Sukkot - Feast of Booths "Time of our joy"

Sukkot is the Jewish holiday called the Feast of Booths. It is a time of celebration by remembering God rescuing the people of Israel from Egypt and sustaining them in the wilderness. It is called the Feast of Booths because the Lord commanded the people of Israel to dwell in booths (Leviticus, 23:42) for seven days to remind them of how God took care of them in the desert. Also it is a time the Jewish people remember as God tabernacled with them in the wilderness. That's why it is sometimes referred to as the Feast of Tabernacles. On the Jewish calender it follows after the High Holiday of Yom Kipur, the Day of Atonement.

Yom Kipur is the Holiest day of the Jewish year because it is the day the Jewish people feel we are closest to God. It is a day of solemness where we search our hearts for sin and God makes atonement for it. "For on this day He will forgive you, purify you, that you be cleansed from all your sins before God" (Leviticus 16:30). Feast of Booths then brings a time of great celebration and joy. It celebrates Israel's salvation and is a time to give thanks to God for all He has provided for this past year and ask for a blessing of the New Year.

This year the Lord laid it on our hearts to participate in celebrating Sukkot. Scott and I are not sure exactly why but we feel it is one of those situations where the Lord has asked for obedience without the full understanding at this point. So we joined with our church's School Of Ministry and will be observing Sukkot Oct. 2nd through the 9th.

It is a lot of fun and we plan on celebrating it to it's fullest. We did have to build our own Sukkah which is a temporary dwelling place or booth. It is to remind you of how the Lord took care of the Israelite's in the desert. It is also to remind us that our security and protection only comes from God not in homes, bank accounts, jobs or anything that man can do. I especially like that, I need that reminder quite often.

So here are the beginnings of our Booth.
Sukkah Requirements:
It has to be built in an open area where no buildings or trees are covering it. It needs at least two complete walls and a small part of a third. Some Jewish people with build a fully enclosed structure but we did not feel that would work for us. The walls can be made of any material as long as it can withstand a normal wind. The roof however, needs to be made of natural materials (branches, leaves, vines). You may use some some rough wood if necessary but they must not exceed 15 inches in width. The roof must be sufficiently covered so it gives more shade then light but you must be able to see the sky also. I believe one of the sites I refernced too in finding this information explained that the branches or roofing material must cover at least 40% of the top. ***Theses requirements are laid out in the Talmud and not specifically found in the Old Testament. Requirements also very from various Jewish groups.

As you can see we used a part of a canopy for some of the frame.
Then we had to build the back of the frame with 2x4's. I joked with Scott that it's a "real" man's Sukkah because we used duck tape to hold the poles to the wooden frame. He assured me that if God provided heavenly manna in the desert then He probably provided duck tape too. In our house duck tape is a sacred element.


There you have it!


We will hang the walls the first day of the celebration on the 2nd of Oct and also put on the roof at that time. I thought over all it turned out pretty cool. I will post pictures of our finished Sukkah and the week long celebration. I am offering to anyone who would like to experience the Feast of Booths if you and your family want to come over one night between the 2nd & the 9th to email me. We would be glad to open our home up to you. The only thing you would need to bring is some lawn chairs and a harvest food dish to share.

More to come...finding Jesus in the midst of Sukkot.