Sukkot – Festival of Booths

Sukkot, is a climax of all the festivals which commence with Rosh Hashannah.
When I was studying engineering in college in England, I had a Welsh professor as a tutor. He knew I was Jewish and he would ask me questions about some customs that interested him. He noticed one year that after being absent for Rosh Hashannah and Yom Kippur I was absent for another few days and asked me why. “It was one of our festivals” I replied. “Another festival!” he exclaimed. “It’s called Sukkot”. “Really,” he said “What do you do?”. “We build huts in our yards and dwell in them for seven days”. He scratched his head in astonishment “Why do you do that?”.
“It’s a remembrance that we don’t rely on our houses only for protection. We leave our physical quarters to get close to G’d and nature and we rely on His Divine providence to look after us.”
The reason for having a Sukkah, in which we spend much of our time for the week of the festival, is to commemorate the clouds of glory that surrounded the Jews while wandering through the desert for 40 years. By leaving our homes and transferring our lives to the Sukkah, we come to appreciate nature a bit more. We come to understand what a poor person feels when he lives in such a situation, being exposed to the natural elements, and most of all, we appreciate the blessings G-d has given us by having a home.
On Sukkot we abandon a home of comfort made of brick or wood and find shelter in a frail booth which the rain may flood and the wind overturn. On entering this hut we indicate our implicit faith and trust in our Maker, we submit ourselves to Divine protection.
“Put not your trust in princes, in a son of man from whom there is no help” (Psalm 146). But rather put your trust in the great G-d who is mighty and His promises are fulfilled, this teaches us to trust G-d irrespective of our station in life, whether we are richly endowed with worldly goods or troubled by want. Mastering this principle gives us satisfaction and happiness; therefore, this holiday is called the holiday of rejoicing.
Sukkot is another example of how Judaism asks more of us than just thought and verbalization, to experience the beauty of Judaism requires action.