Sukkot 2010: Feast of Tabernacles, or Building a Fort

by Jordan Yerman | September 22, 2010 at 08:24 am

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Sukkot 2010: Sept 22-29: Build a Fort!

Sukkot 2010 begins at sundown on September 22, running until sundown on September 29. Sukkot is also called "the Feast of Tabernacles", and falls on the 15th day of the Hebrew month of Tishrei. Sukkot literally translates to "booths" or "tabernacles".

Sukkot began as a sort of Jewish Thanksgiving, celebrating the harvest of crops and wine ("Feast of the Ingathering"). Historically, Sukkot commemorates the 40-year period during which the Israelites wandered the desert: a tabernacle, in its original sense, is a portable dwelling.

Constructing the sukkah is a key element in Sukkot, and people can get pretty creative: check out Sukkah City in NYC's Union Square. Basically, it's like building a fort: it can be made out of pretty much anything, as long as it has two and a half walls and is large enough for you to "dwell in".

The commandment to "dwell" in a sukkah can be fulfilled by simply eating all of one's meals there; however, if the weather, climate, and one's health permit, one should spend as much time in the sukkah as possible, including sleeping in it.

Couch cushions won't be sturdy enough for your dwelling. I did that, so hopefully you won't have to go through that.

Also see: 7 Guests, 7 Ways of Seeing, by Levi Ben-Schmuel