Significance: Remembers the wandering in the dessert; also a
harvest festival Observances: Building and "dwelling" in a
booth; waving branches and a fruit during services Length: 7
days ...On the fifteenth day of this seventh month is the
Festival of Sukkot, seven days for the L-RD. -Leviticus 23:34
The Festival of Sukkot begins on Tishri 15, the fifth day after
Yom Kippur. It is quite a drastic transition, from one of the
most solemn holidays in our year to one of the most joyous.
Sukkot is so unreservedly joyful that it is commonly referred to
in Jewish prayer and literature as Z'man Simchateinu the Season
of our Rejoicing. Sukkot is the last of the Shalosh R'galim
(three pilgrimage festivals). Like Passover and Shavu'ot, Sukkot
has a dual significance: historical and agricultural.
Historically, Sukkot commemorates the forty-year period during
which the children of Israel were wandering in the desert,
living in temporary shelters. Agriculturally, Sukkot is a
harvest festival and is sometimes referred to as