Sukkot
(Feast of Tabernacles)
An extended and enduring Israeli holiday, celebrated with and without hallmarks of Jewish tradition.
Sukkot is the third and final holiday in the major holiday season (after Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur). It lasts for eight net days, with two additional days – one before the holiday and one after. In total, 10 days are official holidays for all citizens of Israel, both Jewish and non-Jewish.
The most prominent and well-known traditional hallmark of the holiday is a temporary structure, the "Sukkah," where families and friends gather for festive and everyday meals.
According to the Torah, such structures, Sukkot, were used by the Israelites during their Exodus from Egypt.
Thousands of years later, that same temporary structure is a sacred item in Judaism, and its use commemorates the story of the Exodus from Egypt – one of the most important foundations of Jewish heritage.
Anyone who travels in Israel during the holiday days will not miss the Sukkah structure.
And it's no longer what it used to be.
This is a modern Sukkah erected in an open area under the open sky – usually on an apartment balcony, in a courtyard, or in an open public space. It consists of four walls made of wood or fabric, topped with S'chach (tree branches for roofing). Progress and modern tools allow for the purchase of a complete kit for its construction, from the walls to the interior decorations; everything is ready and sold in convenient installments.
Besides the Sukkah, four other Jewish hallmarks stand out during the holiday, all from nature:
The date palm branch (called in Jewish tradition: Lulav), the Etrog fruit (citron), and branches of myrtle bush, and willow bushes. All of them together are called the "Arba'at HaMinim" (Four Species) and have a significant role exclusively during the daily prayers of one of the holiday days in synagogues.
For more on Sukkah and Sukkot, and on Arba'at HaMinim, read on Wikipedia (or click on the image).
The traditional hallmarks of Sukkot are meticulously observed, primarily by Jewish families in the religious and traditional sectors – those who go to synagogue daily and eat every meal in a Halachically valid Sukkah according to Jewish law.
All the rest, most of Israel's Jewish residents from the secular sector, are familiar with the Sukkah from afar, and almost never use it. Few Sukkot are built in apartment buildings throughout the country, and only those who have a house with a courtyard, or a rooftop apartment – can erect a temporary Sukkah, decorate it with the participation of family members, and prepare a festive meal for themselves and their guests, usually on the first evening of the holiday.
The holiday's position on the calendar is during the autumn, between September and October, and the exact date is determined by the Hebrew calendar – the 14th of Tishrei, four days after Yom Kippur.
This proximity allows many families to take advantage of the "bridge" between the two days and go on a prolonged vacation in Israel or abroad. The education system has also aligned with this widespread practice throughout the country, and shuts down studies for two consecutive weeks – from the eve of Yom Kippur until after Sukkot.
The long 'bridge' marks Sukkot as one of the official vacation seasons when masses go to spend time in Israel and abroad, in comfortable autumn weather, and accordingly, it significantly raises vacation prices.
The last day of the Sukkot holiday vacation is also the last day of the great holiday season.
The next day, the State of Israel enters a continuous era of routine daily activity that will last for about half a year, and any matter that was previously postponed until "After the Holidays," this is the time to deal with it.
Top: Worshippers in a sukkah with the Four Species
Bottom: Municipal events for secular Haifa residents
Sukkot has an impact on the urban landscape in Israel.
In the last decades of the 20th century, there was a significant increase in the population of the ultra-Orthodox sector, which includes families who meticulously observe the commandment of the sukkah. These families choose to live in a distinct ultra-Orthodox neighborhood and in apartments that were designed and built with prominent "Sukkah balconies" facing the street.
The need for a Sukkah balcony led to the construction of thousands of residential buildings without façade symmetry, as is customary in regular buildings. In these buildings, the internal space of each apartment differs from the adjacent apartment and from the apartments above it. The balcony of each apartment is built to be prominent and open to the air without any other construction above it. The reason for this is strict adherence to the commandment of building a Sukkah according to the Halachic (Jewish law) standard for a a religiously valid Sukkah. This standard dictates that the s'chach covering the Sukkah (the improvised roof) must be open to the sky.
Such buildings, with scattered and prominent balconies without a uniform sequence, are a unique sight that hardly exists in any other country in the world, except for countries with areas where there are concentrations of ultra-Orthodox Jewish populations, like the United States.
Residential building with "sukkah balconies" in Bnei Brak, a city whose residents are Haredi
Historical Bits
Sukkot has always been considered, even before the establishment of the Israel, an extended and enduring holiday that respects Jewish tradition but is utilized for leisure and vacation.
After the establishment of the state, and for about two decades, the tradition continued, and efforts were even made to strengthen its original meaning and enrich it with religious and traditional content. After all, Israel became the Jewish state. And this holiday, which has accompanied the Jewish people wherever they resided in exile for two thousand years, became part of the renewed Jewish culture.
In the education system – in kindergartens and elementary schools – many lessons were dedicated to the holiday and its meanings, and the country was filled with masses of Sukkot seen on balconies, on rooftops, in courtyards, in public areas, and in the many open spaces in every community.
Israel was then, in the 1950s and 60s, a small, uncrowded country, with low-rise urban construction – up to three or four floors per building.
Courtyards were shared by all residents, without car parking, and trees and flower beds were planted in them. As the holiday days approached, several families cooperated and built a Sukkah together in the courtyard, with the consent of all residents, for the benefit of those who observe eating meals in a Sukkah. Many Israelis took the opportunity to return to a tradition they brought from the Diaspora, and saw it as an opportunity to connect to Jewish heritage and to connect their children to it as well.
A few days before the holiday, the "Arba'at HaMinim Market" (Four Species Market) opened in every self-respecting city, with stalls offering a combined sale of Lulavim, Etrogim, Hadassim, and Aravot.
The markets teemed with buyers who rushed to equip themselves with the traditional items, even if they didn't make much use of them during the holiday, but tradition was tradition, especially for those who remembered it from their country of origin in the Diaspora.
Since the establishment of the state, and for about three decades, Sukkah building occupied many Israeli children – religious and secular.
They went out to look for planks to build a Sukkah, to pick s'chach from the trees, and willow branches from the streams. More than anything, the children connected to decorating the Sukkah that was built. Every Sukkah that respected itself was decorated with ornate paper chains, balloons and paper spheres, and verses and holiday sayings written on Bristol board.
In large cities, a "Most Beautiful Sukkah" competition was held, and members of the judging committees went out to hundreds of Sukkot to find the most beautiful one and award it an official certificate of excellence.
Even in secular kibbutzim, the Sukkah building project was taken seriously, and kibbutz children were engaged in it. Kibbutzim diversified the religious meaning with symbols from nature and celebrated the holiday as a "harvest festival."
Special respect was reserved for the last day of the holiday.
This day is called "Simchat Torah" (Rejoicing of the Torah), on which the annual cycle of reading the Torah is celebrated. Leading up to this day, children equipped themselves with flags bearing traditional symbols, and masses of Israelis, religious and secular, went out to central squares and to the area next to the local synagogue to dance and celebrate with Torah scrolls in the best of Jewish tradition.
Simchat Torah events across the country "LaMerhav" newspaper, 1965 (in Hebrew)
"Open Sukkah" (open to the general public) in Jerusalem in 1967
Photo: Yaacov Rozner, KKL-JNF Archive
In the 1970s, the Sukkah's status began to decline.
Urban construction became denser, and vacant lots were handed over to contractors who built tall buildings with many floors. Courtyards became parking lots for vehicles, and balconies were enclosed to create an additional room.
In the following decades, the children of the immigrants from the state's early years grew up and started their own families. Their ability to build a Sukkah diminished, and they did not bother to make an effort to preserve the tradition – neither with the Sukkah nor with the purchase of the "Arba'at HaMinim." And as they distanced themselves from tradition, it became easier for them to seek vacation and leisure abroad. There, for a week, they were disconnected from every Jewish hallmark.
And so, as the state marks 75 years, only in the religious sectors does the Sukkah hold special significance. There, buildings with Sukkah balconies were built, they fill the markets of the Arba'at HaMinim and buy themselves an elaborate set for the prayers in the synagogues where they will pray. And when they vacation in Israel, they will find restaurants and hotels that will build a Sukkah for them.
All the rest enjoy the last holiday of the autumn holiday season, just before the days of "After the Holidays" arrive, when everyone will return to a routine daily schedule with all its good and bad.
This is part of "The Israeli Story 1948-2025" project
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