This evening, we begin our celebration of Sukkot, celebrating the gathering of the harvest and commemorating the 40 years of wandering in the desert after the Israelites left Egypt.
We celebrate Sukkot by building a small, temporary booth or hut, known as a Sukkah, in which we eat and sometimes sleep. The other Sukkot tradition is the taking of the Four Kinds: an Etrog (citron), a Lulav (palm frond), three Hadassim (myrtle twigs) and two Aravot (willow twigs). On each day of the festival (except Shabbat), we take the Four Kinds, recite a blessing over them, bring them together and wave them in all six directions: right, left, forward, up, down and backward.
Because of the social nature of Sukkot, it is considered a fun holiday in comparison to the more solemn period of Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur, also known as the Yamim Noraim.
In the spirit of Sukkot, we are taking a more fun approach to the Shir Shel Shavua and hope you will enjoy this week’s selection.