Holiday Almanac: Sukkot, a ‘pilgrim festival,’ starts tonight

The somber High Holy Days, which ended on Oct. 9, give way tonight to Sukkot, the colorful Feast of Tabernacles. One of the three “Pilgrim Festivals” — the others are Passover and Shavuot — Sukkot recalls the Israelites’ travels in the Sinai desert after their liberation from slavery in Egypt.

The eight-day festival takes its name from the sukkah, a hut made by many Jewish families and synagogues. Loosely thatched and crudely built, the sukkah reminds Jews of their wandering ancestors’ meager shelters.

Manuscript Illustration of a 14th century Sukkah in Italy, from Metzger, Jewish Life in the Middle Ages, fig. 369, via Sam Gruber’s Jewish Art & Monuments (https://bit.ly/33lcV4C).

Fruits and flowers are hung from the sukkah rafters, recalling the festival’s other significance: gratitude to God for the fall harvest in the Holy Land, for which Israelis still celebrate it. Each morning of Sukkot, traditional Jews recite a blessing while holding four kinds of Israeli plants — a lulav or palm frond, an etrog or citron, and branches of myrtle and willow.

Sukkot has been called the Jewish Thanksgiving and may even have been its model. The American Pilgrims were avid students of the Hebrew Scriptures, even comparing their crossing of the Atlantic to the Israelite crossing of the Red Sea. The Pilgrims may well have adapted Sukkot to the New World as well.

The seventh day of Sukkot is Hoshana Rabba, or Great Help. In traditional synagogues on this day, the congregation takes the lulav and etrog in a procession of seven circuits, singing prayers for salvation. Some Jews call this day the “little Yom Kippur,” one more chance to gain God’s favor.

The last day of Sukkot is Shemini Atzeret, the Eighth Day of Solemn Assembly. It is a time to pray for rain in the Holy Land to assure good crops. It is also one of four times during the year for Yizkor memorial prayers honoring the dead.

Yet another event is sometimes celebrated on the same day: Simhat Torah, the jubilant Rejoicing Over the Law. On Simhat Torah, the last lines are read from the giant pulpit Torah scroll in each synagogue. Then the scroll is rewound for another annual cycle of readings — and the rabbi carries it in procession around the synagogue, amid singing and dancing.

— James D. Davis

 

Holiday Almanac: Yom Kippur ends High Holy Days

Rosh Hashana shofar by EL Boim via FreeImages.com

Jews worldwide end their observance of the High Holy Days tonight (Oct. 8) and tomorrow (Oct. 9) with Yom Kippur, the Day of Atonement.

The Ten Days of Repentance, as they are also called, began at sundown Sept. 29 with Rosh Hashana, the Jewish New Year. The days are an interim period during which the faithful examine their lives not only for sins committed but for good deeds undone.

Traditional Jews call the period Yamim Noraim, or the Days of Awe, believing that God judges each soul to determine what kind of year each will have, and even if they live or die. Less traditional Jews use the time for introspection and resolving to live as better persons for the coming year.

Observant Jews fast from sundown through the following sundown. Yom Kippur Eve has its own distinct service: Kol Nidre, meaning All Vows. The prayer, set to sad, medieval music, is a plea to be released from promises left unkept during the year.

Anti-Semites used to point to Kol Nidre as proof that the word of a Jew could not be trusted; however, rabbinic authorities have said the prayer refers only to vows made to God.

Congregants say other prayers in all-day services on Yom Kippur. They include:

• • Al Het, an alphabetical list of sins to recite — including cruelty, dishonesty and direspect for parents — in case the worshiper may have forgotten some or committed them unknowingly. Each time a sin is mentioned, the worshiper strikes a fist on his or her chest.

 

• • Yizkor, a memorial prayer for the dead. Yizkor prayers are said also during three other holy days: Passover, Shavuot and Shemini Azteret.

 

• • Neilah, a chant at the end of Yom Kippur to hold open the gates of mercy for the last repentant souls.At the end of the Yom Kippur service, the shofar, or ram’s horn, is sounded in a long, steady note, as long as the blower’s breath holds out. For, according to Jewish belief, the judgment is complete, and the fate of each person has been sealed for the coming year.

 
— James D. Davis