When you Choose Shabbat, you choose to learn that every Shabbat is different and this Shabbat is special indeed because it ushers in the holiday of Sukkot, the Festival of Booths. Sukkot is “the time of our joy“, a harvest festival where we are commanded to observe the holiday by building temporary huts commemorating the homes of the Jews in the desert following Exodus.
During Sukkot (but not on Shabbat) we also use a lulav (three species of plants tied together) and an etrog (like a lemon) to thank G-d for the fruitfulness of the land. Sukkot is a holiday of unity and we celebrate by inviting others to join us in eating in our Sukkah. Some people even sleep in their sukkah, weather permitting. On the eighth day of Sukkot we celebrate Shemini Atzeret, a day of solemn assembly followed by Simchat Torah as we complete the annual cycle of readings from the Torah.
Rabbi Michael D Klein of Temple Torat Emet offers his insights on Shabbat Sukkot:
This Shabbat we read the special Torah reading for Sukkot which is found in Sedra Emor of Leviticus. It enumerates the 3 pilgrimage festivals: Passover, Shavuot, and Sukkot and their special offerings. Regarding Sukkot, the Torah states, “howbeit when you have gathered the fruits of the land you shall keep a solemn feast of the L-rd seven days….and you shall take the fruit of goodly trees and the branches of palm trees and boughs of thick trees and willows of the brook and shall rejoice before the L-rd your G-d seven days.”
You probably recognize this as Thanksgiving except that in the Jewish mode we celebrate by dwelling in booth (Hebrew Sukkot- thus the name of the holiday!) . This seems a little odd except that the concept of living in a temporary shelter while offering thanksgiving certainly emphasizes on of the basic ideas of the holiday- dependence on G-d’s help and protection.
What better way to acknowledge G-d’s gifts that to wave the lulav and etrog in every direction and to live outdoors connected to nature and seeing the stars overhead at night! What an amazing opportunity for Jewish camping- eating in a Sukkah hut and sleeping outside looking up at the night sky to make us completely aware of how we depend upon G-d for all of our sustenance.
I sincerely hope that we all take advantage of this amazing opportunity to align ourselves with nature and celebrate the holiday of Sukkot with family and friends.
- What parts of the human body are represented by the species chosen for the Lulav and Etrog? Why were they chosen?
- How was the Sukkah used by farmers when the Jewish people harvested crops in Israel?
- What is the connecting phrase that links all of the Shalosh Regalim?
- Why do we celebrate Sukkot for 7 days specifically?
Rabbi Michael D. Klein attended Yeshiva College of South Florida and served as Torah Reader, Hebrew teacher, Chazzan and spiritual leader of various synagogues throughout South Florida. In January 2015 he became Ritual Director, Bnai/Bnot Mitzvah instructor and 7th grade Hebrew instructor for Temple Torat Emet of Boynton Beach. In October 2019 he was accepted into an accelerated track at Yeshiva/Mesifta Adas Wolkowisk, completed his Rabbinical studies in July 2020 and has been the Rabbinic leadership of Temple Torat Emet since August 2020. In September of 2022 he was appointed Rabbinic and Spiritual Advisor of the Florida Region of FJMC.
Choose Shabbat; choose to celebrate, to light candles, sing songs and learn a little Torah.
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