GuideGuide toto CelebratingCelebrating SukkotSukkot CREATED BY: NATIONAL JEWISH OUTREACH PROGRAM© WELCOME TO JEWISH TREATS Guide to Celebrating Sukkot Welcome to Jewish Treats Guide to Celebrating Credits Sukkot. Shake your lulav, grab a hammer and Founder: get ready to discover how to celebrate the Rabbi Ephraim Z. Buchwald Feast of the Tabernacles. From four species to Edited By: Sarah Rochel Hewitt Jewish four walls (well, really 2 1/2), the Content: Treats Guide to Celebrating Sukkot offers fun Sarah Rochel Hewitt facts and inspiring insights into the entire Social Media: Susanne Goldstone Rosenhouse holiday. We hope that you will use this guide Guest Contributors: to significantly enhance your own Sukkot Norene Gilletz, Sharon Langert, celebration. Sukkot photographs on page 7: sukkahoutlet.com From everyone at NJOP and Jewish Treats, we wish you a Chag Sukkot Sameach! EXPERIENCE NJOP’S SUKKOT ACROSS AMERICA Riverside, CA • San Francisco, CA • Toluca Lake, CA • West Hartford, CT • Boca Raton, FL • Coral Gables, FL • Savannah, GA • Waterloo, IA • Buffalo Grove, IL • Chicago, IL • Evanston, IL • Lincolnwood, IL • Urbana, IL • Indianapolis, IN • Amherst, MA • Baltimore, MD • Rockville, MD • Portland, ME • Oak Park, MI • Ypsilanti, MI • St. Louis, MO • Manalapan, NJ • Marlboro, NJ • Teaneck, NJ • Las Vegas, NV • Brooklyn, NY • New York, NY • Schenectady, NY • Staten Island, NY • Cleveland, OH • Portland, OR • Bensalem, PA • Elkins Park, PA • Philadelphia, PA • Newport, RI • Houston, TX • North Dallas, TX • Norfolk, VA • Seattle, WA • Madison, WI • Vancouver, British Columbia • Winnipeg, Manitoba From October 2nd to October 7th, all acrossAmerica, synagogues will be uniting in celebration of one of Inspired by Mr. Sam Domb; Dedicated by our most ancient traditions: Sukkot. For more information and to find a participating Sukkah Paul J. Taubman, in memory of his father, Joseph L. Taubman near you, please visit njop.org/SukkotAcrossAmerica. Table of Contents The Mitzvot of Sukkot............................................................1 Sukkot: The Time of Our Rejoicing ........................................2 Rejoicing Then and Now .......................................................3 The Four Species: Palm, Myrtle, Willow and Citron............................................4 What To Do with the Four Species.........................................5 The Four Species After Sukkot...............................................6 Lay’shayv Ba’sukkah: To Dwell In The Sukkah.......................7 What Is A Sukkah?................................................................7 Beautifying the Sukkah: Chic Sukkah Decor..........................9 Camping in the Fall?...........................................................10 Ushpezin .............................................................................11 The Water Holiday ..............................................................12 International Oxen..............................................................12 The Great Hoshana.............................................................13 Sukkot Cuisine ....................................................................14 International Customs of Sukkot .........................................15 The Next Day, The Next Holidays: Shemini Atzeret/Simchat Torah ...........................................16 Jewish Treats Guide to Sukkot The Mitzvot of Sukkot All Jewish holidays share certain basic mitzvot and rituals. With the exception of Yom Kippur, all festivals include festive meals that are eaten after the evening service and the morning service. These meals begin with both kiddush and ha’mo’tzee (the blessing over the wine and the blessing over two loaves of challah). The days are kept holy by being observed as if it were Shabbat (cooking and carrying, however, are permitted), and candles are lit at sunset. Each holiday also has its own unique mitzvot. The mitzvot of Sukkot are: Rejoice On Your Holiday “You shall keep the feast of tabernacles seven days... And you shall rejoice in your feast... and you shall be altogether joyful (Deuteronomy 16:13-15). To Wave The Four Species “And you shall take for yourselves on the first day, the fruit of a beautiful tree, the branch of a palm tree, a bough from the myrtle tree, and willows of the stream, and you shall rejoice be- fore your G-d for seven days” (Leviticus 23:40). To Dwell In A Sukkah “You shall dwell in sukkot seven days, every citizen in Israel shall dwell in sukkot, so that your descendants shall know that I caused the Children of Israel to dwell in sukkot when I brought them out of the land of Egypt” (Leviticus 23:42-43). Jewish TreatsTreats GuideGuide to SukkotSukkot 1 Sukkot: THE TIME OF OUR REJOICING “You shall keep the feast of tabernacles seven days... And you shall rejoice in your feast...and you shall be altogether joyful” (Deuteronomy 16:13-15). Rabbi Nachman of Breslov (1772-1810) result of witnessing the miracle of growth in declared: “Mitzvah gedolah lee’yoht b’simcha the field, people are moved to be thankful to tamid. - To always be happy is a great the Creator of all things. mitzvah.” The commandment to be happy is not included among the positive command- But what of the years when the harvest is not ments of the Torah except during the good? If Sukkot were purely an agricultural holiday of Sukkot. holiday, it would be cruel to command the farmers to rejoice on years that The Feast of the Tabernacles, as the crops failed. In fact, many Sukkot is called in English, is a commentators have associated seven day holiday in which the the directive to live in the sukkah Jewish people are commanded as a reminder to humankind that to live in temporary dwellings the success of their own handi- with thatch-like roofs. The other work is, and always will be, primary focus of the holiday is dependent upon Divine will. the waving of the four species, the lulav (palm), hadassim (myr- Sukkot is celebrated on the 15th tle) aravot (willow) and the etrog of Tishrei, less than one week (citron). One might ask why the after Yom Kippur and two weeks command to be happy is associ- after Rosh Hashana. During the ated with Sukkot rather than High Holidays, every man and Passover, when Jews celebrate woman approaches the Divine being redeemed from slavery in Egypt, or throne to beseech God to be forgiven for the Shavuot, when Jews celebrate receiving the sins they may have committed and to be Torah at Mount Sinai. cleansed of their misdeeds. At the end of Yom Kippur, it is assumed that the prayers for The holiday of Sukkot is celebrated at the time atonement have been accepted and that we of the harvest, when farmers bring in the fruits enter the new year with a clean slate. Sukkot of their labor, and everyone prepares for the is known as “Z’man Sim’chah’tay’nu,” the time onset of winter. This, too, serves as a spur for of our rejoicing, because the Jewish people people to be thankful that the ground brings are especially joyful knowing that the world forth such delights and that trees bear such has just been judged and, please God, their bountiful fruit. There is no question that, as a prayers for atonement have been accepted. Jewish Treats Guide Jewish TreatsTreats GuideGuide to SukkotSukkot 22 Rejoicing THEN AND NOW Although the mitzvah to rejoice in one’s feast is emphasized on the holiday of Sukkot, it is a mitzvah that applies to all the Jewish “feast” days. As with all of the mitzvot, the details of the mitzvah are elaborated on in the Talmud: Our Rabbis taught: A man is duty-bound to make his children and his household rejoice on a festival, for it is said, ‘And you shall rejoice on your feast, [you and your son, and your daughter, etc.]’ With what does he make them rejoice? With wine. Rabbi Judah said: Men with what is suitable for them, and women with, what is suitable for them. ‘Men with what is suitable for them’--with wine. And women with what? Rabbi Joseph recited: in Babylonia, with colored garments; in the Land of Israel, with ironed lined garments (Pesachim 109a). According to Jewish tradition, the key to a man’s heart really is through his stomach! More specifically, through meat and wine. For women, it seems that “retail therapy” is not as new a concept as one might think. In the days of the sages, and, in truth, for much of history, both a fine cut of meat and a new dress were luxury items. Today, although many of us still enjoy an attractive gift or a juicy steak, it is harder to connect these items to rejoicing. So how can one rejoice on the holidays in the 21st century? The presence of meat at an ancient meal represented a vast upgrade in menu. Whether one is able to fulfill the mitzvah of eating in the sukkah or not, one can, nevertheless, enhance the festival week by setting the table with attractive china (or nice dishware) and serving a favored delicacy. The gift of a new garment (whether given or purchased for oneself) represents another means of setting the festival days apart. It is commonly understood that the way one dresses influences the way one feels and acts. Wearing something new, or something which is usually reserved for special occasions, during the days of the festival is one more way of elevating the holiday and of keeping oneself in a festive spirit. Wine represents our ability to take the mundane and elevate it to the holy. This is an opportunity that we have every day of our lives, but all the more so on the Jewish festivals when we use wine to sanctify the day. Jewish TreatsTreats GuideGuide to SukkotSukkot 3 The Four Species: PALM, MYRTLE, WILLOW AND CITRON Aravot/Two Willow Branches: Lulav/Branch of a Palm Tree: The aravot, which are bound to A lulav is actually the closed the left side of the lulav (slightly frond of a date palm tree. A lower than the hadassim) should nice lulav is green, with no signs have reddish stems with green, of dryness. It should be straight, moist leaves. The leaves should without any bends or twists near be long, narrow and smooth- the top. The tip and top leaves edged, with no nips or tears.