How And Why Do We Celebrate Sukkot?

Why do we even celebrate Sukkot? Sukkot doesn’t seem to commemorate an important historical event, unlike other Jewish holidays. What should Sukkot mean to us – and why on earth do we celebrate by sleeping in huts?

Compared to Passover and Shavuot, Sukkot celebrations seem to be missing a big event to commemorate. We know the Sukkot story about how the Israelites slept in the desert in small huts, or booths, after fleeing from Egypt. But we also see that Sukkot refers to the place where they first slept. Why call a place "Sukkot" – basically, the Hebrew equivalent of "shantytown”? Are these clues about the importance of Sukkot?

The Torah tells us one more detail about the Sukkot food – unleavened dough – that they ate on their first night in these makeshift booths. But we also connect that matzah with Pesach, which commemorates the very same event. So how is the meaning of Sukkot different? There still seems to be a missing reason why we celebrate Sukkot.

Rabbi Fohrman takes a deeper look at the Torah readings surrounding the story of Sukkot and explores the real meaning of celebrating this holiday, as well as the reason we build and sleep in sukkah huts.

Discover other great Sukkot videos at Aleph Beta, including ‘Understanding Jewish Holidays”, “Is Hoshana Rabba the Key to Understanding Sukkot” and more!