What Exactly Is a Sukkah?
Have you ever asked yourself what defines a sukkah? Not how to build one or what makes it kosher, but why have one in the first place? What is its purpose? Was the sukkah part of daily life in ancient Israel? Did it have a role outside the holiday that bears its name?
The Torah does not address any of these questions directly. To solve the riddle of the sukkah we must first turn to the book of Isaiah, which mentions the sukkah as an aside in two passages. In 1:8 we read:
讜职谞讜止转职专指讛 讘址转志爪执讬旨讜止谉 讻职旨住只讻指旨讛 讘职讻指专侄诐 讻执旨诪职诇讜旨谞指讛 讘职诪执拽职砖指讈讛 讻职旨注执讬专 谞职爪讜旨专指讛變
The daughter of Zion is left as a sukkahin a vineyard, as a hut in a cucumber patch, as a city besieged.
This analogy reveals two details: (1) the sukkah was situated in the agricultural fields, and (2) it was a vulnerable, probably temporary structure. The second passage is 4:6:
讜职住只讻指旨讛 转执旨讛职讬侄讛 诇职爪值诇志讬讜止诪指诐 诪值讞止专侄讘 讜旨诇职诪址讞职住侄讛 讜旨诇职诪执住职转旨讜止专 诪执讝侄旨专侄诐 讜旨诪执诪指旨讟指专變
[God鈥檚 protection] shall be a sukkah for shade during the days from heat, and as a refuge and shelter from the downpour and rain.
The sukkah鈥檚 purpose was to protect one from the elements. That is why Jonah built a sukkahoutside the city of Nineveh (). The sun was hot and there was no shade to be found in the fields. The sukkah was his only shelter and without it he wished to die (4:8).
A sukkah in a vineyard at the foot of Mt. Tabor, ca. 1920鈥�1933 (Matson Collection)
While the books of Isaiah and Jonah tell us much about the sukkah, we still do not know why the sukkah is connected to Sukkot. For this we will turn to a different type of source, the ethnographic record. During the 1800s and early 1900s, a number of travelers described the practices of the Arab farmers in the land of Israel, then known as Palestine. These travel writings are important to Bible scholars because they describe agricultural practices very similar to the ones found in the Tanakh and archaeology. For example, in 1838, Edward Robinson and Eli Smith described the grape harvest outside of Hebron:
鈥淭he vintage is a season of hilarity and rejoicing to all; the town is then deserted, and the people live among the vineyards in lodges and in tents. The produce of these vineyards is celebrated throughout Palestine.鈥� Biblical Researches in Palestine (Boston: 1856), 2:81.
The 鈥渓odges and tents鈥� were in all likelihood the sukkot mentioned in the books of Isaiah and Jonah. What Robinson and Smith add is that the sukkahwas used during the harvest, which was a time of great joy and celebration. Similarly, Gustav Dalman observed in the early 1900s:
鈥淸Between August and October], when the ripe grapes and figs need to be watched night and day, the farmer lives with his whole family in the vineyards ([Arabic] 办别谤奴尘), which are also fig orchards. There he erects a pergola (鈥榓r谋虅she, kh膿me) out of some poles, usually on the roughly built watch-tower (辩补峁, 尘补苍峁璦谤补) that always stands there (Is 5:2; Matth 21:33), and covers it with leafy branches or reeds. Living under the pergola means a joyful time during which there is no lack of special songs, and people eat their fill of fruit.鈥� Work and Customs in Palestine, translated by Nadia Abdulhadi Sukhtian (Ramallah: Dar Al Nasher, 2013), 165 [161].
Dalman鈥檚 鈥減ergolas,鈥� or 鈥淟aube鈥� in the original German, would have been called sukkot in Hebrew. Dalman clarifies how the farmer鈥檚 sukkah was occupied during the days of the tree-fruit harvest, which were arguably the happiest days of the year.
A sukkah with 鈥渓eafy branches鈥� near Banias, ca. 1900鈥�1920 (Eretz Israel Museum)
Now that we have examined Isaiah, Jonah, and the ethnographic record, let us focus on and , which explicitly link the holiday of Sukkot to the harvest:
讗址讱职 讘址旨讞植诪执砖指旨讈讛 注指砖指讉专 讬讜止诐 诇址讞止讚侄砖讈 讛址砖职旨讈讘执讬注执讬 讘职旨讗指住职驻职旨讻侄诐 讗侄转志转职旨讘讜旨讗址转 讛指讗指专侄抓 转指旨讞止讙旨讜旨 讗侄转志讞址讙志讬职讛讜指讛 砖执讈讘职注址转 讬指诪执讬诐
Certainly, on the fifteenth day of the seventh month when you gather in the produce of your land you shall observe the festival of the Lord seven days. ()
讞址讙 讛址住只旨讻止旨转 转址旨注植砖侄讉讛 诇职讱指 砖执讈讘职注址转 讬指诪执讬诐 讘职旨讗指住职驻职旨讱指 诪执讙指旨专职谞职讱指 讜旨诪执讬执旨拽职讘侄讱指變
You shall observe the festival of Sukkot for seven days when you gather in from your threshing floor and your wine vat. ()
Sukkot and the harvest are inextricably tied to one another. Whereas Passover coincided with the barley harvest, and Shavuot coincided with the wheat harvest, Sukkot coincided with the tree-fruit harvest. This meant grapes, pomegranates, olives, dates, and figs. Dried grains were also brought indoors at this time in anticipation of the coming winter rains.
What emerges from this analysis is that Sukkot is a celebration of the fruit harvest, and the fruit harvest is celebrated in the sukkah. For the ancient Israelite, the sukkah would have conjured up feelings of joy and thanksgiving to God. That is why the sukkah was鈥攁nd still is鈥攁 fitting symbol for the holiday that bears its name.
The publication and distribution of the 91快播 Commentary are made possible by a generous grant from Rita Dee (锄鈥漧) and Harold Hassenfeld (锄鈥漧).
