Sukkot
Come and join us for a wonderful time
at our annual Sukkot Celebration at Broad
Ripple Park's Larger Shelter.
Click Here for more information!
"Sukkot is the joyous celebration calling to mind the L-rd's care
for Israel during the wilderness wanderings.
To view some Sukkah's click here!
The people, after the entrance into the land, were to build booths on their rooves. Booths made of branches and decorated with leafy branches, gourds, and fruit.
They were to live in the booths for the week of the Feast.
Later on, the practice developed, on the seventh day of the Feast, Hoshanah
Rabbah, bringing water from the Jerusalem Pool of Siloam, built by King
Hezekiah, and pouring it out at the Temple, asking the L-rd for rain in
the days to come.
Also, on this seventh day, leaves were beaten off the branches as a mark
of accepting the end of the repentance season and the Forgiveness of G-d.
Messiah Yeshua celebrated this Feast in:
Yochanan (John) 7, applying its meaning to Himself.
It should be noted that "Sukkot" are not tents ~ but booths.
Because the climate of Israel gets hot but seldom humid, one merely needs some shade for relief.
Hence, shelters, or booths, are built, covered on the top but open on the sides.
Hag Sukkot booths are decorated with fruits, giving a sweet fragrance.
This speaks of the L-rd giving Shelter and Refreshment, to our forefathers
and, today, to us!"
Known as “The Festival of Booths,” Sukkot certainly has a festive
tone to it. (Another name for it is Zeman Simchateinu — “The
Season of Our Rejoicing”) This eight-day holiday commemorates the end
of the Jews' forty years of wandering in the desert after leaving Egypt.
To symbolize this experience, Jews are instructed to build a sukkah,
a temporary building large enough for a family to eat and sleep
in. (However, few actually sleep in their sukkot these days).
But it's not all about wandering in the wilderness. Sukkot is also
a holiday celebrating the fall harvest, an idea which resonates
with contemporary Jewish life. There are special prayers over the
Four Species: citron, palm, myrtle and willow.
Some people view this holiday as a time to think of those who cannot
enjoy the bounties of the fall harvest and do not have enough to
eat. To acknowledge them, they don't decorate their sukkot with
fruit, choosing instead to use other materials. Many congregations
mount aid campaigns at this time of year as well.
Sukkot Links
Links to external websites do not necessarily reflect the
views of the Congregation Sha'arey Yeshua, and we are not responsible
for the contents of those sites.
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