Sukkot with Hinenu 5781: A Resource Guide
This is a Resource Guide to celebrating Sukkot. If you prefer to view this guide on Google Docs, please click here.
The sections below are divided as such: Introduction, Sukkot 101, Sukkot Rituals, Sukkot Texts, How to Build/Buy a Sukkah, Sukkot indoors?, and Extras.
Introduction
“What we want is permanence and safety, but Sukkot says there is no safety. Yet there's an incredible bounty. In the temporal, we feast." - Rabbi Rami Shapiro
As we near the end of an immensely difficult 2020 and begin the Hebrew year of 5781, Sukkot may be just what we need more than ever.
Sukkot is a DIY holiday. The nature- and home-based aspects of this holiday are rich with palpable and metaphysical symbolism. This Chag is an intentionally revitalizing contrast to the traditionally synagogue-based solemnity of the month of Elul, and the “Days of Awe” that open the month of Tishrei.
In fact, Yom Kippur and Sukkot are likened to two sides of the same coin of Teshuvah, repentance. Yom Kippur emphasizes the value of solemnity, the importance of turning away from what harms us and others, while Sukkot emphasizes joy, the importance of turning towards what enriches and sustains us and others. Sukkot is described as z'man simchateinu, "the time of our rejoicing.'' A “Sukkat Shlomecha” is used to describe “a shelter of peace.”
And yet, this inherent joy of Sukkot comes with strings attached. On Sukkot we are obligated to rejoice, but we also experience vulnerability in the sukkah. In the era of Covid, with the threat of infection seemingly around every corner, our very existence and the things that have kept us safe have become vulnerable. How can we learn from the joy within the vulnerable holiday of Sukkot to find joy in the vulnerable time of Covid?
The structure of a Sukkah itself is required to be built as a fragile, temporary shelter, one made of harvested plants, with gaps in the roof to welcome both the stars and rain, but nonetheless, we are asked to dwell in it as if it were our home. On Sukkot, we read wisdom from the book of Kohelet, a rare text in the TaNaKh that blatantly explores existential vulnerability and impermanence. Kohelet opens with the famous line, “Hevel of hevel, said Kohelet, all is hevel.” The hebrew word “Hevel” used here is commonly translated to “vanity,” while more accurate translations would be “absurdity,” “insubstantiality,” and most of all, “breath.” The accurate understanding of this quote is: “Everything is breath.”
Rabbi Rami Shapiro understands Kohelet’s reflection to mean that “everything is like breath, it gives you life, but you can't hold on to it. You can't breathe indefinitely. We need to surrender to the fact that all efforts at permanence are hopeless. No structure we can build will protect us from the contingencies of life. But in the midst of that impermanence is the incredible gift of life."
Living through a respiratory viral pandemic, all this talk about breath takes on a whole new significance. Celebrating holidays and life moments as one navigates through things like a health crisis, personal and/or communal trauma and grief, State violence and a revival of facism may make it easier than ever to understand the sacred paradoxes of Sukkot.
In the midst of our vulnerability, our pain, our fear, our uncertainty of everything except eventual death… we reflect, we ground ourselves through gratitude, and with our precious breath, WE REJOICE. We rejoice for the bounty that we do have, we rejoice for the relationships we cherish, and we rejoice because the gift of life is so precious that it would be a waste to do anything but that.
This is why we are inviting the community to take on the Sukkot holiday as fully as one can, from reflecting on the themes of the holiday, to building your own sukkah. We have “built” an extensive resource guide to all things Sukkot! We invite you to explore these links and enjoy. And if you’re considering building a sukkah… Well, you’ve made your own hand sanitizer during quarantine, you baked your own bread, so building your own sukkah would surely be the next step!
A drawing by Rivka Yona Mark.
Sukkot 101
We all have our first Sukkot. And our second, and third, and so on. Despite being a major holiday and one of three Biblical harvest holidays, it is easy for Sukkot to be an afterthought. It comes less than a week after the most shul-heavy, emotionally-intense time of the year. And if you didn’t grow up with Sukkot, it can be hard to access the holiday, and it can feel like your 5th or 10th or 30th or 80th Sukkot is a lot like your 1st! Well, have no fear. Sukkot is here for you to take it by the horns! Below are some links, videos, and articles to help give you a grasp of it so you can engage more deeply with this beautiful holiday.
The LEGO Sukkot Video (Sukkot 101) (BimBam)
Explaining Sukkot for families with young kids (Reform Judaism)
Sukkot: A simple hut with complex messages (JWI)
Kohelet, the Biblical book read during Sukkot, reimagined in animation (BimBam)
Why Sukkot is the Most Magical Holiday of them All (Forward)
Three more (awesome) holidays at the end of Sukkot (Hoshanah Rabbah, Shemini Atzeret, and Simchat Torah) (Velveteen Rabbi)
Key Terms for Sukkot (MyJewishLearning)
High Holy Days (from Rosh HaShana until the end of Sukkot) glossary (Reconstructing Judaism)
A wiki page for all the formal Rabbinic rulings and laws for Sukkot! (Halachapedia)
The 5780/2019 Hinenu Sukkah.
Sukkot Rituals
The resources provided in this section link to texts with the formal prayers of Sukkot, as well as many meditations and minhagim (traditions). We’ve assembled a “grab bag” of sources that stretch across Jewish denominations, countries and centuries.
As you develop your “DIY Sukkot experience” we invite you to explore these texts and traditions, and identify ones that you would like to incorporate into your celebration and observance of the holiday. These links can be in addition to the content in your personal siddur (prayer book) or machzor (holiday prayer book), or you can copy/paste/screenshot at will and make your own collection of texts to use! Many of the links here offer beautifully illustrated copies of the prayers/meditations, some are available to download and print out. You can put a print out inside your own prayer book or journal, or use them as decorations in your Sukkah or home!
Because Sukkot is a long holiday with several mini-holidays within it and a wide variety of rituals, we have decided to make Sukkot Rituals it’s own document. Please click here to view the Sukkot 5781 with Hinenu Guide to Sukkot Rituals.
However, don’t forget to buy your lulav and etrog! Below are two resources for doing so.
A guide to respectfully foraging a Baltimore-based lulav (Vanessa Lubiner)
Order a Lulav and Etrog for pick-up in Downtown Baltimore! Prices as low as $36 (Chabad Downtown Baltimore)
An etrog (citron) with the lulav (palm frond), hadassot (willows), and aravim (myrtles)
Sukkot Texts
Ok, so it makes sense that Sukkot commemorates the 40 years of wandering the desert, living in temporary structures, on the way to the Promised Land. But sometimes we need a little more knowledge to feel rooted in tradition. And coupled with that, we need texts to help us connect and explore the themes of the holiday. Here are some resources to help you learn the fundamental texts of the holiday and explore beyond them.
But first, a fun fact: Leviticus 23:41 is the primary biblical source for Sukkot: “And you shall keep it a feast unto the LORD seven days in the year. [It shall be] a statute for ever in your generations: you shall celebrate it in the seventh month.” And here are the other 14 times Sukkot is mentioned in Torah: Ex 27:21, 28:43, Lev 3:17, 7:36, 10:9,17:7, 24:3, Num 10:8, 15:15, 19:10, 19:21, 18:23, 35:29, and Deut 29:28.
Biblical sources of Sukkot & source sheets created from across the Jewish world (Sefaria)
Reconstructing Judaism Essays on Sukkot (Reconstructing Judaism)
Chabad Sukkot Study Center (Chabad)
Why Sukkot is actually the best holiday for kids (JTA)
Shelter: What if it’s not enough? (Ritualwell)
Clouds of Glory: God’s Sukkot, God’s Shekhinah (Geoffery Dennis)
Sukkot: Joy and Strength within Fragility (Eva Robbins)
A Simple Hut with Complex Messages (Jewish Women International)
Seasons of Life (Wellsprings of Wisdom)
Ecclesiastes (Kohelet) and the Quest for Truth (MyJewishLearning)
Kohelet: Book of Breath (Sophia Street)
How I Met My Kohelet (T’ruah)
Everything is but a moment: a meditation on Kohelet (Ritualwell)
Texts and study prompts on Sukkot, Hoshana Rabbah, Shmini Atzeret and Simchat Torah (Ziegler School of Rabbinic Studies)
Building a Sukkat Shlomecha (Shelter of peace) Note: Talks about domestic violence in MD (BethelMC)
The connection between Yom Kippur and Sukkot (Yeshiva University)
This Old Sukkah (MaNishtana)
1 Sukkah per apartment in this Brooklyn apartment complex.
How to build/buy a Sukkah
Imagine this: You’re just getting home from work, it’s early evening. Yom Kippur was a couple days ago, and oh my my, was it a slog. Now you’re ready... to just... relax. Phew. You look around your backyard, and think: It’s sukkah time.
At this time of year, the mosquitoes are really out and about. So, you put on your jeans and long-sleeve shirt, but the mosquitoes don’t seem to care. You begin pulling the bundles of materials out from the side room - wood, bamboo, your trusty hammer. You pull out a nail, line it up on the wood, and…
Tap. It’s 3 hours later. The sukkah is up! Evening light has given way to dusk. Your sukkah is aglow with the shine of twinkle lights and the warmth of family. The table is set, the food is bountiful, the laughs are contagious, and Sukkot is ready to begin.
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Those 3 hours of building your sukkah can be some of the most magical of the whole Jewish year. And once your sukkah is up, surely, the magical moments just proliferate. Here are some resources to help you on your way of putting up your own sukkah.
Building a sukkah (Ritualwell)
How to build a sukkah - with kosher considerations (Chabad)
How to build a sukkah with your family (kid-friendly) (PJ Library)
A thread of groovy Sukkah situations, all kosher! (Sukkah on a boat, camel, wagon, treehouse)
How to build a (BUDGET) PVC sukkah like the big Hinenu one (Instructables)
PDF instructions on how to build a wood and/or pipe Sukkah (BethelMC)
Affordable (questionably kosher) reed fence schach (Lowes)
Pop-up Sukkah (sukkahcompany.com)
More sukkahs to buy (sukkot.com)
Even MORE sukkahs to buy (sukkahworld.com)
Iconic Pikesville Sukkah store… Sukkah Depot (7006 Reisterstown Rd, 21215) (sukkahdepot)
Build a Sukkah on your porch or apartment balcony (tcjewfolk)
Article from The Forward about Sukkot in an apartment (My Apartment, My Sukkah)
If you can’t build a Sukkah this year… Celebrating Sukkot without a Sukkah
How to build a Sukkah (poem from Ritualwell)
Celebrating Sukkot in a tiny apartment (Jewish World)
A Drive through Sukkah? Yes, Indeed (Matzav)
Sukkot indoors? In an apartment?
For those of us who will not be able to build a sukkah this year, Sukkot can feel quite inaccessible. However, it is still possible to engage in other aspects of the holiday. We encourage you to use some of these guiding questions below to explore how you might observe the holiday this year.
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How can we use the places where we are sheltering to deepen our spiritual and whole-hearted engagement with questions of vulnerability/exposure/protection? beauty? playfulness? wonder? Grief?
If one goes for a walk in the woods at some point during the holiday, how might they play with finding/creating "shelter" for the duration of the time they're in the woods? What would it mean to cultivate a relationship with (a) place over the course of the holiday?
What elements of the holiday can you learn from and engage with in creative ways?
Inside a Samaritan-style sukkah, which is built indoors. Read more here.
Sukkot Extras
Sukkot is described as “Z’man Simchateynu” – the time of our rejoicing. A major way to facilitate our rejoicing and celebration is through the custom/value of Hiddur Mitzvah - the beautification of commandments and tradition. Sukkot is an especially prominent opportunity in the year to practice and explore this value.
As described in our Hinenu values, “Whether we’re singing songs, designing ritual objects, or making food, we strive towards beauty in our spiritual practice and observance.” Aesthetics and artistry play a large role in Jewish life, they are considered to be an important facet of how we fulfill mitzvot. Perhaps no other time in the year is this most apparent than the holiday of Sukkot. Whether it be through the carpentry and assembly of your Sukkah, the artistic freedom of decorations and curation of space, the invitation to incorporate elements of nature and harvest, the possibilities on how to practice Hiddur Mitzvah on Sukkot are seemingly endless.
Our Hinenu value elaborates that Hiddur Mitzvah “means developing a creative, innovative, egalitarian approach to Judaism, one that is rooted in building the world we want to exist here and now.” Ways you can actualize this in your Sukkah include the accessibility considerations in your design, using recycling to “upcycle'' your building and decoration materials, supporting BIPOC businesses and using ethically sourced products if possible.
If you are not able to build or dwell in a sukkah this year, you can practice Hiddur Mitzvah by decorating your home with plants and harvest veggies, using mood lighting, setting a beautiful table and so on. No matter what your Sukkot holiday will look like this year, the application of Hiddur Mitzvah is a chance to lift up the inherent beauty of our mitzvot and practice, a chance to tune-in to the work of art that is our planet and universe. It’s a chance to reveal the boundless creativity inside each of us.
We have included links to fun craft ideas, music to play, poems, and other cultural tidbits that beautify the mitzvah of Sukkot.
Sukkah Craft ideas (Creative Jewish Mom)
DIY Sukkot: Creative Ways to Celebrate (Ritualwell)
SukkahWood: annual NYC event where local and city artists produce temporary dwelling art installations for the Jewish holiday of Sukkot (SukkahWood)
A look at how the Jewish Samaritans celebrate Sukkot indoors with lots of fruit (Times of Israel)
How a Chinese fruit became a Sukkot symbol (Josefin Dolsten)
Dr. Seuss explains the rules of the Sukkah (Dr. Seuss)
Extra pictures of a sukkah (SukkahSoul)
Sukkot and Simchat Torah Social Justice Guide (ReformJudaism.org)
“Right Here Right Now” A poem and hilarious blog post about Sukkot. (2boychiksand1meidele)
Stuffed Cabbage Symbolism (Baltimore Jewish Times)
Song: “ופרש עלינו סכת שלומך // Ufros Aleinu Sukkat Shlomecha //
Spread over us your canopy of peace” (Romemu)
Under a Fragile Thatched Roof (Rabbi Simcha Raphael, PhD)
Sukkot Performance Art with YIVO (Ghosts In The Sukkah ) Watch here (Youtube)
Sukkos Mob and Yiddish Theater (Youtube)
Sukkos Mob: Jenny Romaine's New Spin on a Jewish Tradition (Yiddish Book Center)
Great Small Works Sukkos Mob (Portable Shows)
Bukharan Jews now in Queens recreate their Sukkot memories (Jweekly)
PICTURES: Bnei Menashe welcome you to their sukkot in India (Shavei)
11 Instagram Photos from Around the World Will Inspire You This Sukkot (MyJewishLearning)
Around the Jewish World, Distinct Traditions for Sukkot (JewishJournal)
Ufros Aleinu Sukkat Shlomecha - by Avi Roberts