On the evening of September 29, followers of Judaism will begin to celebrate Sukkot

It is considered one of the most joyful holidays of the Jews

From the 15th day of the month of Tirsha on the Jewish calendar, Jews celebrate one of the central holidays in Judaism, Sukkot. In 2023, according to the Gregorian calendar, it is celebrated from the evening of September 29 to the evening of October 6.

The annual calendar of the Jews is lunisolar, due to which each calendar date always falls not only on the same season of the year, but also on the same phase of the moon. Thus, according to the Gregorian calendar, the holidays of Judaism fall on different dates depending on the year.

Like the other two main Jewish holidays – Passover and Shavuot – Sukkot is dedicated to the exodus of the Jews from Egypt described in the Pentateuch. On Passover, Jews remember the very moment of the exodus, on Shavuot – the giving of the Torah on Mount Sinai, and Sukkot is dedicated primarily to wanderings in the desert. The word “sukkah” itself is translated as “booth”, and “sukkot” is its plural. Some believe that the huts for the holiday symbolize the makeshift dwellings that need to be built during such wanderings, others – that the tradition recalls the wonderful clouds with which, according to the Torah, the people of Israel were surrounded. There are those who consider both of these interpretations to be equally true.

Traditions dictate that you build a hut yourself and cover its roof with straw, branches, reeds or other plants. There should be no canopy or roof of a building over the hut.

According to tradition, the sukkah contains four plants, in some way symbolizing the four possible “approaches” to life. One of these plants is the willow, which has neither taste nor smell – it denotes people who do not do much to strive for a righteous life. Myrtle has a scent that signifies those who do good deeds. The lulav, or date palm, has a taste (that is, its fruit is edible), which serves as a symbol of a person’s observance of the laws of the Torah. Finally, etrog (citron) has both taste and smell, thereby denoting the righteous from a Jewish perspective.

Jews are required to eat in the sukkah and stay there as long as possible, although there are exceptions to this rule if rain prevents this or the person’s health does not permit this. However, there is a version that the holiday is celebrated in a relatively cold season not by chance – at a time when the weather is too comfortable for living in huts, such actions would not have such an obvious symbolic meaning.

If Jews mention the word “holiday” without context, they are often talking about Sukkot, since it is considered one of the most “jolly”.