What is Succot?

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Succot is the Festival of Booths. It takes place in the Fall just four days after Yom Kippur. It is a seven-day holiday (eight days outside the Land of Israel), a time for communal celebration following the intensity of the High Holy Days and is a celebration of the harvest.

There are two traditional explanations to the origins of the holiday of Succot: the first is that the Israelites dwelt in succot after the Exodus from Egypt (Leviticus 23:42-43). According to one rabbinic sage, the wilderness succot (plural of succah) were not physical tents, but “Clouds of Glory” (Babylonian Talmud, Berachot 54b), special clouds God provided for the people to guide and protect them during their 40 years of wilderness wandering (see Exodus 13:21).

The second explanation for Succot is that once our ancestors arrived in the Land of Israel and lived an agricultural lifestyle, farmers built succot while gathering up their produce during the harvest season to maximize their productivity (Exodus 34:22). In fact, one of the names for the holiday is “The Festival of Ingathering.”

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In either case, Succot is a time for celebration and is referred to as “The Season of our Joy.” It is an occasion to give thanks for the bounty of life. Dwelling in a succah is also a sign of trust: even as the winter approaches, we trust that God will provide for us throughout the cold and dark months ahead. We sit in our makeshift booths, aware of our vulnerability, as an expression of our faith.

Most Jewish holidays celebrate God’s miraculous intervention at specific moments in ancient Jewish history. For example, on Passover we recall how God freed from slavery in Egypt the Israelites with the Ten Plagues and the Splitting of the Sea of Reeds. And on Hanukkah, we remember God’s support of Judah and his fellow Maccabees against the Syrian-Greek army, and the miraculous jug of oil the Maccabees discovered when they recaptured the Temple in Jerusalem. Succot, however, is a celebration of God’s ongoing presence in the lives of our ancestors and in our lives today.

Further, while most Jewish holidays have agriculture roots, they are more widely known for their connections to their historical narratives. Shavuot (The Festival of Weeks), for example, was originally a celebration of the first fruits of the late spring harvest Succot, however, has maintained a strong connection to the earth because of the central symbols of the holiday: the succah (temporary booth), and the lulav (palm branch, myrtle, and willows) and etrog (citron). This fall holiday offers us the opportunity to reflect on the blessings of the natural world and our place in it.

Succot is immediately followed by the holidays of Sh’mini Atzeret and Simchat Torah. The former is designated as an additional day of “holy assembly,” while the latter is a celebration (simchah = joy) of the completion of the annual cycle of Torah readings (Genesis through Deuteronomy).

 

Apple Stamping

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Hand stamping canvas bags is a perfect way to celebrate the Jewish New Year during Rosh Hashanah!

Take a trip to your local farm and make sure to pick plenty of apples to dip (with honey) and save a few apples for dipping (in paint)! Any shape or size will do. Follow the steps or watch the video below to learn how.

Materials:
Canvas Bag
Knife
Fabric Paint (yellow, red, green, brown, black)
Paint Brush
Paper Plate
Paper Towel

How To:

Step 1: Cut apple in half lengthwise and let each side dry out on paper towel or cheesecloth for about an hour. Slide a piece of newpaper or cardboard in bag to prevent paint from bleeding to back of bag. Canvas bags can be purchased online or at your local craft store.

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Step 2:  Paint flat side of apple with fabric paint. Repeat with as many colors as you like.

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Step 3:  Stamp apple firmly on the bag and create your own fun pattern.

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Step 4:  Use a thin paintbrush to draw apple stem with brown paint.

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Step 5:  Dip Thumb into green paint and stamp the ”leaves” with your thumb on the stem.

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Step 6:  Use pinky finger to make seeds by dipping into brown or black paint and stamping onto bag. Make sure to dry overnight in a sunny spot and you are ready to have a perfect bag to hold your apples just in time for Rosh Hashanah!

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Try with Lemons to mimic an etrog!!

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What is a Succah? What is the meaning of the Succah?

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“You shall live in booths seven days; all citizens in Israel shall live in booths. In order that future generations may know that I made the Israelite people live in booths when I brought them out of the land of Egypt, I the Lord your God” (Leviticus 23:42-43).

A succah is a temporary structure that we create for the holiday (Succot is the plural form of succah).

According to Jewish law it must have three walls (made of any material) and an open roof that provides shade, but through which one can see the stars at night (made from materials that grow from the earth). It is a simple structure that allows us to commune with nature and the elements. If possible, a succah is set up near one’s home (on a patio, deck, or in a yard). The juxtaposition of the strength and solidity of a house with the temporary and ethereal nature of the succah helps us appreciate the many blessings in our lives.

One can think of the succah as either a “succah of the wilderness” or as a “succah of abundance” based on the two different stories of its origins. The first image reflects the tradition that the Israelites first dwelled in succot (huts or tents) as they travelled through the desert from Egypt to the Land of Israel. The second image reflects the tradition that the Israelites originally built succot after they entered the Promised Land, using booths or huts as temporary dwellings during the harvest season as they worked long days to gather their produce.

One way to combine these images is to say that as we sit in our succot this fall, we express our gratitude for the blessings of today—the “abundance” of our current lives—while recognizing the times when we were wandering in the “wilderness” and in need of the guidance and support of others.

Interestingly, when Boston Red Sox slugger, David Ortiz, hits a home run, he always touches home plate and then looks to the sky in memory of his departed mother. It is Big Papi’s way of connecting the current blessing of the homerun with the memory of his late mom.

The Meaning of the Lulav and Etrog

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by Myra Outwater (of blessed memory), Judaica (1999)

Like most Jewish ceremonial items, the lulav (palm branch, myrtle, and willows) and the etrog (citron) have philosophical meanings. The ancient rabbis spent many hours discussing and trying to interpret the words and meanings of each law. And through the centuries, they have handed down various interpretations of the symbolism of the lulav and the etrog.

 

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One popular rabbinic teaching is that the four components of the lulav and the etrog, which are called in Hebrew the arba minim, symbolize the human condition and one’s relationship with God. The etrog is shaped like the heart, and the lulav like the spine. The myrtle leaves are shaped like the eyes, and the willow leaves like the lips. Together, these four elements show that one should serve God with his or her heart, spine or body, eyes and lips.

There is another symbolic layer of meaning related to the etrog and lulav and two forms of Jewish sacred action: study and good deeds. The etrog, which has a good taste and a good smell, is like those who know the Torah and do good deeds. While the lulav which has a good taste, but no smell, is like a person with knowledge, but who does no good deeds. The myrtle, which has a good smell and no taste, is like a simple person who has no knowledge and learning, but is innately kind and caring. Lowest on the rung of human values is the willow, which has neither taste nor fragrance, and symbolizes those people with no interest in gaining knowledge and no innate sense of responsibility towards others and no feeling of the need to help others.

Each day during Succot, blessings are recited over the etrog and the lulav. The etrog is held in the left hand the lulav in the right hand. Then the lulav is shaken in six directions (north, south, east, and west, up and down) to remind us that God is everywhere.

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In order to protect and adorn the ceremonial objects used on Succot, there is a special box used to store the etrog and a case in which to carry the lulav. Since traditional Jews believe that an etrog must be as perfect as possible, the etrog is carried to services in an etrog box in which there is usually a cushion of soft material. Traditional etrog boxes are usually in the shape of the fruit itself. Early etrog boxes were adapted from silver sugar bowls, soap dishes and other silver containers. In the late 19th century many tourists brought back olivewood etrog boxes from the Holy Land. Today, most etrog containers are silver, pewter, ceramic, or olivewood. Many families allow the etrog to wither and save it in the etrog box, using it as a ritual spice during the weekly havdalah (“separation”) ceremony marking the end of the Sabbath. The lulav is usually carried to services in a lulav carrier made of plastic, wood or velvet, which includes the blessing over the etrog and lulav on or in it.

Who Do We Invite to the Succah and Why?

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Since Succot is a time for us to celebrate the blessings in our lives, it is only fitting that we are instructed to share our bounty with others. As it is written in the book of Deuteronomy (16:14):
“And you shall rejoice on your Festival (Succot)—you, and your son, and your daughter, and your manservant, and your maidservant, and the Levite, and the stranger, and the orphan, and the widow, who are within your cities.”

Succot is a time for communal celebration, an occasion to rejoice with family, friends, and even acquaintances for an entire week. For seven days, we eat, drink, and relax in our succot (plural for succah), some people even sleep in their succot during the holiday.

One beautiful mystical tradition on Succot is to invite both earthly and otherworldly guests into our festival booths. In the Zohar, the great work of medieval Jewish mysticism, we learn that on each night of the seven-day holiday, the kabbalists (Jewish mystics) would stand at the threshold of their succot and invite seven great spirits from the Jewish past to join them for the sacred meal.

On the first night, Abraham is said to lead this holy assembly, and on each successive night they are led by Isaac, Jacob, Joseph, Moses, Aaron, and David. These figures represent different virtues: love, rigor, harmony, endurance, connectivity, humility, and royalty. Each night, these special guests bless us with these qualities.

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pictured clockwise from upper right: Andy’s mother, Myra Outwater, Andy’s brother Laurence, Andy and childhood friends Mike and Doug

In the last few decades, many people have revived this Jewish mystical tradition known as Ushpizin (meaning “Guests” in Aramaic), adding the foremothers and other great biblical women—Sarah, Rebecca, Rachel, Leah, Miriam, Deborah and Ruth—to the list of special guests, as well as other outstanding historical and literary figures whose influence and blessing they seek on Succot.

The Zohar is careful to point out that if one should only invite these supernal guests, and not earthly guests in need of a succot meal, the great spirits will immediately take leave; for the holiday cannot be celebrated mystically without demonstrating earthly hospitality.

So this year, invite as many family members, friends, and acquaintances to your succah as possible. And as you gather with these guests, envision who else might join you for a holiday meal!

What is the Relationship between Succot & Passover?

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“Three times a year all men must appear before the LORD your God at the place he will choose: at the Festival of Unleavened Bread, the Festival of Weeks, and the Festival of Booths. No one should appear before the LORD empty-handed” (Deuteronomy 16:16).

There are three pilgrimage festivals in the Jewish tradition that once required visiting the Temple in Jerusalem. They are called the “Shalosh Regalim” in Hebrew (from the root word regel or “foot”).

The cycle of these holidays begins in spring and ends in autumn. All three holidays are connected as they all have agricultural and historical significance.

These holidays are: Pesach (Passover or the “Festival of Unleavened Bread”), Shavuot (the “Festival of Weeks”), and Succot (the “Festival of Booths”).

  • Passover marks the beginning of the spring and the end of the barley season. It is, of course, also a celebration of the Exodus of the Israelites from slavery in Egypt.
    • Passover is a time for leaving…
  • Shavuot is a celebration of the first fruits of the late spring harvest. It also celebrates the revelation of Torah by God to the Israelites at Mount Sinai.
    • Shavuot is a time for receiving…
  • Succot, as we have learned, celebrates the fall harvest. It also recalls the experience of the Israelites wandering through the desert for 40 years after the exodus from Egypt.
    • Succot is a time for rejoicing…

When the ancient ancestors lived in the land of Israel, they would make a pilgrimage to the Temple in Jerusalem on these three festivals, where they would participate in various rituals in coordination with the services of the priests at the Temple.

Since the time of the destruction of the Second Temple in 70 CE, the actual pilgrimage is no longer considered obligatory and no longer takes place on a national scale. However, during synagogue services throughout the world, related biblical passages describing the holiday being observed are read aloud from the Torah scroll as part of the festival service. In Israel, many people living in or near Jerusalem make an effort to attend prayer services at the Western Wall as a way of following in the footsteps of the ancient pilgrims.

Succot Discussion Questions

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  1. Succot is a time to rejoice and celebrate.
    • What do you want to celebrate in your life?
    • Who would you like to celebrate with?
  2. There are two classical explanations for the holiday of Succot: one is that the Israelites lived in succot while traveling from Egypt to the Promised Land (“succah of wilderness”). The other is that they built temporary huts or booths during the fall harvest season once living in the Land of Israel (“succah of abundance”).
    • What is your “succah of abundance?” What do you have in abundance? How do you express your gratitude?
    • What is your “succah of wilderness?”
    • What do you have that is most precious? Where do you receive support when you feel most vulnerable?

    For Kids:

    • What do you have a lot of? Does it make you happy?
    • What do you have that is most precious? How would that change if you had lot of it?
  3. Succot is a celebration of the Fall harvest.
    • How do you celebrate? Apple picking? Gardening? Harvesting fall vegetables?
  4. The succah is a wonderful opportunity to celebrate with family, friends, neighbors and even new acquaintances.
    • Who would you like to invite into your succah this year?
    • Is there someone in your life that has passed away that you would like to join you in the succah this year?
    • Is there an historical or literary figure you would like to invite into the succah? Why?
  5. If possible, take the time to eat at least one meal with your family or friends in the succah this year. If you cannot sit in a succah, try a park or another beautiful outdoor space.
    • How is this different from your usual meals?
    • How does it feel eating a meal in the succah (or outdoors)?
  6. Succot marks the transition from fall to winter as we celebrate the autumn harvest.
    • How are you preparing for winter?
    • What do you enjoy most about the fall?
  7. As part of our Succot celebration, we hold the lulav and etrog in our hands and shake them in 6 directions: north, south, east, west, up, down, to signify the divine presence that infuses all of life.
    • Have you ever experienced God or the Divine Spirit in your life?
    • Is there a particular place where you feel a sense of connection with life as a whole?

 

Taking Down the Succah

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by Myra Outwater (of blessed memory, written some time during the 1980s)

For a while we have something special in our house. We feel a closeness and a feeling of unity with the ancient Israelites and Jews of all the years. We feel content with God’s blessings and with the knowledge that we have the freedom to worship as we want. Then the holiday is over and it is time to tear it down. Yet I always procrastinate. This year I kept it up for two more weeks and reluctantly decided tomorrow would be the day. Then I got a reprieve, as my husband invited someone over to see it – an older Jewish couple, who were so touched to see a succah today. They were very moved to see us, the younger generation, recreating something from their past in this very modern present.

Now I feel I have again seen the cycle of life and it is time now to tear the succah down for this year. I think of Ecclesiastes 3:1-8 (which we read during the Sabbath of Succot):

There is a time to build and a time to tear down that which was built and there is nothing new under the sun. Eventually, all that was ever true before will be true and have meaning again. For all those who think they can find a new meaning to life. They are wrong. It’s all there.

My succah is down now and there are only boards lying in the garage. The magic is gone. All the beauty was in the succah and not in the boards. The word dismemberment comes to my mind again and think of the slogan of the Jewish Federation this year. We are one. We are stronger and more meaningful as we work together then as individuals. Just as we come together in times of panic and threat, the sacred space of the succah provides us with a common sanctuary.

Frank Gehry, a Carp, and Your Bubbie Walk into a Shabbat Dinner: The History of Gefilte Fish

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If you’ve ever sat down for a Sabbath or Rosh Hashanah dinner with your family, you’ve probably seen it: a plate filled with gefilte fish. Maybe you arrived early and found a live carp swimming in the bathtub, blissfully unaware of its Sabbath fate. Gefilte literally means stuffed in Yiddish, making its name “stuffed fish.” Gefilte fish remains a classic, but why is it so ubiquitous? Interestingly, gefilte fish has holy roots, according to Chabad.org and The Gefilte Fish Chronicles: Companion Cookbook compiled by Iris Burnett.

Chabad.org points out that in the Torah’s depiction of the creation of the world, the word “blessing” is used three times, referring, in order, to the creation of fish, man, and Shabbat. Because it is a fish eaten by man on Shabbat, Gefilte fish is actually a triple blessing in disguise! Additionally, Chabad.org explains that each of the Hebrew letters has an assigned numerical value, and the letters in the Hebrew word for fish (dag) add up to seven. Therefore, it is fitting to eat fish on the seventh day of the week, the Sabbath. Finally, there is a tradition that when the messiah comes, the main dish at the great celebratory feast will be the Leviathan, or the primordial giant fish referred to briefly in the Bible. Sabbath fish, while not as gargantuan as this mythological beast, remind us of the possibility of future redemption.

But what makes gefilte fish different from all other fish? “The Gefilte Fish Chronicles” has some answers for us here: it’s all in the bones (or the lack thereof!). According to Jewish law, one cannot separate the edible parts of a fish from the indelible parts on the Sabbath, meaning that the carp had its bones removed on Friday. Before refrigeration was available, chopping the fish, adding onions or other vegetables, and then cooking the fish ensured that it did not go bad by Saturday. And so the gefilte fish was born.

gehry_sculture_fishWhile many Jews opt for premade or canned gefilte fish, the enduring legacy of the carp in the bathtub lives on. Renowned architect Frank Gehry, born Frank Goldberg, known internationally for his works, especially his fish inspired designs (pictured here), gleaned inspiration from childhood adventures to the fish market with his grandmother. In an interview, Gehry described the impact of these childhood gefilte memories, “In Toronto, when I was very young, my grandmother and I used to go to Kensington, a Jewish market, on Thursday morning. She would buy a carp for gefilte fish. She’d put it in the bathtub, fill the bathtub with water, and this big black carp—two or three feet long—would swim around in the bathtub and I would play with it. I would stand up there and watch it turn and twist . . . and then she’d kill it and make gefilte fish and that was always sad and awful and ugly.” However, he later came back to the beauty in the fish. “I was watching the beauty of carp swimming in a pool in Japan and thinking about how elegant and architectural they were. It inspired a beginning of a study of these forms . . . That study took a few years. It then became a language that I guess became Bilbao and a few other projects.” In Gehry’s buildings, we can physically see the history of Jewish cuisine around us.

The process for making prepackaged gefilte fish, a product many Jews opt to use, is also fascinating. According to Rabbi Hayum, the plant manager for Manischewitz, Manischewitz produces 4 million pounds of gefilte fish a year! With 6.5 million Jews in America, that’s 3/5 of a pound of gefilte fish for every American Jew. There are about 4½ pieces of gefilte fish per pound, so that’s almost 19 million pieces of gefilte fish a year! He described the surprisingly complicated process for making gefilte fish to us:

“The fish we buy in 45 pound frozen blocks. We use mainly four types: white fish, carp, pike, and mullet. We grind them a second time, and we add the additional ingredients,” Rabbi Hayum said. “Each recipe has a unique twist.” After all of the recipe-specific ingredients are added, the fish are pumped into a holding tank. From there, a machine called an extruder extracts the fish and makes them into that familiar gefilte fish shape. Once the fish are in this shape, they are taken to a blanching table, where they are cooked for three to four minutes. “They are cooked enough so they can be picked up and not fall apart,” Rabbi Hayum said. After that, the fish are manually packed into jars at the factory.

At the same time, broth is simmered in tanks in preparation to be added to the jars. Once the broth is ready, the fish go to a filler, which fills their jars with broth. Then, jars are loaded into large baskets. What happens to these large baskets is perhaps the biggest surprise of the production process. Over 800 baskets can be loaded into a machine called a retort, which is essentially a giant pressure cooker. There, the fish get fully cooked.

While gefilte fish isn’t as well known as it once was, Rabbi Hayum said that demand has remained fairly steady. “A lot of younger people are becoming more gourmet-ish, and they’re buying the frozen stuff and making their own,” Rabbi Hayum said. However, many still opt for the pre-packaged route.

So, the next time you head to Bubbie’s for Shabbat dinner, take a moment to appreciate those balls of fish, whether freshly made or fresh from the pressure cooker. And always remember to check the bathtub before you take a bath!

 

Succot Resources

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Here is a list of helpful Succot resources:

“Sukkot 101” – http://www.myjewishlearning.com/article/sukkot-101/

“Sukkot: Feast of Booths” – http://www.reformjudaism.org/jewish-holidays/sukkot

 “Sukkot FAQs: Building & Eating in the Sukkah” – https://www.ou.org/holidays/sukkot/sukkot-faqs/

Irving Greenberg, The Jewish Way: Living the Holidays (Touchstone)

Arthur Waskow, Seasons of Our Joy: A Modern Guide to the Jewish Holidays (Beacon Press)