Sukkot 17 articles

With Sukkot on the horizon, one of my rabbinic tasks was making sure that the Young Israel of Memphis’s aravot (willow) and hadassim (myrtle) gardens were getting all the TLC they...

“The lion has roared, who will not fear” (Amos:3:8). “אַרְיֵה שָׁאָג, מִי לֹא יִירָא” The Shelah Hakadosh (Rabbi Isaiah Horowitz 1555-1630) suggests that this verse hints to this precise time of...

From OU Holidays! What are Hoshanos? Why do we say them? Why is the schedule the way it is? What’s “Ani Vaho?” Find out all this and more with this colorful, downloadable...

Shlomo Horwitz is the founding director of Jewish Crossroads, an educational theater project that has provided creative Torah programming across the US, Canada, England and Israel. He studied at Yeshivat Shaalvim...

Sukkos – for many, it’s summer’s last hurrah. Being outdoors, hopefully in green, lush and warm (or not too cold) surroundings. A pleasant return to nature before autumn really kicks in....

“What do you do in the sukkah?” I once heard an interviewer ask a man as the holiday of Sukkot approached. His reply? “You eat, and you eat and then–you eat...

At Sukkot we fulfill the mitzva of taking the four species – etrog (citron), lulav (palm), hadas (myrtle) and arava (willow). While we must take all four kinds to fulfill the...

For most, it remains an enigma. We say it; it seems like it fits – but one suspects that we are essentially clueless (an admitted projection) to its Sukkos significance. I...

This story took place close to a decade ago. Although it’s about a flying Sukkah, it really began about a week before the holiday, when the stores throughout Jerusalem were selling...

Photo by Nick Koon We have a wonderful tradition at Rosh Hashanah of eating new fruits of the season. What did you choose? Pomegranate? Apple? And what will be suspended from...