Sukkah:

In Judaism a Sukkah is a temporary structure built pursuant to defined Jewish laws, whereby the main living activities, mostly eating and sleeping, are transferred to it for the seven days of Sukkot. The word Sukkot is derived from the root of the Hebrew word meaning a structure that shelters people, and from this is derived from the Hebrew word for the overhead covering of the Sukkah.

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Celebrate this as a festival to the Lord for seven days each year. This is to be a lasting ordinance for the generations to come; celebrate it in the seventh month. Live in temporary shelters for seven days: All native-born Israelites are to live in such shelters so your descendants will know that I had the Israelites live in temporary shelters when I brought them out of Egypt. (Leviticus 23: 33-44)

 

Reasons for sitting in the Sukkah:

• To remember the time of wanderings in the desert.

• Leaving the comfort of the home, specifically during times of abundance, to remember the hard times and those who have nothing.

• During this period the farmer sat in a tabernacle to safeguard his crops and to work at harvesting the fruit.

 

The four species:

The four species: etrog, lulav, myrtle and willow. The four types of plants of the Land of Israel, and it is a commanded to hold them and bless them on each of the seven days of the festival of Sukkot, apart from the Sabbath. The four species have been given various symbolic significances: the parts of the nation, the parts of the body, regions in Israel, the periods of time until the settlement in Israel.