Sukkot - A Celebration to Remember!
by Michele Husfelt on October 17, 2022
Our Jewish friends have just celebrated Sukkot, also known as the Feast of Booths or Feast of Tabernacles. This holiday occurs each fall beginning on the fifteenth day of the Jewish month, Tishri, and lasts seven days. Instructions are given in Leviticus 23:33-44. This year, Sukkot began October 9 and ended yesterday, October 16.
As a time of reflection and remembrance, Jewish families commemorate both the season when crops are gathered and the Israelite’s 40-year journey in the desert. Families build sukkahs, which are temporary huts made with leaves or wooden slats for the roof, reminiscent of the huts their ancestors built in the desert. Families spend most of the time in their sukkahs during this holiday, eating and drinking, studying, relaxing, and many even sleeping in their makeshift dwellings. It is a joyous celebration as they show gratitude to God for His faithfulness through the ages.
“It is a joyous celebration as they show gratitude to God for His faithfulness through the ages.”
As a follower of Jesus and a friend of many Jews, both Messianic and Orthodox, I am always interested in learning about the customs and celebrations in which Jesus would have participated. Understanding the significance and symbolism brings a depth of insight and appreciation for the stories in Scripture and the mandate from God for His people to remember. Numerous times, too many in fact to count, God tells us to remember. Remember His covenant, remember His provision, remember His deliverance, remember His holy word, remember His mercy, remember what He said, remember His name, remember the former things.
Sukkot is a time of remembrance.
Remember that God provided shelter, food, protection, and other needs for the Israelites during their years of wandering, and He continues to do the same for us today.
Remember the homes and physical bodies where we dwell are temporary. We are grateful for God’s provision of shelter and health during our earthly time, and we remember that God is preparing our eternal home that will be far more precious than we can imagine. We will exchange our tired, imperfect bodies for glorified bodies that are imperishable and incorruptible.
As the end of Sukkot 2022 has drawn to a close, may we continue to remember all the ways God has been so good to us. May we remind our children and those we meet along the journey what a faithful God we serve.
בַּסֻּכֹּ֥ת תֵּשְׁב֖וּ שִׁבְעַ֣ת יָמִ֑ים כׇּל־הָֽאֶזְרָח֙ בְּיִשְׂרָאֵ֔ל יֵשְׁב֖וּ בַּסֻּכֹּֽת׃
You shall live in booths seven days; all citizens in Israel shall live in booths,
לְמַ֘עַן֮ יֵדְע֣וּ דֹרֹֽתֵיכֶם֒ כִּ֣י בַסֻּכּ֗וֹת הוֹשַׁ֙בְתִּי֙ אֶת־בְּנֵ֣י יִשְׂרָאֵ֔ל בְּהוֹצִיאִ֥י אוֹתָ֖ם מֵאֶ֣רֶץ מִצְרָ֑יִם אֲנִ֖י יְהֹוָ֥ה אֱלֹהֵיכֶֽם׃
in order that future generations may know that I made the Israelite people live in booths when I brought them out of the land of Egypt—I, your God יהוה (Leviticus 23:42-43).