Succot is the third one of the three frestivals when all the Jewish people in Israel used to go up to the Holy Temple in Jerusalem. Succot is the festival that is celebrated to remind us when God freed the Israelites from being slaves in Egypt, and they wandered for forty years in the desert before they reached the promised land of Israel.
Along the way during those forty years, the Jewish people built little huts to sleep in at night. They built them out of dry palms and branches. The Hebrew name for those huts is 'succot.' Today, before the festival of Succot, every Jewish family builds themselves a succah to live and eat in during the seven days of Succot.
When the Temple still stood in Jerusalem, Succot was also the time when the Jewish people gathered their crops from the fields and thier fruits from the orchards. This made them very happy, so we also call Succot Chag ha-Asif ('The Festival of the Gathering') and Z'man Simchatenu ('The Time of Our Happiness').
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Jewish people all over the world celebrate Succot, but in Israel they celebrate it just a bit differently. Gidon is seven years old and lives in Israel. Read his letter (below) telling you about how they celebrate Succot there.
Dear BJE Kids in Australia,
Hi again. Do you remember me, Gidon? I’m 7 years old and I live in Israel. I’m going to tell you about how Succot is here in Israel. Of course, we have school holidays at Succot time in Israel, so I really love it!
Before Succot starts we have to have our succah built and that takes some time. Straight after Yom Kippur ends, we get started. Mummy and Daddy get out all the things that we will need. We have a succah kit that we bought at the shops. In it there are the wooden parts that we use to make the walls of the succah. We hang sheets on them to make the walls. My Dad goes with us to cut the schach – that’s the palm gree leaves we use for the roof. There are lots of palm trees near our house so it’s not hard to find them.
My brothers and I draw pictures and make other decorations for the succah, and we also gather herbs, leaves and plants to put on the walls. Sometimes we got to the market and buy some. There are lots there – all different kinds, but I like the ones made of tinsel best.
At the market we also buy our Lulav and Etrog. Here are photos of Talia, by cousin from Australia, standing next to the stalls selling Etrogim and schach. She came here for Succot last year with her mum and sister Nina. Here’s also a photo of us cousins sitting in our succah.
 
I love having visitors in our succah, and also going to visit other people’s succot. That’s what we do during Succot here in Israel. We got to our friends’ succot, and succot in parks and restaurants and other public places … and we EAT in them!!!
Sometimes we think we’ll even sleep in our succah, but we never do because of all the bugs. Even with the bugs, I love Succot!
From your chaver,
Gidon.
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| Last updated 2008/10/13 12:13:59 AEDT | Hits 2520 |
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