Feast of Tabernacles (Sukkot)
15th Day through the 23rd Day of the 7th Month
Overview
The Feast of Tabernacles (Sukkot), sometimes referred to as the “Feast of Booths” or the “Feast of Ingathering”, is held from the 15th day of the 7th month through the 23rd day of the 7th month, lasting 8 days.
The Feast of Tabernacles is a mo’edim (appointed time) that is to be celebrated each year (forever) according to Torah.
Torah Requirements
General commandments:
- The 15th day of the 7th month is a Shabbat (day of rest) – no laborious work is to be done
- The 23rd day of the 7th month is a Shabbat (day of rest) – no laborious work is to be done
- All 8 days of the Feast of Tabernacles are to be spent in the place where YHVH puts His Name (Jerusalem)
- On the first day of the Feast of Tabernacles (the 15th day of the 7th month) you are to take the fruit of majestic trees, palm branches, boughs of oak trees and willows of the valley
- All native born Israelites are to dwell (sit) in booths (tabernacles) for the first 7 days during the Feast of Tabernacles
- Everyone (regardless of whether they are a native born Israelite or not) is to rejoice before YHVH each day using the fruit and branches collected on the 1st day of the Feast of Tabernacles
- 2 silver trumpets are to be blown over the burnt offerings
Required burnt offerings (`olah) for day 1:
- 13 young male bulls without blemish
- 2 rams without blemish
- 14 male lambs, each 1 year old, without blemish
Required burnt offerings (`olah) for day 2:
- 12 young male bulls without blemish
- 2 rams without blemish
- 14 male lambs, each 1 year old, without blemish
Required burnt offerings (`olah) for day 3:
- 11 young male bulls without blemish
- 2 rams without blemish
- 14 male lambs, each 1 year old, without blemish
Required burnt offerings (`olah) for day 4:
- 10 young male bulls without blemish
- 2 rams without blemish
- 14 male lambs, each 1 year old, without blemish
Required burnt offerings (`olah) for day 5:
- 9 young male bulls without blemish
- 2 rams without blemish
- 14 male lambs, each 1 year old, without blemish
Required burnt offerings (`olah) for day 6:
- 8 young male bulls without blemish
- 2 rams without blemish
- 14 male lambs, each 1 year old, without blemish
Required burnt offerings (`olah) for day 7:
- 7 young male bulls without blemish
- 2 rams without blemish
- 14 male lambs, each 1 year old, without blemish
Required burnt offerings (`olah) for day 8:
- 1 young male bull without blemish
- 1 ram without blemish
- 7 male lambs, each 1 year old, without blemish
Required food offerings (minchah) for the burnt offerings (`olah) for each day:
- Flour mixed with oil (3/10 of an ephah for each of the bulls, 2/10 of an ephah for each of the rams, 1/10 of an ephah for each of the lambs)
Required sin offerings (chatta’ah) for each day:
- 1 male goat
Feast of Tabernacles in the Torah
Exodus 23:14 Three times in the year you shall make a feast to Me.
Exodus 23:15 You shall keep the Feast of Unleavened Bread. Seven days you shall eat unleavened bread, as I have commanded you, at the set time of the month of Aviv. For in it you came out from Egypt, and they shall not appear before Me empty.
Exodus 23:16 Also the Feast of Harvest, the first fruits of your labor, of what you sow in the field. Also the Feast of Ingathering, at the going out of the year, at your gathering your work from the field.
Exodus 23:17 Three times in the year every one of your males shall appear before the Adon YAHWEH.
Exodus 23:18 You shall not offer the blood of My sacrifice with leaven. And the fat of My feast shall not pass the night until morning.
Exodus 34:22 And you shall observe a Feast of Weeks for yourself, the first-fruits of the harvest of wheat; also the Feast of Ingathering after the turn of the year.
Exodus 34:23 Three times in the year every male of yours shall be seen before the face of Adonai YAHWEH, the Elohim of Israel.
Leviticus 23:33 And YAHWEH spoke to Moses, saying,
Leviticus 23:34 Speak to the sons of Israel, saying, In the fifteenth day of this seventh month shall be a Feast of Booths, seven days to YAHWEH.
Leviticus 23:35 On the first day shall be a holy gathering; you shall do no laborious work.
Leviticus 23:36 Seven days you shall bring a fire offering to YAHWEH; on the eighth day you shall have a holy gathering; and you shall bring the fire offering to YAHWEH; it is a solemn assembly; you shall do no laborious work of service.
Leviticus 23:37 These are the set feasts of YAHWEH which you shall proclaim, holy gatherings, to bring a fire offering to YAHWEH, a burnt offering, and a food offering, a sacrifice, and drink offerings, the thing of a day on its own day;
Leviticus 23:38 besides the Sabbaths of YAHWEH, and besides your gifts, and besides all your vows, and besides all your freewill offerings which you shall give to YAHWEH.
Leviticus 23:39 Also, in the fifteenth day of the seventh month, when you gather the increase of the land, you shall keep the feast of YAHWEH seven days; on the first day a Holy Day Sabbath, and on the eighth day a Holy Day Sabbath.
Leviticus 23:40 And you shall take to yourselves on the first day the fruit of majestic trees, palm branches, and boughs of oak trees, and willows of the valley, and shall rejoice before YAHWEH your Elohim seven days.
Leviticus 23:41 And you shall celebrate it a feast to YAHWEH, seven days in a year, a never ending statute throughout your generations; in the seventh month you shall keep it.
Leviticus 23:42 You shall sit in Sookkuhs for seven days; all who are native in Israel shall sit down in Sookkuhs,
Leviticus 23:43 so that your generations shall know that I caused the sons of Israel to live in Sookkuhs, when I brought them out of the land of Egypt; I am YAHWEH your Elohim.
Leviticus 23:44 And Moses declared the appointed feasts of YAHWEH to the sons of Israel.
Numbers 10:1 And YAHWEH spoke to Moses, saying,
Numbers 10:2 Make two trumpets of silver for yourself. You shall make them of hammered work, and they shall be to you for the calling of the congregation, and for causing the camps to pull up stakes.
Numbers 10:3 And when they blow with them, all the congregation shall gather themselves to you at the door of the tent of meeting.
Numbers 10:4 And if they blow with one, then the rulers, the heads of the thousands of Israel, shall assemble to you.
Numbers 10:5 And when you blow an alarm, the camps that lie on the east side shall then pull up stakes.
Numbers 10:6 And when you blow an alarm the second time, the camps that lie on the south side shall pull up stakes; they shall blow an alarm for their journeys.
Numbers 10:7 But when the assembly is gathered, you shall blow, but you shall not sound an alarm.
Numbers 10:8 And the sons of Aaron, the priests, shall blow with the trumpets. And they shall be to you for a never ending statute throughout your generations.
Numbers 10:9 And when you go into battle in your land against the foe distressing you, then you shall blow with the trumpets, and you shall be remembered before YAHWEH your Elohim. And you shall be saved from your enemies.
Numbers 10:10 And in the day of your gladness, and in your appointed times, and in your new moons, you shall blow the trumpets over your burnt offerings, and over the sacrifices of your peace offerings. And they shall be to you for a memorial before your Elohim. I am YAHWEH your Elohim.
Numbers 29:12 And on the fifteenth day of the seventh month, you shall have a holy gathering; you shall do no work of service; and you shall celebrate a feast to YAHWEH seven days.
Numbers 29:13 And you shall offer a burnt offering, a fire offering, a soothing fragrance to YAHWEH: thirteen bulls, sons of the herd, two rams, fourteen lambs, sons of a year; they shall be without blemish;
Numbers 29:14 and their food offerings, flour mixed with oil, three tenths parts to the one bull, for the thirteen bulls; two tenths parts to each of the two rams;
Numbers 29:15 and one tenth part to each of the fourteen lambs;
Numbers 29:16 and one kid of the goats, a sin offering, besides the continual burnt offering, its food offering and its drink offering.
Numbers 29:17 And on the second day twelve bulls, sons of the herd, two rams, fourteen lambs, sons of a year, without blemish;
Numbers 29:18 and their food offerings, and their drink offerings for the bulls, for the rams, and for the lambs, in their number, according to the ordinance;
Numbers 29:19 and one kid of the goats, a sin offering; besides the continual burnt offering, and its food offering, and their drink offerings.
Numbers 29:20 And in the third day eleven bulls, two rams, fourteen lambs, sons of a year, without blemish;
Numbers 29:21 and their food offerings, and their drink offerings for the bulls, for the rams, and for the lambs, in their number, according to the ordinance;
Numbers 29:22 and one goat as a sin offering; besides the continual burnt offering, and its food offering, and its drink offering.
Numbers 29:23 And on the fourth day ten bulls, two rams, fourteen lambs, sons of a year, without blemish;
Numbers 29:24 their food offering, and their drink offerings for the bulls, for the rams, and for the lambs, in their number, according to the ordinance;
Numbers 29:25 and one kid of the goats, a sin offering, besides the continual burnt offering, and its food offering, and its drink offering.
Numbers 29:26 And on the fifth day nine bulls, two rams, fourteen lambs, sons of a year, without blemish;
Numbers 29:27 their food offering, and their drink offerings for the bulls, for the rams and for the lambs, in their number, according to the ordinance;
Numbers 29:28 and one goat, a sin offering; besides the continual burnt offering, and its food offering, and its drink offering.
Numbers 29:29 And on the sixth day eight bulls, two rams, fourteen lambs, sons of a year, without blemish;
Numbers 29:30 their food offerings, and their drink offerings for the bulls, for the rams, and for the lambs, in their number, according to the ordinance;
Numbers 29:31 and one goat, a sin offering; besides the continual burnt offering, and its food offering, and its drink offering.
Numbers 29:32 And on the seventh day seven bulls, two rams, fourteen lambs, sons of a year, without blemish;
Numbers 29:33 their food offerings, and their drink offerings for the bulls, for the rams, and for the lambs, in their number, according to the ordinance;
Numbers 29:34 and one goat, a sin offering; besides the continual burnt offering, and its food offering, and its drink offering.
Numbers 29:35 And you shall have a solemn assembly on the eighth day; you shall do no work of service.
Numbers 29:36 And you shall offer a burnt offering, a fire offering, a soothing fragrance to YAHWEH: one bull, one ram, seven lambs, sons of a year, without blemish;
Numbers 29:37 their food offerings, and their drink offerings for the bull, for the ram, and for the lambs, in their number, according to the ordinance;
Numbers 29:38 and one goat, a sin offering, besides the continual burnt offering, and its food offering, and its drink offering.
Numbers 29:39 You shall prepare these for YAHWEH in your appointed seasons, apart from your vows and your freewill offerings, for your burnt offerings, and for your food offerings, and for your drink offerings, and for your peace offerings.
Numbers 29:40 And Moses spoke to the sons of Israel according to all that YAHWEH had commanded Moses.
Deuteronomy 14:21 You shall not eat of anything that died of itself. You may give it to the alien who is within your gates, that he may eat it. Or you may sell it to a foreigner. For you are a holy people to YAHWEH your Elohim. You shall not boil a kid in its mother’s milk.
Deuteronomy 14:22 Tithing you shall tithe all the increase of your seed that the field yields year by year.
Deuteronomy 14:23 And you shall eat before YAHWEH your Elohim in the place which He shall choose to cause His name to dwell there (Jerusalem), the tithe of your grain, of your wine, and of your oil, and the first-lings of your herd and of your flock; that you may learn to fear YAHWEH your Elohim all your days.
Deuteronomy 14:24 And if the way is too long for you, so that you cannot carry it, because the place is too far from you which YAHWEH your Elohim shall choose to set His name there, when YAHWEH your Elohim shall bless you;
Deuteronomy 14:25 Then you shall give it for silver, and bind up the silver in your hand. And you shall go to the place which YAHWEH your Elohim shall choose (Jerusalem).
Deuteronomy 14:26 And you shall pay the silver for whatever your soul rightly desires, for oxen, or for sheep, or for wine, or for fermented drink, or for whatever your soul desires. And you shall eat there before YAHWEH your Elohim, and you shall rejoice, you and your household.
Deuteronomy 14:27 And you shall not forsake the Levite who is within your gates, for he has no portion nor inheritance with you.
Deuteronomy 14:28 At the end of three years, even the same year, you shall bring forth all the tithe of your increase, and shall lay it up within your gates.
Deuteronomy 14:29 And the Levite, because he has no portion nor inheritance with you, and the alien, and the fatherless, and the widow who are within your gates shall come and shall eat and be satisfied; so that YAHWEH your Elohim may bless you in all the work of your hand which you do.
Deuteronomy 16:13 You shall perform the Feast of Tabernacles seven days after you have gathered in from your grain-floor, and from your winepress.
Deuteronomy 16:14 And you shall rejoice in your feast, you and your son, and your daughter, and your male slave, and your slave-girl, and the Levite, and the alien, and the fatherless, and the widow that are inside your gates.
Deuteronomy 16:15 You shall keep a solemn feast seven days to YAHWEH your Elohim in the place which YAHWEH shall choose (Jerusalem); for YAHWEH your Elohim shall bless you in all your produce, and in every work of your hands, and you shall be altogether joyful.
Deuteronomy 16:16 Three times in a year shall all your males appear before YAHWEH your Elohim in the place which He shall choose (Jerusalem): In the Feast of Unleavened Bread, and in the Feast of Weeks and in the Feast of Tabernacles. And they shall not appear before YAHWEH empty,
Deuteronomy 16:17 but each with his gift of his hand, according to the blessing of YAHWEH your Elohim, which He has given you.
Jewish Traditions
NOTE: Some of the Jewish traditions associated with the Feast of Tabernacles are steeped in Kabbalah beliefs. More information on the Kabbalah aspects of the Feast of Tabernacles can be found here at Chabad.org.
The Days of Sukkot
Jewish people celebrate the Feast of Tabernacles (Sukkot) slightly differently than prescribed in Torah.
If you are living in Israel, then the 1st day of Sukkot starts on the 15th day of the 7th month, and it is a Shabbat of rest, just as Torah instructs. If you are living outside of Israel in the diaspora, you are to add an extra day and begin celebrating Sukkot on the 14th day of the 7th month and observe both days as a Shabbat of rest.
On these days, festive meals are preceded with Kiddush (sanctification blessing given over wine or grape juice) and contain 2 loaves of challah (bread) dipped in honey. The meals are finished with blessings of thanksgiving, songs and discussions of Torah.
The remaining days, until the 24th day of the 7th month, are called “chol hamoed” (weekdays during a holiday). They are treated as “quasi-holy days” and daily work is permitted on these days.
The 24th day of the 7th month (the 8th day of Sukkot) is observed as an independent holy day called Shemini Atzeret (or Simchat Torah), when the yearly Torah reading cycle is begun again. This period lasts for 2 days (the 24th and 25th days of the 7th month) for those outside of Israel in the diaspora. It is a Shabbat of rest, but it is no longer required to live in a tabernacle (sukkah) or celebrate with the 4 fruit and branches (those prescribed in the Torah) during this time.
The Four Kinds
The 4 fruit and branches to be collected (according to Torah) are known as the “Four Kinds” (arba minim). According to Jewish tradition, they are:
- 1 etrog (citron), although some believe this should be a pomegranate
- 1 lulav (palm frond)
- 3 hadassim (myrtle twigs)
- 2 aravot (willow twigs)
Before the holiday, the hadassim and aravot are bound to the lulav.
Celebration with the Four Kinds happens on each day except the Sabbath days. On each day of Sukkot they hold the lulav in their right hand and say:
- Bah-rookh ah-tah ah-doh-noi eh-loh-hay-noo meh-lekh hah-oh-lahm ah-sher ki-deh-shah-noo beh-mitz-voh-tahv veh-tzee-vah-noo ahl neh-tee-laht loo-lahv.
- Blessed are You, Lord our God, King of the Universe, who has sanctified us with His commandments and commanded us regarding taking the lulav.
Then they pick up the etrog in their left hand.
At this time, if it is the first day of Sukkot (or the first time on Sukkot that they celebrate with the Four Kinds), they add this blessing:
- Bah-rookh ah-tah ah-doh-noi eh-loh-hay-noo meh-lekh hah-oh-lahm sheh-heh-kheh-yah-noo veh-kee-mah-noo ve-hig-ee-yah-noo liz-mahn hah-zeh.
- Blessed are You, Lord our God, King of the Universe, who has granted us life, sustained us and enabled us to reach this occasion.
Next, they bring the lulav (bound with the hadassim and aravot) and etrog together in their hands and wave them gently in all six directions – right, left, forward, up, down and backward.
The Jewish sages claim that the Four Kinds represent the various personalities that comprise the community of Israel, whose intrinsic unity is emphasized on Sukkot.
Building a Tabernacle (Sukkah)
According to Jewish law, certain rules are observed concerning the building of the Sukkah:
- There is to be no roof or tree over the sukkah location.
- You must have at least two walls and a partial third wall.
- The walls must be at least 3 feet tall.
- The walls need to be somewhat firm.
- The floor space is expected to be at least 16 square cubits (distance from elbow to tip of middle finger).
- The covering must have been harvested from the ground.
- The covering cannot be a food-type plant.
- The covering cannot have been pre-fashioned into a roof.
- The covering cannot have beams wider than 1 foot.
- The covering must only be a form of shade and not a solid roof, but must create more shade than allowing sun to come through.
- You can be creative in decorating the sukkah.
Dwelling in the Tabernacle (Sukkah)
The Jewish people dwell in tabernacles (sukkahs) throughout the entire Feast of Sukkot. As much time as possible is spent in the sukkah and as many meals as possible are eaten in the sukkah. At the very minimum, the special feast meal on the 1st day (or 1st 2 days if outside of Israel) must be eaten in the sukkah.
Before eating in the sukkah, they say the following blessing:
- Bah-rookh ah-tah ah-doh-noi eh-loh-hay-noo meh-lekh hah-oh-lahm ah-sher ki-deh-shah-noo beh-mitz-voh-tahv veh-tzee-vah-noo lay-shayv bah-soo-kah.
- Blessed are You, Lord our God, King of the universe, who has sanctified us with His commandments, and commanded us to dwell in the sukkah.
Every day of Sukkot they say Hallel (the psalms of praise from Psalms 113-118) as part of their morning prayer service.
Afterward, they circle the bimah (the podium on which the Torah is read, sometimes in a synagogue and sometimes in the open air) holding the Four Kinds, reciting alphabetically arranged prayers for Divine assistance known as Hoshanot.
The 7th day of Sukkot is known as Hoshanah Rabbah. This is the day when they believe their fates for the coming year, which were signed on Feast of Trumpets (Rosh Hashanah, Jewish New Year, at the start of the Days of Awe) and sealed on the Day of Atonement (Yom Kippur, at the conclusion of the Days of Awe), are finalized. On this 7th day they circle the bimah seven times. They also say a short prayer and strike the ground five times with bundles of five willows (aravot). This ceremony is known as Hoshanot.
It is customary each night to hold night-long celebrations that include singing and dancing (and even live music during the intermediate days of the holiday) called “Simchat Beit Hasho’evah”. This is in lieu of the special celebrations that centered around the wine libations poured on the altar in the Temple before 70 AD.
More details on the Jewish traditions surrounding the Feast of Tabernacles can be found here at Chabad.org.