Succot
Succot
At Succot we remember the forty years during which the Children of Israel were wandering in the desert living in rough shelters they made for themselves, Succot is also a harvest festival.
The word Succot actually means 'booths', and we are asked to live in such dwellings during this holiday in memory of that time.
Building a succah is great fun for children. It must have at least two and half walls covered with a fabric that is not light enough to blow away in the wind, it may be any size and the roof should be made from tree branches , bamboo reeds, anything that has grown from the ground and it must be left loose. Rain must be allowed through and starlight to shine through too. Children can decorate their succah and usually have great fun doing so.
We also take four plants, a citron, a lulav, hadassim and etrog and wave them them up and down, north, south, east and west, showing that G-d is everywhere. The two days following Succot are Shemini Atzeret and Simchat Torah and are usually thought of as part of Succot.
