Sukkah

The etrog has been identified as the Torah’s פְּרִי עֵץ הָדָר, “fruit of trees of beauty” (Leviticus 23:40), since the Second Temple period. Here are five other interpretations of this verse.

The scribes who wrote the addendum to the laws of Sukkot (Leviticus 23:42-43) used inner-biblical exegesis to explain the requirement to dwell in booths as a commemoration for the miraculous booths (not clouds) that God created for the Israelites at their first stop on the way to freedom.

The connection between the Israelite festival of Sukkot in the temple and the Ugaritic new year festival and its dwellings of branches for the gods.  

We sit in the sukkah to remind us that “I (God) made the Israelites live in sukkot when I brought them out of the land of Egypt” (Leviticus 23:43). Accordingly, why isn’t Sukkot celebrated in the month of Nissan, when we left Egypt?

Biblical narratives describe the Israelites living in tents in the wilderness and make no mention of sukkot, “booths.” So when and where did God “settle the Israelite people in booths”(Leviticus 23:43)? The answer: Kadesh! Although Israel journeys through the wilderness for forty years, they arrive at Kadesh early on and dwell there for more than thirty-five years.

Rabbi Eliezer says that the sukkah is meant to remind us of the real booths from the wilderness period. Rabbi Akiba (surprisingly) suggests that it reminds us of the clouds of glory. What is at the heart of this debate?