Sukkos

A long time ago the Jews lived in the Midbar (desert). There were snakes there

as well as tall mountains and a very hot sun. Hashem loves the Jews so

much He did not want them to get bit by snakes, climb tall mountains, or get hot from

the sun. Hashem wanted to protect them so He surrounded

them with 6 clouds, one on top to protect them from the sun, one on the bottom to protect their feet from snakes and scorpions, one in front to flatten the mountains and make it easy for the Jews to on walk hassle free, one in back to protect them from enemies, one on each side to protect them from free roaming wild animals, plus one cloud/ GPS to show them where to go. :)

To remember this Mitzva and show Hashem we trust Him, we now build a sukka and use it for 7 days. We

eat in the sukka, do mitzvos in the sukka, and some people even sleep in the sukka.

What is a Sukka?

 A sukka is a hut made of 4 walls, a roof made of leaves called schach, and the ground. In order to be kosher,

nothing could be over the sukka roof except the sky, no trees or permanent roofs!

Song: Take me out to the Sukka

Take me out in the fall, 

Put some schach on top of me,

Then decorations up on the wall.

Shake shake shake the lulav

Along with the esrog too

And a one, two, three hadasim and two aravot!

On Sukkos we have a special mitzvah of Lulav and Esrog. 

We take 4 kinds of plants:

1.Lulav- tall and skinny 

2.Esrog- round and yellow,

3.Hadasim- 3 leaves, 

4.Aravot- 2 leaves. 

They all look different and some of these plants have a smell and some don’t. We PUT them all together

and make the bracha "Al Netilas Lulav", and shake them. We show Hashem we know He loves when we are all together. Even though we are all different, look different, act different- we could still be friends!

We SHAKE them in all directions (right, left, front, up, down, and back three times each) to show that Hashem is everywhere. 

Song: Did you ever shake a Lulav, a lulav, a lulav,

Did you ever shake a lulav on a Sukkos day?

Upwards and downwards and frontwards and backwards, 

Did you ever shake a lulav on a Sukkos day?