Jewish Festival of Sukkot - Essay Example

Jewish festival of Sukkot Rituals entail a series of events or activities that involve symbolic language and are usually performed in sacred places; rituals have been a common feature of all known human communities or societies all over the world. Religious rituals vary greatly between different faiths and denominations; among the Christians, songs, prayers and sermons are common features of worship services in churches on Sundays. Judaism is one of the oldest religious of the world today, with nearly 14 million people identifying themselves as Jews in the 21st century. The concept of God is at the core of Jewish theology and since Jews generally believe in the worship of one God, the principal figure in Judaism is “the Messiah”; holidays on the Jewish calendar are extremely significant, particularly because they honour important historic events. Holidays on the Jewish calendar are also important because they highlight exceptional periods in the year apart from celebrating crucial times in the lives of the Jews; a vast majority of the Jewish holidays are based on the Hebrew Scriptures; this paper will explore the Jewish festival of Sukkot. Similarly referred to as the “Feast of Booths” or the “Feast of Tabernacles”, Sukkot is one of the significant festivals on the Jewish calendar and is observed on the 15th day of the so-called month of “Tishrei” (Rich 2011); Sukkah usually comes in the fall, precisely from late September to late October. The festival of sukkot has double significance, historically and agriculturally; in the historical sense, Sukkot is an important festival to the Jews because it reminds them about the forty years during which they wandered through the desert on their way to the Promised Land and stayed in temporary shelters. Agriculturally, Sukkot is generally associated with the fall harvest, which explains why it came to be known as the “festival of ingathering” near the end of the year; in the book of Leviticus Chapter 23 Verse 42, it is written: “You shall dwell in Sukkot seven days… in order that future generations may know that I made the Israelite people live in sukkot when I brought them out of the land of Egypt, I the Lord your God (qtd. in BBC 2011). From this biblical basis, the Sukkot is a time for the Jews to commemorate the years they spent in the desert before they arrived at the Promised Land, and how God sheltered them against the hostile conditions of the desert. The word “sukkot” generally means “huts” or “booths”, and it refers to the temporary dwellings constructed by the Jews in commemoration of the huts where they lived during their wandering days in the wilderness soon after they had left Egypt (Rich 2011). Sukkot is one of the three pilgrimage festivals in Judaism, during which time the Jews were obligated to travel to the Temple in Jerusalem before it was destroyed (Rich 2011); during the time of the temple in Jerusalem, all Jewish people would assemble in the temple courtyard on the first day of the festival. On this first day, Jewish men, women and children on pilgrimage to the Temple in Jerusalem would then gather and listen to the leader of the Jews read from parts of the Torah; as mandated by the bible from the tenth to the thirteenth verses of Deuteronomy chapter thirty one, the festival of the Sukkot was observed after every seven years in the Sabbatical year (year following Shmita). While in Jerusalem, the Jews would incorporate the sermons of the temple priests with numerous other festivities as well as ritual worship (BBC 2011); in the course of these sermons, priests read select passages that explain the holiday itself from a Torah scroll. Following the destruction of the Second temple in Jerusalem, the ceremony of the Sukkot lost its earlier appeal, until recently, when it was revived in Israel and among Jews around the world. Presently, the real pilgrimage to the temple in Jerusalem is no longer considered obligatory on Jews and the numbers of Jewish people undertaking the journey to Jerusalem is not as big as before the destruction of the temple, when it was mandatory for all Jewish people. In present day Israel, many Jews living inside or around Jerusalem usually strive to participate in the festivities by at least attending prayer services at the Western Wall, thereby in some way fulfilling the tradition of the conventional pilgrimage to the temple of Jerusalem. Jewish families mark the sukkot festival by fast constructing a temporary and delicate “hut” in which they live during the festival in the open air; the hut normally is constructed with at least two walls and part of the third wall with a roof that is made of branches and leaves. In that respect, the Jews in the huts can see the sky, which implies that they are exposed to the world and have no protective cover as when they are in their houses and apartments that usually have strong walls and fancy roofing (BBC 2011). The significance of spending time in the fragile huts in the open air is to conjure up memories of the hardships the Israelites endured in the desert on their way to the Promised Land; furthermore, the delicate huts serve to remind the Jews that it is only by God’s grace that they are protected from the harsh conditions of the physical world. Time spend by the Jews in the huts depends largely on the prevailing climatic conditions of the places where Jews live; if it is too cold, Jews will merely take their meals in the huts and they would have fulfilled the obligation but if it is warm they spend the rest of the night in the huts. The ritual involves four types of plant material preparations which include securing four main plant items namely an etrog, a palm (or lulav) branch, a willow branch, and a myrtle branch, which the Jews are required to wave around happily (BBC 2011). The other preparations for Sukkot entail doing good deed such as giving for charity, planning for parties and meals for celebrating the festive with family and friends, and reading the Torah portions. On the eve of the Sukkot festival, Jews light holiday candles slightly before the sun goes down, to sanctify the holiday and immediately after the sundown, they say thanks for the season by reciting the “Shehecheyanu” (Parsons n.d). What follows next before the Jewish families can settle down to savouring the meals of the season is the recitation of the full “Kiddush” followed by a joyful recitation of the Sukkah blessing and the Ha-Motzi (blessing over the bread). The Jewish families then enjoy meals together inside the Sukkahs, which are mainly traditional cuisines including stuffed cabbage, as well as dishes with pastries and honey. After that, the Jews face eastwards while holding the lulav bundle in their right hands and the etrog in their left hands and lift them up together with the latter pointing downward while reciting the “netilat” lulav blessing. Afterwards, the Jews then turn the etrog right side up, put their hands together while shaking the lulav three times in every direction, to indicate the surrounding presence of God; recitation of the blessing and the waving of the lulav is done at any time in the course off the festival, whether it is daytime or night time. The Jewish family then recite the antiphon that is derived from Psalms 136 that talks about giving thanks to the Lord since He is good and his steadfast love endures forever; generally, Sukkot is a time for celebrations and merry making (Parsons n.d). The Jewish people are mandated by the Torah to always rejoice and be delightful during the entire Sukkot festival by participating in singing festive music, praying together and relaxing inside the Sukkah in the company of their family and friends. References Rich, R. (2011). Sukkot. Judaism 101. Retrieved from: http://www.jewfaq.org/holiday5.htm BBC. (2011). Sukkot. BBC Religions. Retrieved from: http://www.bbc.co.uk/religion/religions/judaism/holydays/sukkot_1.shtml Parsons, J. (n.d). Sukkot: The Season of our Joy. Hebrew for Christians. Retrieved from: http://www.hebrew4christians.com/Holidays/Fall_Holidays/Sukkot/sukkot.html Read More