The seven-day festival of Sukkot is a Jewish holiday commemorating the sheltering of the Israelites in the wilderness. The holiday celebrates the way in which God protected them under difficult conditions in the desert. Sukkot literally translates to “booth” or “tabernacle”.
Sukkot begins at sunset on Sunday, October 13 and will last for seven days.
Today is the 15th day of Tishrei, the first month in the Jewish calendar.
Tishrei is an autumn month lasting for 30 days and usually occurs in September to October on the Gregorian calendar.
Sukkot 2019 time: Jews will dwell in the sukkah and the ‘Four Kinds’ mentioned in the bible (Image: GETTY)
Sukkot will end at nightfall on Sunday, October 20 this year.
During parts of the seven-day celebration no work is permitted.
From October 14 to 15 work is not allowed but is permitted on October 16 to 18 and October 20 with certain restrictions.
Sukkot 2019 time: To celebrate Sukkot many choose to sleep in a sukkah (Image: GETTY)
Sukkot is the only festival out of the Jewish holidays whose date does not seem to commemorate a historic event.
The Torah refers to it by two names: Chag HaAsif (“the Festival of Ingathering,” or “Harvest Festival”) and Chag HaSukkot (“Festival of Booths”), each expressing a reason for the holiday.
Chag HaAsif is a time to express appreciation for this bounty, while Chag HaSukkot commemorates the temporary dwellings God made to shelter Jews on their way out of Egypt.
Sukkot is celebrated by dwelling in a foliage-covered booth, called sukkah, and eat meals in it for eight days (seven in Israel).
Some even sleep in the tiny hut for the duration of the holiday.
The roof of the sukkah must be made up of something that grew from the ground and was cut off such as bamboo, sticks, tree branches or corn stalks.
Leviticus 23:42 says: “You shall dwell in sukkot seven days…in order that future generations may know that I made the Israelite people live in sukkot when I brought them out of the land of Egypt, I the Lord our God.”
Sukkot 2019 time: A sukkah is a tiny hut only built for the duration of the holiday (Image: GETTY)
Jews will dwell in the sukkah and take the “Four Kinds”, which are four plants mentioned in the Bible.
The plants are “etrog” (the fruit of a citron tree), “lulav” (a ripe, closed frond from a date palm tree) “hadass” (leaves from the myrtle tree and “aravah” (leaves from the willow tree).
The rabbis dictated the Four Kinds should be held together and waved during the holiday.
The ultimate goal of the festival is to spend as much time in the sukkah as possible and eating the festive meal on the two first days.
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