Sukkot

Sukkot (“booths”) is the autumn harvest festival that occurs just a few days after Yom Kippur. Occurring when the slate of Israel’s sins has been wiped clean, and when the work of the fields has been completed, yielding God’s abundant gift of sustenance for the new year, Sukkot was also the Hag (pronounced in antiquity “Hajj”), the great annual pilgrimage festival. As such, it as a time of great rejoicing, in and around the Temple in Jerusalem. 

Sukkot was also the occasion for the dedication of the Solomon’s Temple, as well as the dedication of the second Temple at the time of Ezra and Nehemiah. By virtue of this history, Sukkot came to be seen as essential for the dedication of Jerusalem Temples—include that of the Maccabees, who celebrated an eight-day holiday in Kislev to substitute for the eight-day Sukkot festival that could not be celebrated that year. In Jewish hopes for the future, the rebuilt Temple, at the time of redemption, will also be dedicated on Sukkot. In consequence of this, Sukkot has long been associated with the home for final, Messianic deliverance.