sukkot

• gets its name from the hebrew for 'booth' or 'dwelling'
• reminder when the jewish people or hebrews dwelt in booths as they wondered in the wilderness in sinai for 40 years before entering the promised land
• sukkot is a mitzvah since g-d commanded the festival to be established in the torah
• SOWA:

  " I brought them out of the land of egypt, I the lord your god" (lev 23:33-43)
• building a sukkah:

  follow g-ds command in the torah, a reminder of the shelters the israelites lived in during their wanderings in the sinai wilderness
• roof must be put on last called a schach
• must not completely cover the sukkot you must be able to see the stars at night and rain must go through it
• lulav and etrog together known as the four species
• four species could represent two things:

  • ingathering of the harvest
  • unity of israel
• lulav and etrog are shaken in all directions everyday of sukkot to show g-d is present everywhere
• reading of the book of ecclesiastes at the synagogue morning service
• sukkot known as festival of ingathering
• ecclesiastes shakes our contentment with the reminder that worldly accomplishments are fleeting and empty