Sukkot

The Festival of Sukkot begins on the fifth day after Yom Kippur. The holiday commemorates the forty-year period during which the children of Israel were wandering in the desert. Sukkot is also a harvest festival.

חג- Festival

להנציח- commemorates

קציר, אסיף- harvest

In honor of the children of Israel in the wilderness, people dwell or at least eat their meals in temporary shelters. This shelter is called a sukkah. The sukkah has at least three sides and a partially open roof covered with greenery. Part of the fun of sukkot is decorating the sukkah with fruits and, autumn vegetables.

שטח פתוח- wilderness

לגור- dwell

מחסה- shelter

צמחיה ירוקה- greenery

לקשט- decorating

Another observance during Sukkot involves what are known as The Four Species or the lulav and etrog. The lulav consists of a palm branch, a myrtle branch, and a willow branch bound together. The etrog is a citrus fruit native to Israel and is held separately. With these four species in hand, one recites a blessing and waives the species in all six directions (east, south, west, north, up and down).

ארבעת המינים- Four Species

הדס- myrtle

לדקלם- recites

A traditional midrash explains that the four species represent different types of Jews, with taste equated with learning and smell with good deeds. The etrog, which is both tasty and aromatic, represents those who study Torah and do good deeds; the lulav, which has no smell but produces tasty fruit, those who study but do not act; the myrtle, which has smell but no taste, those who do good deeds but do not study; the willow, with neither taste nor smell, represents those who neither study nor act. According to the midrash, all four types are necessary to a community

להשוות- equated

מעשה, עשייה- deeds

ריחני- aromatic

הדס- myrtle

ערבה- willow

The sukkah is meant to be enjoyed, to share meals in with friends, family and perhaps others who could use the companionship and the chance to participate in a mitzvah. There is also a tradition from the mystics of Safed, that on each of the seven nights of Sukkot, one of the biblical heroes are symbolically invited to sit in the sukkah. Called ushpizin, these invisible guests provide a link with Jewish history. After entering the sukkah, it is customary to partake of food and wine, saying the blessing over the wine, a festival Kiddush, and including on the first night a Sheh-hechianu, praising God for giving us life and enabling us to reach this moment. The following blessing is also said:

Baruch atah Adonai, eloheynu melech ha-olam a-sher kid'shanu b'mitzvotav v'tzi-vanu leysheyv ba-sukkah.

ידידות- companionship

מיסטיקה- mystics

נהוג- customary

להתכבד- partake

The evening of the seventh day of Sukkot,(Hoshanah Rabba), starts the Yom Tov called Shemini Atzeret - Simchat Torah.
Is the time we complete the annual cycle of weekly Torah Parsha readings. We read the last Torah portion, Devarim, Parshat V'zot Habracha, and then proceed immediately to the first Parsha of Bereishit, reminding us that the Torah is a circle, which never ends.

להתקדם- proceed

Chag Semayach!