We are about to enter into the holy days of Succot (tabernacles) and I thought I would share a few words on the topic.  When I was in Israel, I heard a lot of talk regarding these holy days as to the meaning of the 4 species of trees that we wave, and with the meaning of the succah itself.  At the beginning of one Succot in Israel, a different type of question came to me.  Why does Succot happen now, right after Rosh haShannah and Yom Kippor?  Why not have it in the spring or summer?

Now, one answer I heard to this question was that the Torah calls it the holy days of harvesting/ingathering.  Great answer, but Pesach (Passover) and Shavuot (pentacost) are also times of harvest in the Middle East.  The Torah comments that the first barley harvest is during Pesach, and the harvest of the first fruits is at Shavuot.  So, Succot must be about harvesting or gathering in something else.

Before I go into what I think is being harvested, I want to share a bit of my experiences with Succot.  One thing I noticed about Succot is that there is no place to hide.  Think about it.  You are living in a flimsy structure with a roof of branches that allow you to see the stars.  There is nothing to dampen the noise.  In other words, you hear everything that is going on with your neighbors (assuming they are also Jews and celebrating Succot which was the case when I was in Israel) and they hear everything going on with you.  All the yelling, crying, singing, laughing.  You can even tell if someone is having a banana on their rice crispies.  Nothing is hidden.  For one week, the whole country is basically like one family.  The second thing is that since you can be heard, you cannot pretend you are not home when someone comes a-knocking.  They are stopping and coming in because they know you are home because they heard you as they were walking by.  No way you can pretend you are not home; you have no choice but to invite them in, to receive them.  After my first Succot in Israel, where I experiences this, I thought to myself that this must be a hint of what it was like for our ancestor Avraham whose tent was open to everybody on all four sides.

Now, what does this have to do with when Succot is?  Well, after Rosh haShannah and Yom Kippor, we have done a major purification of ourselves.  We have cleared out (with haShem/god’s help) all the stuff that is not us, but has covered us like dirt.  So, all that is left is our pure essence.  And now we have Succot; the week where we cannot hide.  The week we are fully exposed to ourselves, our neighbors, and the whole world.  And what do they see?  They see us, our true selves, our pure essence that is not covered by the grime of guilt and errors and other things that are not us.  This is one of the purposes of Succot:  to show our neighbors, our family, each other, the world, and ourselves, who we really are, and not to allow us to hide as we do the rest of the year.

Now, that I have answered why Succot is now, I feel I should answer the other question I asked which is what are we harvesting?  I see three answers to this question.  The first, on the most basic and material level, is the results of all our physical actions.  Now, back in the day, this was the final harvest of produce.  However, I do not think this is all we are harvesting.  With the waving of the lulav (the four species of trees I mentioned above), we are also gathering in our spiritual harvest – the energies of our labors and intentions that we planted last Rosh haShannah.  And finally, I feel we are gathering in all the parts of our souls that have been embarrassed and lost during the last year.  These pieces have separated from us due to traumas or due to our actions that went so against the desires of our soul.  The places inside us that are empty of our soul, were filled with the dirt and grime we picked up during the year as I mentioned above.  Now, that we have cleaned out those places, and now that we have done the work to heal/grow from the traumas, and to return towards the path of our soul, we use the lulav to gather in those lost pieces of soul so we can become whole once again.  This is what I think our Torah is alluding to when it says that this is the holy days of ingathering/harvesting.

Of course there is a lot more to be said about this holy day(s), but I think I will save it for another time.

Chag samayach/happy holy days,

About the Author

Shmuel Shalom Cohen spent 10 years studying Torah in Jerusalem. Six years ago, he started Conscious Torah to help Jews connect to their tradition in ways they didn’t think possible. Shmuel also started, and is the executive directory of Jewish Events Willamette-valley, a non-profit whose mission is to build Jewish community, pride, and learning. In his free time, Shmuel likes walks in nature, playing music, writing poetry, and time with good friends.