On Sukkot, the Jewish ‘Festival of booths,’ each sukkah is as unique as the person who builds it
Retrieved on:
Tuesday, September 26, 2023
The harvest holiday, which begins on Sept. 29, 2023, lasts for seven days when celebrated in Israel and eight days when celebrated elsewhere.
Key Points:
- The harvest holiday, which begins on Sept. 29, 2023, lasts for seven days when celebrated in Israel and eight days when celebrated elsewhere.
- As a Jewish Studies scholar, much of my work looks at how diverse Jewish American identities are today.
Harvest holiday
- Held during the autumn harvest, Sukkot likely has origins in huts that ancient farmers erected so they could sleep in the fields.
- For Jews who observe the holiday, tradition says to start building the sukkah as soon as possible after Yom Kippur, the Day of Atonement; some people even start building the structure are soon as they have broken their 25-hour fast.
- The makeshift walls, of which there must be at least three, can be made out of anything one wants, from pre-made walls printed with blessings said during the holiday to tablecloths or rugs.
- In the United States, many families decorate their sukkot with classic elements of the American harvest season: corn husks, colorful dried ears of corn, harvest gourds and even the occasional bale of hay.
Our yard, our holiday
- Many people entertain guests there: I have been to many a meal – and one graduate seminar – in sukkot all over the country.
- It is the fact that so much of Sukkot is held at home that accounts for the holiday’s immense flexibility.
- Like at Passover, most Jews who celebrate Sukkot encounter it in spaces where people can honor their values, cultures or histories.
- Accompanied by pungent cheeses and other nibbles, this festival of whiskey offered him a way to make the holiday his own.
- Indeed, some Jews are finding ways to realize the social justice potential in the holiday.