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Succot – A Festival of Gathering

“…On the fifteenth day of the seventh month, when you gather in the crop of the land, you should celebrate G-d’s holiday for seven days…” Leviticus 23:39. See also Exodus 23:16

Succot, the holiday which occurs in the fall every year after Yom Kippur, is commonly known for the huts the Jewish people make to eat and sleep in, and for the four species that are waved, a citron, a palm branch, myrtle branches, and willow branches. However, the Bible also refers to this holiday as the Holiday of Gathering.

Gather Your Blessings

The mystical writers point out that the word “gathering” is not only referring to a physical gathering. This time period of harvest is particularly ripe for noticing all the blessings we have from the Almighty. We are encouraged to take joy and celebrate the harvest time period through the holiday of Succot. However, the physical harvest alludes to deeper things as well. We are “gathering” in all of our blessings physical and spiritual by focusing on them.

Gather as One Nation

Similarly, the four species are brought together, three of them even bound together. This is another type of “gathering”. One of the species has taste and smell, one has taste alone, one has smell alone, and one has neither. Taste and smell are symbolic of wisdom and good deeds. Some of us have both good deeds and wisdom. Some of us do good deeds but lack wisdom. Some of us have wisdom but lack good deeds. Some of us have neither. On Succot we try to get everyone together. Let no one feel left out, and let no one feel they are separate. To properly fulfill G-d’s will we need to all feel united and one.

Gather Together With God

One last aspect of gathering is the calendar. There are two week-long festivals on the Hebrew calendar, Passover and Succot. Passover lasts seven days and the “eighth” day, so to speak, is Shavuot which comes six weeks later. Succot has its eighth day gathered together with the rest of the holiday.

These different aspects of gathering are all ways to gather ourselves to our Creator, the Infinite One, which is the whole purpose of existence. When we do that, we are really in line with the deeper meaning of all the holidays.

Like a squirrel stores up for the winter, now is the time to gather as many ways as you can to connect to the Infinite for the next twelve months. It’s a time to take stock of your life and gather your resources, your values, and your goals together and rededicate your life to what is most important.

Hopefully every year we grow wiser and we are able to dedicate ourselves to a slightly higher, more meaningful existence than last year. Each year we need to upgrade our life focus.

Once a year refocus your efforts at a meaningful existence and elevate every aspect of your life.