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.

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…
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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…
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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…
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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…
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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…
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Sukkot: A Look Ahead

Rabbi Jay Kelman

The history of our nation is linked with Pesach. Many of our mitzvoth—mezuzah, tefillin, Shabbat, honest weights, the prohibition of charging interest—are directly related to our Egyptian experience. There is an obligation to recall the Exodus on a…
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Sukkot, Hakhel, Shmittah: What's it All About?

Rabbi Nathaniel Helfgot

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Sukkot: Seeing Double

Rabbi Jay Kelman

This week’s d’var Torah is sponsored by Gershon and Leah Vandenbrink with best wishes for a joyous Sukkot. 
In rabbinic literature, Sukkot is known simply as “Chag,” (the holiday), implying that it is the holiday par excellence. It is the most…
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