Sukkot (redirected from Shemini Atzereth)

Sukkot (Sukkoth, Succoth)

Begins between September 20 and October 18; Tishri 15-21

After their escape from slavery in Egypt, the Jews wandered in the desert for 40 years under the leadership of Moses. For much of the time they lived in huts, or sukkot, made of wooden frames covered with branches or hay. The festival of Sukkot, also known as the Feast of Tabernacles or the Feast of Booths, commemorates this period in Jewish history. It is also one of the Pilgrim Festivals ( see also Passover and Shavuot).
The traditional way of observing Sukkot was to build a small booth or tabernacle and live in it during the seven-day festival. Nowadays Orthodox congregations build a sukkah in the synagogue, while Reform Jews make miniature models of the ancient huts and use them as centerpieces on the family table. Although linked to the Exodus from Egypt, Sukkot also celebrates the fall harvest and is sometimes referred to as the Feast of the Ingathering .
A major part of the festival is the four species: a palm branch, citron, three myrtle twigs, and two willow branches. These are tied together and waved at different points in the service, to "rejoice before the Lord."
Like other Jewish holidays, Sukkot begins at sundown on the preceding evening. The seventh day of Sukkot is known as Hoshana Rabbah and is the last possible day on which one can seek and obtain forgiveness for the sins of the previous year—an extension of the Yom Kippur or the Day of Atonement. The eighth day of Sukkot is known as Shemini Atzeret, and the day after that is called Simhat Torah, which is now celebrated as a separate holiday by Orthodox and Conservative Jews.

CONTACTS:
Union for Reform Judaism
633 Third Ave.
New York, NY 10017
212-650-4000; fax: 212-650-4169
www.urj.org
Union of Orthodox Jewish Congregations of America
11 Broadway
New York, NY 10004
212-563-4000; fax: 212-564-9058
www.ou.org

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BkHolWrld-1986, Oct 1
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