Sukkot

The Feast of the Tabernacles, or Sukkot, begins on the evening of the fifteenth day of the month of Tishri, which is usually in October. It lasts for seven days. Tabernacle is derived from the Latin word tabernaculum, meaning a hut, or temporary shelter. This is a harvest festival, and temporary branch- or straw-covered booths (sukkas) are constructed outdoors, in memory of ancestors who were forced to dwell outside in their wanderings. Four kinds of branches, which symbolize moral and ethical values of eternal faith, are carried during this holiday. They are the etrog, or citron; the lulav, or palm branch; the hadas, or myrtle branch; and the aravah, or willow branch. Simchat Torah is the last day of Sukkot; its name means “joy of the Torah,” because that is the day when the annual cycle of Torah reading, the five Books of Moses, is completed.