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Sukkot Main

Sukkot

Chol HaMoed

The Sukkah

The Four Species

Ushpizin

Sh'mini Atzeret/
Simchat Torah

Women's
Obligations
on Sukkot

Yom Kippur

Rosh Hashana

Recommended
Reading

Chol HaMoed

The Interim Days

Sukkot is a 7 day holiday. The first day (first two days outside of Israel) are Yamim Tovim - days which are kept like Sabbath (cooking and carrying, however, are permitted). The remaining days in between are known as Chol Hamoed - weekday of the festival. During Chol Hamoed, it is customary to continue the holiday spirit and avoid unnecessary work. Many people try to refrain from mundane chores such as laundry. Some people do not go to work and avoid shopping except for that which is essential for the holiday. The requirements to dwell in the sukkah and the mitzvah of the four species continue throughout Chol Hamoed. In synagogue, the Torah is read and Hallel (festive Psalms) and Mussaf (the additional service) are recited. In the synagogue, the Hoshana Service is performed after the Mussaf service on each day of Sukkot (including the first Yom Tov days).

This service commemorates part of the Temple Sukkot celebrations. Each morning of the holiday, after the water libation (described below), the priests would bring out a bundle of aravot (willow branches). The tall branches were placed upright against the altar. The shofar was then blown and special prayers, called hoshanot, were recited.
Today, after the daily mussaf service during sukkot, the Hoshana Service is commemorated. i) The ark is opened and one Torah scroll is brought to the bimah, where it is held until the end of the Hoshana. (This is not done on Shabbat.) ii) Holding the lulav set, the congregants circle the bimah once and responsively recite special prayers. (This is not done on Shabbat.)

Hoshana Raba

The last day of Chol Hamoed Sukkot is called Hoshana Raba, the Great Hoshana, because of the extensive Hoshana service.

a) All of the Torah scrolls are removed from the ark and held by members of the congregation at the bimah.

b) While holding the lulav set, the bimah is circled 7 times while responsively reciting the special Hoshana prayers of the day.

c) After circling the bimah, the lulav set is put down and a special bundle of 5 aravot (willow branches) are held. Selichot, penitential prayers, are then recited and the Torah scrolls are returned to the ark.

d) The participants then take the bundle of aravot (willow branches) and beat them against the ground five times.

Hoshana Raba is actually the last day of the Sukkot holiday. (The remaining two days of Yom Tov are a separate festival). It is therefore customary to eat a festive meal in the sukkah in the afternoon to fulfill that mitzvah of dwelling in the sukkah one last time.

a) It is traditional to begin the meal with a whole round challah which is sprinkled with salt and then dipped in honey.

b) On Hashana Rabbah, some have the custom to serve Kreplach (dumplings), which are symbolic of our wanting G-d to hide our sins.

3) While G-d judges the world on Rosh Hashana and concludes the verdict on Yom Kippur, on Hoshana Raba the verdict receives its final seal. One therefore has time to complete the teshuvah, repentance process, up until the closing hours of Hoshana Raba.

a) There is a custom to spend the night of Hoshana Raba studying Torah, fortifying oneself at the last moment of judgement.

b) The cantor wears a white kittel (robe) on Hoshana Raba, as he does on Rosh Hashana and Yom Kippur.

c) In Israel, people stay up all night studying Torah and then thousands go to the Western Wall for the Hoshana Raba Service.

Simchat Beit Hashoevah

Sukkot is considered the holiday on which G-d determines the water allotment for the year to come (where there will be rain and where there will be drought, etc.). During the time of the Temple, the week of Sukkot was highlighted by the water libation ceremony, in which water was poured over the altar after the morning sacrifice. The ceremony actually lasted all night and was known as the Simchat Beit Hashoevah, the Celebration of the House of the Drawing of Water.

a) After the Yom Tov, the Temple was set up for the Simchat Beit Hashoevah. Three balconies were created in the women's section and the men would stand in a courtyard below, allowing more people to attend. Golden lamps were placed in the courtyard that gave off enough light to illuminate the entire city itself.

b) In the courtyard, men would dance and the Levites would play instruments and sing praises to G-d.

c) The kohanim, the priests, would then go to the spring of Gichon and draw the water to be used.

It is customary today, during the week of Sukkot, to attend or host a Simchat Beit Hashoevah celebration, generally held in the sukkah. While one does not mimic the actual water-libation ceremony, the joy of the holiday is the focus of these celebrations.