Under The Sukkah

{Opinion | Blog }

What is Sukkot?
Sukkot for All the World?
Hostage Release
Our Sukkot Campout
Under the Sukkah

( I’m not sure why wordpress started showing advertisements on my post, so I will have to look into that. My apologies, in the meantime, I did not put the advertisements.)

What is Sukkot?

Earlier this month, all around the world, little booths were set up, not for Halloween, but for the annual holy day celebration of the Jewish feast of Sukkot.

What is Sukkot??

I’m so glad you asked! 😉

Sukkot (soo-kote) is a Jewish holy day held in the fall season, in the month of Tishrei. It commemorates the time of refuge found by the Israelites during their nomadic wilderness journey out of Egypt, when they lived in temporary dwelling places and were fully dependent on divine provisions.

In modern times, it is celebrated worldwide by families, individuals and congregations with traditions such as building a sukkah (a pre-defined type of hut), hanging harvest fruit, waving the “four species” and sleeping under the stars. It holds great spiritual significance and is a festival to practice joy, even in times of darkness or hardship.

It comes right after two other major Jewish holy days – Rosh Hashanah (a type of new year) and Yom Kippur (a solemn fast day) and is one of the 3 pilgrimage feasts, along with Pesach (Passover) and Shavuot (Feast of Weeks).

For seven days, Jews, and others who celebrate, dwell in a sukkah, or sukkot (plural)…little huts made to barely withstand the elements and with the requirement of having a roof that allows for seeing the stars. These little huts are the center of daily activities during the festive week of Sukkot. They are decorated and families spend time reciting blessings, reading the book of Ecclesiastes and of course, eating delicious food!

With the recently passed holy days of Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur, it can be a great time of reflection over the past years “wilderness” and deliverance from experienced difficulties and trials, with gratitude for all this vain life gives us.

In our world, as I think we all can agree these days, there is so much vanity. There is so much distress and calamity all around the world. Sometimes, it can beg us to ask the soul-searching questions of “why?” Why is there so much suffering? Why can’t we all just get along and have world peace? Why so much corruption? Why do my efforts so often end in failure? What is the point of life? What is the point of doing anything with no guarantee of its outcome? Does anyone care?

These may seem like weak-minded questions to some, but they were asked by a wise man called King Solomon of ancient Israel¹ and these questions remind us that it’s okay to be human, to not have all the answers, to not have to front about how difficult life can be at times.

While the book of Ecclesiastes can be somewhat depressing, it encourages people to enjoy the life they have, and the bounty of their harvest or the labor of their hands, and to live uprightly, because, what else can you do?

“So I commended pleasure, for there is nothing good for a person under the sun except to eat, drink, and be joyful, and this will stand by him in his labor throughout the days of his life which God has given him under the sun.” – The Wisdom Of Solomon²

To balance things out, the festival is also centered around the mitzvah or commandment to be joyful. For more advice on how to make it happen, even if maybe you don’t think you can, check out this article from MyJewishLearning.com – You Shall Be Joyful

Or listen to this song: “Joy”… by Andy Grammer, American singer-songwriter³, who currently practices Baha’i faith, but was raised Jewish. His wife is Jewish and they named their daughter Israel Blue⁴ (along with daughter Louisiana). He has been an advocate for mental health and in 2020 he did a joint performance with the Jerusalem Youth Chorus⁵ as they sang one of his hit songs, “Don’t Give Up On Me.”

The Jerusalem Youth Chorus is made up of Palestinian and Israeli youth with a mission to raise their voices “to push back against the violence surrounding [them]—to reject war, occupation, and terror, and instead sing out for peace, justice, inclusion, and equality.” In speaking of his recording with them, Andy mentions “the bravery through music” as some of them don’t even have support of their own families or schools.

The Israeli-Palestinian conflict has been heart-breaking and not easy to bear for many of us, including myself, so seeing dedicated groups like this is so inspiring and gives me hope for humanity. For that, I’m also including the very touching Jerusalem Youth Chorus performance for

Joy – Andy Grammer

How To Build A Sukkah

Want to learn how to build a sukkah? You can web search or video search to find plenty of instructional guides online or call up your local rabbi or feast-keeping congregation!

Here is a wonderful little demonstration put on by Lego enthusiasts:

https://www.myjewishlearning.com/article/laws-for-building-a-sukkah/

https://reformjudaism.org/sukkot-customs-and-rituals

Sukkot For All the World?

Is everyone tired of all the division and warfare around the world yet? Wouldn’t it be nice if there were a holiday dedicated to all the world getting along together? A time of peace and joy and thanksgiving where there are no wars or fighting or killing, no famine or hardship?

Well, as it turns out, many Torah and Bible scholars believe the text of Zechariah 14 is an unfulfilled prophecy, set in a futuristic time, when the whole world will be offered a chance to enter a new age, a messianic age, when the king of Jerusalem will be the king over all the earth and will command all nations that survive the last great battle to come and celebrate the feast of booths, Sukkot, which will ensure a provision of rain in their lands.

The Prophetic Joy of Sukkot – The Feast That Points to Eternity

Sounds a little crazy, right? But what if there are signs it’s already starting to happen?

While Sukkot is a Jewish holy day, various Christian* groups participate in the holy days as well, such as Messianic Jews, Hebrew Israelites, ICEJ, Church of God, 12 Tribes community and so on. (*some of these do not identify with carrying the label Christian).

(I am writing from the perspective of one of these Christ-followers, whom I recognize as the King of the Jews, of all the people of Israel, and of all the world. (Feel free to disagree :))

“When the ICEJ was founded forty years ago during the first Christian celebration of the Feast of Tabernacles in 1980, there were very few Christians worldwide who knew about or observed Sukkot,” said ICEJ President Dr. Jürgen Bühler. “But today, there are millions of Christians around the globe who are discovering this biblical festival and joining in its traditions, such as building sukkahs and waving the four elements.” – ICEJ⁶

Sukkot – A Celebration For Every Nation! – TheLandOfIsrael.com

ICEJ Helps Ethiopian Jews Fulfill the Dream of Coming Home

A Sukkot tradition gains new meaning at a Native American pow-wow

Hostage Release

To put the icing on the cake for anyone who was celebrating Sukkot this month, the festival of joy became even more joyful with the long-awaited release of the final Israeli hostages. Many who had tears of sorrow, now had tears of joy, including the Palestinians released by Israel.

From Hostages’ Square: The Day Israel Welcomed Its Captives Home

ALL ISRAELI HOSTAGES RELEASED As 20 Nations Convene

https://www.ajc.org/news/who-are-the-palestinian-prisoners-freed-in-the-israel-hamas-deal

https://apnews.com/article/gaza-israel-hamas-hostages-ceasefire-10-13-2025-9e4921406e846189c90144609c1a9530

Joy at the Harvest: ICEJ Feast welcomes release of hostages, potential peace

Our Sukkot Campout

Usually, we Sukkot during our fall powwow camp-out, but this year we joined friends to celebrate the feast together after a sort-of personal “aliyah” back to my faith. And it was one of the best times I’ve ever had. Outside of the quality spiritual talks and bonding we had, we did some fun activities like paddle-boarding, kayaking (getting solar-charged!) and my favorite… dancing! Lots of dancing!

Sukkot Adventures and Dancing!

Here, we are holding the lulav and etrog.

Looking through the cracks between the palms of the Sukkah roof to peer through to the moon and stars reminds me of a condition we share in humanity: trying to see through our natural lens that limits our understanding of life and the universe. We know there is so much more out there than we can comprehend in one lifetime.

“When I devoted my mind to know wisdom and to see the business which has been done on the earth (even though one should [m]never sleep day or night), and I saw every work of God, I concluded that one cannot discover the work which has been done under the sun. Even though a person laboriously seeks, he will not discover; and even if the wise person claims to know, he cannot discover.” – King Solomon⁷

Everyone fights to know and promote what they see as “truth”, ruling out others views, but under the Sukkah, each view is a little different. We all see something a little different… maybe different stars, maybe different parts of the moon, maybe a clear sky, maybe a few raindrops or tree branches, maybe more or less hanging fruit.

Each of our views are a little different from someone else’s, but we’re all enjoying a shared view of a shared sky who’s endless limits belong to no one, and there’s nothing wrong with appreciating someone else’s point of view as being just a different angle and perspective.

Looking out at the stars often causes us not just to wonder about what we see, but what we don’t see, and whether there is more out there, perhaps looking back at us.

As each of us go through the wilderness of life, may we remember that everything has a season, everything a beginning and an ending; and sometimes what looks like the most hopeless of times or situations, might just be the necessary point of rebirth, renewal and recreation of life.