Sukkot. The Festival of Booths. It's when those crazy Jews-OK, us crazy Jews-build the huts with the shrubbery on top and eat outside for seven days. Some people even sleep out there. What's behind all this?
Sukkot recalls the protection God provided the Jews during their travels through the desert. To make sure no one forgets, God commanded it: "In sukkot [booths] you shall dwell seven days, every citizen in Israel shall dwell in sukkot, in order that your generations shall know that in sukkot I made the children of Israel dwell when I brought them out from the land of Egypt (Leviticus Chapter 23)." Now if only God provided instructions on how to keep the bees out of the Coke.
Another Sukkot mitzvah, or commandment, is the waving of the lulav and etrog, a palm branch and citron (a second cousin of the lemon). Held along with myrtle and willow branches, this foursome is known as the arba minim, the four species. They are waved in all possible directions, symbolizing God's reach across every corner of the earth. Also, on Sukkot Kohelet, the Book of Ecclesiastes is read.
