Chag Sukkot - The Feast of Tabernacles

Chag Sukkot — Feast of Tabernacles

Countdown to Chag Sukkot
October 3, 2009

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Chag Sukkot (Tishri 15) — The Festival of Tabernacles or Booths (Hebrew 'Sukkot'). One of the three pilgrim festivals (the others being Chag Ha'Matzah and Chag Shavu'ot) when, in ancient times, Jews made pilgrimages to the Temple in Jerusalem. It derives its name from the 'sukkah' or booth, a temporary structure in which time is spent during the Holy Day to commemorate Eloheim's protection of the Children of Yisra'el during their 40 years in the wilderness. The first two days (in Yisra'el the first day) are full Holy Days. The following five intermediate days, 'Hol Hamoed,' (six in Yisra'el) are partial Holy Days. Chag Sukkot is also a harvest festival since it is the time of the ingathering of crops in Yisra'el. During the entire Chag Sukkot festival, the Four Species (citron, myrtle, palm, and willow) are carried around the synagogue during portions of the service.

Vayikra 23:33-44
³³HASHEM spoke to Moses, saying, ³⁴“Speak to the Children of Israel, saying: ‘On the fifteenth day of this seventh month is the Festival of Sukkot, a seven-day period for HASHEM. ³⁵On the first day is a holy convocation; you shall not do any laborious work. ³⁶For a seven-day period you shall offer an Eshayah-Offering to HASHEM, on the eighth day there shall be a holy convocation for you and you shall offer an Eshayah-Offering to HASHEM, it is an assembly, you shall not do any laborious work.
³⁷These are the appointed festivals of HASHEM that you shall proclaim as holy convocations, to offer an Eshayah-Offering to HASHEM : ³⁸Aside from HASHEM's Sabbaths, and aside from your gifts, aside from all your vows, and aside from all your nevadah, which you will present to HASHEM.

³⁹But on the fifteenth day of the seventh month when you gather in the crop of the land, you shall celebrate HASHEM 's festival for a seven-day period; the first day is a rest day and the eighth day is a rest day. ⁴⁰You shall take for yourselves on the first day the fruit of a citron tree, the branches of date palms, twigs of the plaited tree, and brook willows; and you shall rejoice before HASHEM, your God, for a seven-day period. ⁴¹You shall celebrate it as a festival for HASHEM, a seven-day period in the year, an eternal decree for your generations; in the seventh month shall you celebrate it. ⁴²You shall dwell in booths for a seven-day period; every native in Israel shall dwell in booths. ⁴³So that your generations will know that I caused the Children of Israel to dwell in booths when I took them from the land of Egypt; I am HASHEM, your God.’ ”

⁴⁴And Moses declared the appointed festivals of HASHEM to the Children of Israel.

It's really amazing how little is written about Chag Sukkot. Christians seem really enthusiastic about "The Feast of Tabernacles"; more so than most Jews! I'll not get into the fact that churches everywhere seem to have special days for "The Feast of Tabernacles", where they have pork barbecue (seems an odd way to celebrate a commanded feast day), or a program with singing and guitar playing (now, that's more like it) — but in July or October, with nary a Sukkah (hut) in sight. I commend you all for at least having it.

The whole idea is that you build a Sukkah, and live in it. A Sukkah is a hut, basically (a temporary dwelling). It has three walls, and the roof should be made of branches. Here's a fool-proof way to build a sukkah (I know — I'm a pretty good fool, and I built it!):

Take 4 8' long 2"x4s", and 16 8' 1"x4s", nails, hammer, and ladder, and mix well. Actually, the 2"x4s" serve as your frame.

Lay two of the 2x4s on the ground, and lay four of the 1x4s across them (this will form a pallet kind of design).

Nail them in place, then make another pallet. Stand one pallet up, and nail four 1X4's into it at right angles to it (it should form an "L" shape...).

Then nail the other end of the 1x4s into the other pallet. If I didn't confuse you too badly, you should have two pallets facing each other, and the 1x4s holding them together as a back wall.

Now (this is the ladder part) go up and nail the last four 1x4s on as a sort of roof. This is more to hold the branches in place than anything.

If everything went well, it will look like a Sukkah. If not, it will be a gross Frankenstein's monster of a creation, and it's best at this point to either start over, or admit defeat and call in villagers with torches and pitchforks to demolish it.

If it worked, you can staple blue sheets or cloth to it, to keep the wind out. You'll need tent spikes or anchors at this point — have you ever seen a Sukkah blown by the wind? Sheesh!

Now, lay palm leaves or pine leaves across the 'roof', and make sure you can see the sky through the roof! (You might want to tie the branches down...it's usually windy the first two days of Chag Sukkot).

Remember to leave a door when stapling that blue cloth! (oops!).

Now, try to spend some time in it, from Tishri 15 to Tishri 22, and eat your meals in there. You could sing songs in it (always a good idea), maybe accompanied with a guitar (pipe organs are so unwieldy — Most of the guitars I could recommend would be electric at this point, but I've been playing 12 string for a while now, and that should work). Try singing Hava Nagila.

That's how. I suppose I should bring up why.

It is in memorial from wandering in the desert for 40 years or so. Now, this seems awfully permanent a structure (isn't it supposed to be temporary?). But remember, the Yisra'elites weren't moving every day! Sometimes they stayed encamped in a single spot for years! You can't just lean wood together or tie it together and expect it to last years! The whole idea is to have a visible sign (Ot, in Hebrew — see the tallit page for a study on Ot), a reminder, that you should live a week as did the Yisra'elites, and remember...Of course, don't forget to take the sukkah down at the end of the festival!

Timeline:

Tishri 15 — Chag Sukkot (Yeshua Born)
Tishri 16 — Chag Sukkot Day 2
Tishri 17 — Chag Sukkot day 3
Tishri 18 — Chag Sukkot Day 4
Tishri 19 — Chag Sukkot Day 5
Tishri 20 — Chag Sukkot Day 6
Tishri 21 — Hoshanah Rabbah
Tishri 22 — Sh'minei Azaret (Yeshua Circumcised)
Tishri 23 — Simchat Torah (The living Torah — Yeshua — is given to the world)

You'll notice that Yeshua was born on Chag Sukkot day, not in December! How do we know this? Simple. The timeline in Ur is pretty defiant. Z’kharyah was in the Levitical cycle of Av'ya — this puts him in the Temple at the month of Sivan. We know that Yochanan the Immerser was six months older than Yeshua, so this puts Yeshua's conception on Chanukah, and his birth would be at Chag Sukkot — explaining why those shepherds would be tending their flocks. Yeshua's birthday was probably well known to his followers — explaining the references to "Tabernacling with us" in Yochanan 1, the crowds shouting "Hosha na!" as he entered Jerusalem, the "Water of life" speech (there used to be a ceremony of water pouring at Chag Sukkot in the Temple), and many more! Greg Killian has more info on this — you can contact him at gkilli@aol.com or at Greg Killian's Home Page.

We also need to remember that Chag Sukkot will be the first holiday observed after the return of Messiah.

Z’kharyah 14:16-19
    ¹⁶It shall be that all who are left over from all the nations who had invaded Jerusalem will come up every year to worship the King HASHEM, Master of Legions, and to celebrate the festival of Sukkot [Feast of Tabernacles]. ¹⁷And it shall be that whichever of the families of the land does not go up to Jerusalem to bow down before the King HASHEM, Master of Legions, there will be no rain upon them. ¹⁸But if it is the family of Egypt that does not go up and does not come [to Jerusalem], there will be no [water] for them; the same plague will come to pass with which HASHEM will strike the nations that do not go up to celebrate the festival of Sukkot. ¹⁹This will be the punishment of Egyptians and the punishment of all the nations that will not go up to celebrate the festival of Sukkot.

Commandment 390
B’midbar 29:12-34
¹²On the fifteenth day of the seventh month, there shall be a holy convocation for you; you shall do no laborious work; you shall celebrate a festival to HASHEM for a seven-day period. ¹³You shall offer an Olah-Offering, an Eshayah-Offering, a satisfying aroma to HASHEM : thirteen young bulls,¹ two rams, fourteen male lambs in their first year; they shall be unblemished ¹⁴And their Minchah-Offering: fine flour mixed with oil — three tenth-ephah for each bull of the thirteen bulls; two tenth-ephah for each ram of the two rams; ¹⁵and one tenth-ephah fro each lamb of the fourteen lambs. ¹⁶One male of the goats for a Chatat-Offering, aside from the continual Olah-Offering with its Minchah-Offering and libation.
    ¹⁷And on the second day: twelve young bulls, two rams, fourteen male lambs within their first year, unblemished. ¹⁸And their Minchah-Offering and their libations for the bulls, the rams, and the lambs, in their proper numbers, as required. ¹⁹One male of the goats for a Chatat-Offering; aside from the continual Olah-Offering-offering and its libation.

    ²⁰And on the third day: eleven bulls, two rams, fourteen male lambs within their first year, unblemished. ²¹And their Minchah-Offering and their libations for the bulls, the rams, and the lambs, in their proper numbers, as required. ²²On he-goat for a Chatat-Offering; aside from the continual Olah-Offering, its Minchah-Offering and its libation.

    ²³And on the fourth day: ten bulls, two rams, fourteen male lambs within their first year, unblemished. ²⁴And their Minchah-Offering and their libations for the bulls, the rams, and the lambs, in their proper numbers, as required. ²⁵One male of the goats for a Chatat-Offering; aside from the continual Olah-Offering, its Minchah-Offering and its libation.

    ²⁶And on the fifth day: nine bulls, two rams, fourteen male lambs within their first year, unblemished. ²⁷And their Minchah-Offering and their libations for the bulls, the rams, and the lambs, in their proper numbers, as required. ²⁸One he-goat for a Chatat-Offering; aside from the continual-Olah-Offering, its Minchah-Offering and its libation.

    ²⁹And on the sixth day: eight bulls, two rams, fourteen male lambs within their first year, unblemished. ³⁰And their Minchah-Offering and their libations for the bulls, the rams, and the lambs, in their proper numbers as required. ³¹One he-goat for a Chatat-Offering; aside from the continual Olah-Offering, its Minchah-Offering and its libations.

    ³²And on the seventh day: seven bulls, two rams, fourteen male lambs within their first year, unblemished. ³³And their Minchah-Offering and their libations for the bulls, the rams, and the lambs, in their proper numbers, in their requirements. ³⁴One he-goat for a Chatat-Offering; aside from the continual Olah-Offering, its Minchah-Offering and its libation.

³⁵The eighth day² shall be a restriction for you; you shall not do an laborious work. ³⁶You shall offer an Olah-Offering, an Eshayah-Offering, a satisfying aroma to HASHEM : one bull, one ram, seven lambs within their first year, unblemished. ³⁷Their Minchah-Offering and libations for the bull, the ram, and the seven lambs shall be in their proper numbers, as required. ³⁸One he-goat for a Chatat-Offering; aside from the continual Olah-Offering, its Minchah-Offering and its libation.

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¹ B’midbar 29:13. The offerings for Sukkot are unique in three ways: (a) they include a total of seventy bulls, to invoke protection for the seventy gentile nations; (b) the number of bulls is different for each day of the festival; and (c) there is a special water libation, which was performed every morning of Chag Sukkot.

² B’midbar 29:35-38. Shemini Atzeres, the last day of the Chag Sukkot festival, which is combined with Simchat Torah, the celebration of the completion of the year's Torah reading, is in certain ways an independent festival. Thus, its mussaf-offering is drastically different from that of the seven days of Sukkot.