Tabernacling With God At The Feast Of Sukkot

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How to Tap into The Meaning of Sukkot: 5 Inspiring Life LessonsSeptember 19, 2021 | by Slovie Jungreis-

Plug into the joy and spiritual depth of this incredible Jewish holiday.
The holiday of Sukkot brings us to a place of joy, celebrating our newfound connection to the spiritual energy we've plugged into during the High Holidays.
Here are 5 life lessons to reflect upon as we sit within the wall of our sukkah.

1. Look Up
When sitting in the sukkah one must be able to see the sky through the covering of the roof made out of leaves. It's as if a mystical voice is calling out to us and whispering, "Look up." Know that you will go through moments in life that will be terrifying. Your forefathers left Egypt and came into the desert wilderness not knowing how they would survive. No food. No water. The sun was scorching hot. There were snakes and scorpions. But God enveloped His children with Clouds of Glory that served as protection that continues to serve as a lesson until today.

The sukkah is our reminder that faith and trust in God is the greatest weapon to combat fear. These past 18 months we’ve realized how much is out of our control. The world is spinning. It may feel difficult to hold on. Lift your eyes and see the Source of life. Don’t crumble. The sukkah is here for every single one of us to experience. Bask within the shelter of faith.

2. We Don’t Need All the Stuff
The sukkah is a temporary dwelling. We leave our homes and for 7 days we live in the sukkah. All the comforts of home are inside. Somehow we are content, even tasting joy, as we join those we love in celebration. What happened to all the stuff we thought we need to be happy?

Sukkot gives us a spiritual time out to think about what really matters.

The 7 days represent the seven decades of a person’s life. What really counts in the end? Life is temporary. No one wishes that they had amassed more ‘stuff’. Rather we wish we would’ve spent more time with those we cherish. We regret moments lost, words not said, and opportunities for love that never return.

Sukkot liberates us. We are given time to take a spiritual time out and think about what really matters.

3. We Come from Greatness
Each night we are given a beautiful prayer to say as we invite a holy guest into our sukkah. All together there are 7 ushpizin, guests, who grace our sukkah with their spiritual presence: Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Josef, Moses, Aaron and David.

These 7 transformed a morally desolate world into a place of kindness, compassion and awareness of God.

Each of us are given an ability to draw upon the blessings of those who came before us. Their every struggle and challenge become a stepping stone for our personal life journey.

When we realize the greatness we come from, we are given the strength to pick ourselves up and keep walking. We, too, can bring light into a world of darkness. We must only invite greatness into our lives.

4. Discover the Gift of Humility
A sukkah taller than 20 amos (around three stories) cannot be used. The lesson is deep. If there is one character trait that pushes Godliness out of our lives, it is arrogance. When you are so full of yourself, there is no space for anyone else, even God.

If you want your life to be filled with love and meaning, discover the gift of humility. Know how to put others first. Don’t live a ‘selfie life’, where the lens is only turned on yourself. Feel the pain of another. Each day ask yourself: how is this world better because I exist? Make space for others. Be a giver.

When my child was once crying, my 6-foot 2 father bent down to hear him. He picked my little boy up, cuddled him on his shoulders and said, “No one should ever be too high to hear the cries of a child.”

We are all that child. And none of us can ever feel too high to hear the cries of another.

5. Feel God’s Hug
A sukkah requires at least two complete walls plus a third wall that can even be one handbreadth.

The image is that of a hug. The sukkah is God’s embrace of us. Each and every one of us is precious. When you give someone a hug, you wrap your hands around their back and pull them close. Their face is not seen. So too, we are being embraced. It does not matter what we think we look like, spiritually, or mistakes we made that we believe may create obstacles as we try to plug into our souls.

Enter the sukkah and know that you are loved. Every person who wants to come close is hugged. Unconditionally.

The sukkah is speaking to us. We just need to open our hearts to hear its whisper.

Click here for more inspiring articles about the meaning of Sukkot.
https://aish.com/sukkot/
Slovie Jungreis-Wolff

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Slovie Jungreis Wolff is a noted teacher, author, relationships and parenting lecturer. She is the leader of Hineni Couples and daughter of Rebbetzen Esther Jungreis. Slovie is the author of the parenting handbook, Raising A Child With Soul. She gives weekly classes and has lectured throughout the U.S.,Canada, Mexico, Panama, and South Africa. You can reach slovie at sloviehineni@gmail.com

https://www.chabad.org/library/article_cdo/aid/4136798/jewish/13-Facts-About-Sukkot-Every-Jew-Should-Know.htm#
 
Sukkot Starts on a Full Moon
The Jewish Holiday of Sukkot begins at nightfall before the 15th of the Jewish (lunar) month of Tishrei, when the moon is at its zenith. It continues for another seven days before leading directly into the holiday of Shemini Atzeret/Simchat Torah.

Check out the Sukkot calendar for this year

2. Sukkot Is the Holiday of Shelters
The holiday of Sukkot is celebrated by dwelling in the sukkah hut.
The holiday of Sukkot is celebrated by dwelling in the sukkah hut.
Sukkot is Hebrew for “booths” or “shelters.” As the verse states, “Your [ensuing] generations should know that I had the children of Israel live in shelters when I took them out of the land of Egypt.”1

What were these shelters? The Talmud tells us that they were the clouds of glory that encompassed the entire nation during their epic 40-year trek through the Sinai desert.

3. Sukkot Has Three Other Names

Sukkot also has an agricultural connotation, marking the time when farmers in Israel would gather the crops that had been drying in the fields. For this reason, scripture calls it Chag Haasif, “The Festival of Gathering.”2

Sukkot is a joyous holiday—so joyous that the sages called it simply Chag, Hebrew for “Festival.”

In our liturgy, we call it Zeman Simchatenu, “The Time of Our Rejoicing.”

4. The Sukkah Booth Is Covered With Organic Material
Teens finalize the roof with its sechach on top.
Teens finalize the roof with its sechach on top.
For the duration of Sukkot, the sukkah—a structure covered with greenery, bamboo or something else that has been harvested from the ground—becomes our home. The covering is known as sechach. Kosher sechach must have grown from the ground and been harvested. It cannot be the overhang of a nearby tree, for example. Common sechach choices include evergreen branches, cornstalks, palm fronds, bamboo or specially produced mats.

Explore the rules of sukkah construction and their inner meaning

5. The Sukkah Becomes Our Second Home on Sukkot
Students enjoy lunch during Sukkot.
Students enjoy lunch during Sukkot.
We eat all meals, study and schmooze (and some even sleep) in the sukkah, where only the flimsy sechach separates us from the wide, open sky.

A sukkah can be erected just about anywhere, provided that it’s under the sky. The Talmud talks about ox-cart sukkahs, boat sukkahs, treetop sukkahs and camelback sukkahs.3 Nowadays there are sukkah mobiles (on pickup trucks) and even pedi-sukkahs.

Read the relatively recent history of the pedi-Sukkah

6. The Lulav and Etrog Are Taken (Almost) Every Day of Sukkot
Rabbi Avraham Kagan, co-director of Chabad of River North and Fulton Market, gives a lulav and etrog to Maccabi player Itay Segev. (Photo: Yakov Studio)
Rabbi Avraham Kagan, co-director of Chabad of River North and Fulton Market, gives a lulav and etrog to Maccabi player Itay Segev. (Photo: Yakov Studio)
Every day of Sukkot (besides for Shabbat) we take a bundle of greens—made of a lulav (palm frond), three hadasim (myrtles), and two aravot (willows)—along with an etrog (citron). We hold them together, bless G‑d who “sanctified us with His commandments and commanded concerning the taking of the lulav,” and wave them gently in six directions. This is often referred to as the “lulav and etrog” or the arba minim, “four kinds.” (Do you need a set? Contact your local Chabad rabbi, or click here.)

The four kinds are also held and waved during Hallel (“Psalms of Praise” said as part of the holiday morning service), as well as during the Hoshaanot, a daily Sukkot ceremony that involves circling a Torah scroll while chanting prayers for salvation.

Learn the basics of taking the Four Kinds

7. There Are Special Blessings to Be Said

In addition to the blessing we say before taking the lulav and etrog, whenever you sit down to a meal in the sukkah, you say a blessing that concludes with the words “layshav basukkah,” in which you bless G‑d “Who sanctified us with His commandments and commanded us to dwell in the sukkah.”

The first time you do each mitzvah you make another blessing, Shehecheyanu, which blesses G‑d, Who has “given us life, sustained us, and brought us to this time.”

8. The Last Day Is Hoshana Rabbah
Jews circling the bimah on Sukkot. Credit: Alex Levin
Jews circling the bimah on Sukkot. Credit: Alex Levin
On the seventh day of Sukkot, the bimah (platform in middle of the synagogue) is circled seven times, instead of the one circuit done every day of the holiday thus far. Since the Hoshaanot are repeated again and again, this day is known as Hoshana Rabbah (“The Great Hoshana”). At the end of this once-a-year service, each person beats a bundle of five willows (also known as hoshaanot) against the ground.

On this day, it is customary to have a festive meal in the sukkah that includes challah dipped in honey (the last time for the season) and kreplach, dumplings stuffed with meat.

Learn more about Hoshanah Rabbah

9. Sukkot Was a Pilgrimage Festival

The Torah mandates the Israelites to pilgrimage to the Holy Temple three times a year—Passover, Shavuot, and Sukkot—bringing sacrifices and other donations that they may have promised in the preceding months. Sukkot was the last of the three festivals, and, according to some, it was the final date before the Divine “debts” would be considered overdue.

10. The Joyous Water Drawing Was on Sukkot

During Temple times, the nights of Sukkot were celebrated with extreme joy, to the degree that the sages testified, “Anyone who has not seen the joy of the water drawing, has never seen joy in his life.”4 The celebrations preceded the drawing of water from the shiloach spring, which was then poured into a special hole on the Temple altar.

Priests kindled fires on great lamps, lighting up Jerusalem as if it were the middle of the day. Throughout the night, pious men danced holding torches, scholars juggled, and Levites played music, while the lay people watched with excitement.

Nowadays, many communities hold celebrations on the nights of Sukkot in commemoration of the water-drawing ceremony. The Rebbe encouraged that the dancing spill out into the streets.

Read more about the Water-Drawing Celebration

11. Spiritual Guests Visit Every Day of Sukkot

According to a mystical tradition found in the Zohar, the “seven shepherds” visit our sukkahs each day of the holiday. Known as ushpizin, the guests are: Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Moses, Aaron, Joseph and David.

Some people recite a special text, in which they formally “invite” the ushpizin into their sukkahs.

Learn more about the “ushpizin”

12. Not All the Days Are the Same

The first two days of Sukkot (just the first day in Israel) are Yom Tov. Like Shabbat, we refrain from many forms of creative labor, travel, etc. The only two exceptions are that some acts of food preparation (such as cooking using a pre-existing flame) and carrying things we need for the holiday are allowed. The prayers are also somewhat longer than usual.

Read: Laws of Yom Tov

The remaining days of Sukkot are known as chol hamoed, during which travel and other melachot (forbidden acts) are permitted (but strenuous work should be avoided if possible).

Read: Laws of Chol Hamoed

13. Sukkot Is Followed by Another Holiday
Images (from Flash90) were not captured on the holiday.
Images (from Flash90) were not captured on the holiday.
Immediately after the seven days of Sukkot, we step into Shemini Atzeret and Simchat Torah. In the Diaspora, this holiday extends for two days; in Israel, it is confined to a single day. Simchat Torah fetes the completion of the annual Torah-reading cycle and the start of the new cycle. It is marked with vigorous singing and dancing in the synagogue. This is the only instance of one Jewish holiday coming directly after another one.

Learn more about Shemini Atzeret/Simchat Torah
https://www.chabad.org/library/article_cdo/aid/4464/jewish/What-Is-Shemini-Atzeret-Simchat-Torah.htm

Tabernacling With God At The Feast Of Sukkot
By ONE FOR ISRAEL (Messianic Jews In Israel)
https://www.oneforisrael.org/bible-based-teaching-from-israel/tabernacling-with-god-at-the-feast-of-sukkot/
All of the biblical feasts are prophetic; rich with symbolism and laden with spiritual nourishment for both Jews and Gentiles. They speak of who God is, our journey with Him and his plans for the future. The Spring feasts speak of the Messiah’s coming: Passover is a foreshadow of Calvary, Firstfruits of the resurrection, and Shavuot (the Feast of Weeks) is a forerunner to the outpouring of the Spirit at Pentecost. The Fall Feasts symbolize the last trumpet that will sound as the Messiah returns, Yom Kippur points to the final judgement, and Sukkot is the final feast where God and man can at last move in together, like a newly-wed couple who have been longing for complete union.

The meaning of the Sukkah / Tabernacle
The sukkah (which means tabernacle or booth, sukkot is the plural) reminds us of the wandering in the desert as God led Israel from slavery to the Promised Land.

You are to live in sukkot for seven days. All the native-born in Israel are to live in sukkot, so that your generations may know that I had Bnei-Yisrael to dwell in sukkot when I brought them out of the land of Egypt. I am Adonai your God. (Leviticus 23:42-43)

God’s point about making these makeshift homes for a week is to help the children of Israel remember this particular part of their journey with him. The desert times were intense and temporary, but a very special time of forging the relationship between God and his people.

Following the covenant they made at Sinai when they agreed to follow him, Israel was then escorted by God to the place he had prepared for them. In fact, God refers to it as a honeymoon period:

I remember the devotion of your youth,
    your love as a bride,
    and the way you followed Me in the wilderness,
    in a land not sown. (Jeremiah 2:2)

Many times throughout scripture, God paints a picture of himself as a husband and his people as his bride, often lamenting Israel’s unfaithfulness, as in the book of Hosea. It is a deliberate metaphor that God often uses to communicate his passionate love, the seriousness of his devotion and commitment, and the way he wants us to see him.

The tent of meeting in the desert similarly provided a prototype of the reality of God’s holy temple in heaven. These things are shadows, types, and are temporary and passing away. But they speak of the tremendous and permanent reality to come. Several times throughout scripture God offers a dwelling place and a covering. A shelter and a canopy. He brings us to his banqueting table and his banner over us is love.

The meaning of the Chuppah / Wedding canopy
The word chuppah means covering or protection, and acts as a symbolic roof, covering the couple who are getting married. It is where the legal business of betrothal takes place, and symbolizes the home of the groom, into which the bride is welcomed. In a Jewish wedding ceremony, the bride and groom stand under the chuppah, as a symbol of the bridegroom’s permanent and real home, and the bride in Song of Songs talks about being invited into her love’s chambers. Like a sukkah, it’s a temporary shelter symbolizing a home, where there is great rejoicing and intimate fellowship. 

In Jewish weddings, rejoicing is taken very seriously! So too with the Feast of Sukkot. It is the only feast in which we are actually commanded to rejoice!

“You are to keep the Feast of Sukkot for seven days, after gathering in the produce from your threshing floor and winepress.” So you will rejoice in your feast—you, your son and daughter, slave and maid, Levite and outsider, orphan and widow within your gates. Seven days you will feast to Adonai your God in the place He chooses, because Adonai your God will bless you in all your produce and in all the work of your hand, and you will be completely filled with joy. (Deuteronomy 16:14-16)

The link between the joyous feasting in the sukkah at the Festival of Tabernacles and the joy under a wedding chuppah is noted by the rabbis (Tractate Sukkah 25b), which releases wedding parties from the obligation of rejoicing in sukkot during the feast:

“What is the reason? Because they have to rejoice… There is no proper rejoicing but under the wedding canopy… There can be no real rejoicing except where the banquet is held.”

Similarly, the cloud that protected the Israelites by day during their desert years has also been likened to this canopy:

“With the cloud of a chuppah and the shadow of a sukkah, Israel will commune with their God.”1

A wedding equals maximum rejoicing in rabbinic thinking. But the connection between the joyful times in the sukkah and the unbridled joy of the chuppah is a link that makes perfect sense. This is what Sukkot is all pointing towards. This is our joy – the ultimate wedding feast of the Lamb of God and his spotless bride.

A wedding invitation
Yeshua speaks of the ultimate wedding at the end of time in Matthew 22, and John’s Revelation pulling back the curtain on the best and most joyous wedding feast humanity has ever known:

“Behold, the dwelling of God is among men,
    and He shall tabernacle among them.
They shall be His people,
    and God Himself shall be among them
    and be their God.
 He shall wipe away every tear from their eyes,
    and death shall be no more.
Nor shall there be mourning or crying or pain any longer,
    for the former things have passed away.” (Revelation 21:3-4)

As human beings, we can’t boast about anything that we intend to do in the future, since we have no idea what will end up happening, but God can say with absolute certainty what will be. All of his feasts are called moedim in the Bible – the word moed meaning appointed time, something that is destined to happen. This is God’s purpose, and this is our destiny – to dwell together in perfect union with him. This is the wonderful meaning of the Feast of Tabernacles: a small preview of the last page in God’s magnificent story of redemption.

 

Mordechai Breuer, Isaiah chapters in Tvunot (Ed: Yosef Ofer) p.159