Sukkot

Embark on a journey of Jewish learning and discovery, exploring the depth of our Sukkot resources, where tagged items including audio, programs, and podcast episodes await your exploration.

ספר יונה וסוכות במקרא

Rabbi Amnon Bazak

September 24 ספר יונה: ספר יונה מוקדש כולו לרעיון התשובה. בשיעור נעמוד על שני השאלות המרכזיות בנושא התשובה שאיתם מתמודד הספר, תוך ניתוח ספר יונה מתוך פשוטו של מקרא.  Today's shiur is sponsored by Eliakim and Esther Katz in memory of Esther’s…
Program
Aug 25, 2020

Shabbat Chol Hamoed: Opposites Attract

Rabbi Jay Kelman

Sukkot is a holiday full of contradictions. At the time we celebrate our harvest, we are bidden to leave the comfort of our home and expose ourselves to the elements of nature. Even the two reasons given for sitting in the sukkah are…
Article
Oct 18, 2019

Sukkot: The Beauty of the Etrog

Rabbi Jay Kelman

Judaism is not oblivious to the power and even importance of physical beauty. Phrases such as yefat tohar v’yefot ma’areh, loosely translated as very attractive, is one we find in the Torah to describe such heroines as Sarah, Rivka,…
Article
Sep 23, 2018

Sukkot: All in One

Rabbi Jay Kelman

Sukkot marks the beginning of the end of the holiday season. As the fall season commences, and as the days get progressively shorter and colder, festivities become more difficult. Travelling to Jerusalem for inspiration is no longer feasible and we…
Article
Oct 4, 2017

Shabbat Chol HaMoed: Let's Skip This Year

Rabbi Jay Kelman

"Keep the harvest festival as the year changes" (Shemot 34:22). This (half) verse is the only reference to Sukkoth (or more precisely Chag Ha'aseif, the harvest festival) in the Torah reading that our Sages have ordained for Shabbat…
Article
Oct 21, 2016

Sukkot: Fear and Joy

Rabbi Jay Kelman

The Jewish year begins with the aseret yemei teshuva, the ten days of repentance. They begin with the strict justice of Rosh Hashanah, Yom Hadin; and culminate on Yom Kippur, with its unique opportunity for forgiveness. The intensity of these days…
Article
Oct 16, 2016

Sukkot: From Eisav to Shmitta

Rabbi Jay Kelman

"And you shall dwell in sukkot for seven days, all citizens of Israel shall dwell in a sukkah so that your generations may know that I made the children of Israel to dwell in booths, when I brought them out of the land of Egypt: I am the Lord your G…
Article
Sep 27, 2015

Sukkot: The Twin Pillars

Rabbi Jay Kelman

Pesach and Sukkot are the twin pillars of the Jewish year. They are exactly six months apart, each on the fifteenth day of the first month of their respective years. Pesach marks the apex of the lunar year that begins in Nissan, and Sukkot does the…
Article
Oct 8, 2014

Sukkot: No Pain, No Gain

Rabbi Jay Kelman

The Talmud classifies sukkah as a mitzvah kalla, a light and easy mitzvah. Where one must be almost deathly ill before one is permitted to eat on Yom Kippur or to violate many other Torah prohibitions, such is not the case with the sukkah. Here…
Article
Sep 18, 2013

Sukkot: Leaving Home

Rabbi Jay Kelman

"And you shall take for yourself on the first day a beautiful fruit of the tree, an unopened palm frond, myrtle branches, and willows and you shall rejoice before G-d for seven days" (Vayikra 23:40). The halacha stipulates a number of ways to…
Article
Sep 30, 2012