Festival of Shelters

The Festival of Shelters (also known as Sukkot) commemorates the forty years that the people of Israel spent wandering in the wilderness. It is also a pilgrimage festival (Deuteronomy 16:16), along with Passover and the Harvest Festival. People would go on a pilgrimage to Jerusalem and the Temple for these festivals.

The rules for the Festival of Shelters can be found in Leviticus 23:33-43. During this festival, people slept in small walled structures called “booths” or “tabernacles” (sukkot), which recalled the forty years Israel spent in the desert after leaving Egypt. Staying in these booths reminded the people of Israel of their vulnerability and their need for God’s protection.

The festival is celebrated on the fifteenth day of the month Tishrei (September/October) and lasts for seven days. There is a Sabbath or rest day at the beginning and at the end of the festival.

The Festival of Shelters has more traditions: three plants (lulav) and a citrus fruit (etrog) are tied together. In the Jewish tradition it is customary to point and shake these plants in the four directions, as well as up (heaven) and down (earth). It is also customary to sing Psalms 113–118 in order to emphasise the joyful nature of the festival. In the synagogue, the book of Ecclesiastes is read, because of its message about the fleeting nature of existence.

Nowadays, on the last day of the Festival of Shelters, Simchat Torah or Joy of the Torah is celebrated. The end of Deuteronomy and the beginning of Genesis are read, which are the end and the beginning of the Torah. The Torah scrolls are then carried through the synagogue, accompanied by singing and dancing.