Sukot 2018

Sukkot - The “Feast of Tabernacles”

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    The seven-day Sukkot festival begins at sunset on Sunday, 23 September and concludes at nightfall on Sunday, 30 September. All seven days of the holiday are marked by special prayers and scriptural readings – including the Book of Ecclesiastes, which is read on Saturday, 29 September. Sukkot is a joyful, family oriented holiday, which follows – and provides a contrast to – the somber, introspective and private character of Yom Kippur.
     
    Sukkot is characterized by two main practices: In the five days between Yom Kippur and Sukkot, tens of thousands of householders and businesses erect booths/huts for temporary dwelling, resembling the booths in which the Israelites lived, during their 40-year sojourn in the wilderness that followed their liberation from slavery in Egypt (Exodus). Some spend the festival literally living in their sukkot, while most observers just eat their meals there. These huts are called Sukkot in Hebrew.
     
    The second main Sukkot observance is the special bouquet – consisting of a closed palm frond, a citron, a myrtle branch and a willow branch – that is held during morning prayers on each of the seven days (except the Sabbath).
     
    Chag Sameach!