Feast of Succot 5770 (3 to 10 October 2009)
The feast of Sukkoth (Feast of Tabernacles) falls 15th of Tishri, between September and October, at the very beginning of autumn.
year 2009 (5770), the holiday of Sukkot will be celebrated on October 3 to 10, 2009 (eve of the second). Hosha'anah Rabbah fell on October 9 (day 8) and Shemini Atzeret October 10 (day 9).
In memory of the unstable and precarious housing in which the people (Jewish) lived in the desert for forty years, the Jewish Sukkoth to build the huts by following very specific and detailed provisions, including those significant to cover the roof of leaves and leave some leaves for discovery so that you can see the sky: a warning for taking ever-present, everywhere the vicissitudes of life lead them to leave their homes even in the usual symbolic space from which comes the light of God
The origins of the festival
Sukkoth is the third of the pilgrimage festivals. At the pilgrimage festivals, as well as religious significance, is also credited with historical significance, and agriculture. They are linked together by historical thread of the Exodus from Egypt and stay in the desert.
The feast of Passover, ie the time of slavery, is undoubtedly of particular importance. But the joy was overshadowed by both the weight of the Egyptian victims, is the unknown of a future that involved a long journey and a tough fight to achieve and to live free and sovereign in the land promised by God. The delivery of the Torah at Shavuot had certainly left the minds of the people upset and scared. In fact, it not only committed to compliance with laws, but also totally new behavior is very difficult, especially in comparison to those used by all other peoples of the time. (...)
Sukkoth was the feast of pilgrimage in a sense symbolized the end of suffering, the acquired understanding and acceptance of the Torah, the end of the long, arduous, sometimes painful pilgrimage routes in the rugged desert, and reaching the Earth to finally thought, long matured, it would become happy and conscious action.
(...) We lived in the land of Israel, the agricultural year. The Jews were in fact a predominantly agricultural population. At Passover the barley harvest was beginning, but the grain was still far away. On Shavuot we started the wheat harvest and first fruits were collected, but before it reached the time of harvesting was to spend the long and often difficult summer. (...)
Sukkoth, Hag ha-Asif, harvest festival, the last harvest, the fall term, was thus a moment of great, total joy with warehouses filled with the harvest just completed, they left behind the worries and we are prepared to wait with serenity and joy of the long-term rest until the arrival of the new planting season. The celebration
How do you build a sukkah
The sukkah must be large enough so we can live comfortably, but it should not take on the appearance of a permanent home.
Within the shadow needs to be greater than the light. Primary attention is devoted to coverage of the hut from which you must intraveder the sky.
The walls can be formed by curtains of cloth. The huts are to be pleasing to the eye, and then trimmed with garlands and ornaments. Many still hang on the walls and ceiling olive branches laden with fruit and cedar trees, garlands of dried figs and pomegranates, and bunches of grapes.
Both the walls and floor are made drapes, rugs and lamps to make the huts as a welcoming home.
During the days of Sukkoth hut every jew must make his primary residence, considering their temporary dwelling house. However if it rains water enters through the openings left there on the roof, can ruin the food, you can dine at home. The lulav
E 'written in the Torah, "will take you to the first day, a good-looking fruit, a palm branch, myrtle and willow branches, and rejoice before the Lord your God for seven days" . (Lv 23, 49). According to this order prepares for Sukkot, the lulav, made up of a palm branch, three myrtle, two willow and, in part, a result of cedar without flaws. E 'use after the blessing in the synagogue, shake it in four directions: north, south, east and west, for the blessing of God reaches around the world.
Hosha'anah Rabbah
The seventh day of Sukkot (October 20) is called Hosha'anah Rabbah: The high demand for salvation. It 's a day in which one turns with special fervor to the clemency of the Lord.
(...) This day is in fact regarded as the place where the Lord puts the final seal to the trial began on Rosh ha-Shanah and second, the Zohar, the basic text interpretation of the Kabbalah, does not end with Yom Kippur, but finally, in a kind of final appeal, on the day of Hosha'anah Rabbah. As
Kippur, we recite selichoth (supplications), to implore God's forgiveness. It also makes a ceremony connected with the libation of water: in hand with the willow branches and the lulav, turns seven times around the altar Hosha'anah singing ("Save us oh!).
Shemini 'atzereth
In the passage from Leviticus (23, 36) in which the provision is given to celebrate Succoth, is a contradiction: the first time the festival is set in seven days, then we speak of an "eighth day of congregation "(Shemini 'Atzereth).
Masters have concluded an interesting teaching. During the seven days of Sukkoth were praying for rain and a prosperous harvest. (...) And then on the eighth day the Lord addresses the people as a father to his children, and almost begs him: "For seven days you have been concerned about the welfare of your land, and the good of your brothers and sisters of other nations. Well, you stay one more day and devote it entirely to me. "
Source: "The Stones of Time" by Clara and Elijah Kopciowski
http://www.comunitadibologna.it/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=248
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