and penetrating eyes (myrtle).

These species also represent the agricultural regions of the Land of Israel: the southern Negev and Arava (palm); the slopes of the northern Golan Heights, Upper Galilee and Mt. Carmel (myrtle); the streams of the central mountains of Judea and Samaria, including Jerusalem (willow); and the western coastal plain (citron).

8. Traditionally, Sukkot is dedicated to the study of the Biblical Scroll of Ecclesiastes (Kohelet, ,קהלת in Hebrew, which was one of King Solomon’s names), written by King Solomon, which highlights humility, morality, patience, learning from past mistakes, commemoration and historical perspective, and more.

9. During the holiday of Sukkot, it is customary to highlight humility by experiencing a seven-day-relocation from one’s permanent dwelling to the temporary, humble, wooden booth (Sukkah in Hebrew) — which sheltered the people of Israel during the Exodus.

The author is a commentator and former Israeli ambassador.

The post A Sukkot Guide for the Perplexed, 2024 first appeared on Algemeiner.com.