Why do Jews sit in a sukkah?

Answer 1

A sukkah (סוכה) or temporary hut, symbolizing the temporary dwellings that our ancestors used during their pilgrimage to Jerusalem for the Harvest festival. It also symbolizes the huts that our ancestors used when they wandered in the desert for 40 years.

Answer 2

If you can get ahold of a copy of the "Old Testament" somewhere, have a look at Leviticus 23:42.

Take the time to read any footnotes or commentary, and to go wherever they lead you.

The first five books of the "old testament" are a translation of the "Torah", and are often

a good place to start when you want to understand something that Jews do, considering

that everything that Jews do is ultimately based on something in the Torah.

Answer 3

Sukkot is an ancient Jewish celebration of the fall harvest. At one time it was the most important celebration of the Jewish year. For Humanistic Jews it is a link to our agricultural ancestors. In contemporary times it is a reminder of the importance of food as a basic element of sustaining life, and the millions of people in this world who need assistance with the basic necessities of life, and our responsibility to lend assistance just as our ancestors before us.

Answer 4

Jews stay in a Sukkah because Leviticus 39: 42-43 says it should be done:

"'But on the fifteenth day of the seventh month, when you have gathered the produce of the land, you are to observe the festival of Adonai seven days; the first day is to be a complete rest and the eighth day is to be a complete rest. On the first day you are to take choice fruit, palm fronds, thick branches and river-willows, and celebrate in the presence of Adonai your God for seven days. You are to observe it as a feast to Adonai seven days in the year; it is a permanent regulation, generation after generation; keep it in the seventh month. You are to live in sukkot for seven days; every citizen of Israrel is to live in a sukkah, so that generation after generation of you will know that I made the people of Israrel live in sukkot when I brought them out of the land of Egypt; I am Adonai your God."

All full meals are supposed to be eaten in the sukkah, the majority of Jews do not sleep in the sukkah, however some of the more pious do.

Modern biblical scholarship sees the sukkot originally serving as temporary dwellings for the farmers at harvest times. Following the general tendency to connect the ancient seasonal festivals with events in the history of Israel, the reason for the sukkah as stated in Leviticus is to remind Jews of the booths in which the children of Israel dwelt during their journey through the wilderness.

Answer 5

Because it is a Torah-precept to fulfill God's commands in a beautiful manner (Talmud, Shabbat 133b).

Answer 6

Yes