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15th-21st days of Tishrei - Festival of Booths

Sukkot, which means Festival of Booths, lasts for 7 days, from the 15-21 of Tishrei. There is a quick transition from the somber mood of repentance and judgment from the High Holiday to a holiday of rejoicing and celebration. Sukkot marks the time of the harvest of produce before the oncoming winter. During Sukkot, we are commanded to build a sukkah, or booth, and make it our home. The sukkah is a temporary structure, usually with four walls and
covered with a roof of tree branches. The structure is to remind us of the portability of the huts in the desert as the Israelites wandered from place to place for forty years. The agricultural aspect of Sukkot is emphasized with the four species: the lulav (palm branch), the etrog (citron), the hadasim (myrtle), and aravot (willows). Just as the farmer harvests his crops, so we gather four kinds of vegetation and use them to praise God for the bounty He has provided us.