ALL ABOUT SUCCOS
Succos
is a harvest holiday that arrives
during the Hebrew month of Tishrei a few days after Yom Kipper.
This year, Succos begins on Sunday night, October 16th
& ends on Tuesday night October 25th
- Succos starts 4 days after Yom Kippur & is followed by Shmini Atzeres & Simchas
Torah
1. In Israel it's a 7 day holiday with Shimini Atzeres & Simchas Torah on the last day
2. Outside of Israel, it's an 8 day holiday - Succos is also known as the
1. Festival of Booths (shalosh regalim)
2. Feast of Tabernacles - Succos comes at the harvest season so we appreciate the bounty that hashem has given us
TRADITIONS OF SUCCOS
There are 4 major traditions associated with Succos
- Building a Sukkah
- Eating in the sukkah
- Sleeping in the sukkah
- Waving the lulav & esrog
BUILDING A SUKKAH
In honor of the holiday's historical significance, we are commanded to dwell
in temporary shelters as our ancestors did in the wilderness.
The temporary shelter is referred to as a sukkah
- Building the sukkah each year satisfies the common childhood fantasy of building a fort
& dwelling in the sukkah satisfies a child's desire to camp out in the backyard - The commandment to 'dwell' in a sukkah can be fulfilled by simply eating all of one's meals
there - If the weather, climate & your health permits, you should spend as much time in the sukkah
as possible including sleeping in it - You can buy a do-it-yourself sukkah in your community or from various sources online, or
you can build your own
1. It can be assembled or disassembled in less than two hours by two people
2. It is common practice & highly commendable to decorate the sukkah
♦♦♦♦♦
EATNG IN THE SUKKAH
Bracha when you eat in the Sukkah
in Hebrew, Transliteration & English
HEBREW
TRANSLITERATION
Baruch Ata Ad-noi El-heinu Melech HaOlam Asher Kidishanu B’Mitzvosav V’Tzivanu Leishev baSukkah
ENGLISH
Blessed are you Ha'shem our G-d, King of the World, who has sanctified us
with His commandments and commanded us to sit in the Sukkah
♦♦♦♦♦
WAVING THE LULAV & ESROG
(arba minim in Hebrew)
We are commanded to take these 4 species of plants
& use them to rejoice before HaShem
- The four species are
1. An esrog (a citrus fruit similar to a lemon native to Israel; in English it is called a citron),
2. A palm branch (in Hebrew, lulav)'
3. Two willow branches (aravot)
4. Three myrtle branches (hadassim) - The six branches are bound together & referred to collectively as the lulav because the palm branch is by far the largest part
1. The four species in your hand
2. The esrog is held in your other hand
3. You say the bracha
4. And then wave the species in all six directions (east, south, west, north, up & down)
symbolizing the fact that G-d is everywhere - During the Hallel Prayer at the end of Shachris (morning prayer
1. The four species are also held & waved
2. They are also held during processions around the bimah (the pedestal where the Torah
is read) called hakafos each day during the holiday
3. These processions commemorate similar processions around the altar of the ancient
Temple in Jerusalem
4. This part of the service is known as Hoshanas because while the procession is made, we
recite a prayer with the refrain 'Hosha na!' (please save us!)
5. On the seventh day of Sukkos, seven circuits are made
6. For this reason, the seventh day of Sukkos is known as Hoshanah Rabbah (the great
Hoshanah)
7. After the circuits on Hoshanah Rabbah, we beat the willow branches against the floor five
times, shaking loose some or all of the remaining leaves on the lulav
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