What is Sukkot and why is it celebrated?

Sukkot is one of the three major festivals in Judaism, and is both an agricultural festival of thanksgiving and a commemoration of the forty-year period during which the children of Israel wandered in the desert after leaving slavery in Egypt, living in temporary shelters as they traveled.

What are the 4 names of Sukkot?

The Etrog (citron fruit), Lulav (frond of date palm) Hadass (myrtle bough) and Aravah (willow branch) – are the four species the Jewish people are commanded to bind together and wave in the sukkah, a temporary booth constructed for use during the week-long festival of Sukkot.

What are the 3 festivals in the Bible?

These three feasts are: Pesah (Passover, The Feast o Unleavened Bread), Shavuot (The Feast of Weeks), and Sukkot (The Feast of Booths). The three pilgrimage festivals are connected with both the cycles of nature and important events in Jewish history.

What does the sukkah symbolize?

The typical explanation for the sukkah is that it symbolizes the booths in which the Israelites dwelled during their journey through the desert. On Passover we eat malzah because our ancestors ate matzah when they left Egypt, and on Sukkot we reside in booths to commemorate those in which they lived for forty years.

Who started Sukkot?

According to 1 Kings 12:32–33, King Jeroboam, first king of the rebellious northern kingdom, instituted a feast on the fifteenth day of the eighth month in imitation of the feast of Sukkot in Judah, and pilgrims went to Bethel instead of Jerusalem to make thanksgiving offerings.

What do the 4 species symbolize?

In the Midrash, the four species symbolize four types of Jews, with differing levels of Torah knowledge and observance. Bringing them together represents our unity as a nation—despite our external differences.

What do the 4 species of Sukkot represent?

These species are lulav (palm branch), hadas (myrtle), arava (willow) and etrog (citron) and they are used to bless the Sukkah or booth in which Sukkot is celebrated. These four plants are mentioned in the third book of the Torah, Leviticus.

What is the festival of Tabernacles in the Bible?

The Feast of Tabernacles or Sukkot (or Feast of Booths) is a week-long fall festival commemorating the 40-year journey of the Israelites in the wilderness.