“Speak to the children of Israel, saying, On the fifteenth day of this seventh month is the Feast of Tabernacles for seven days to Jehovah…You shall dwell in booths seven days — all who are native in Israel shall dwell in booths — So that your descendants may know that I made the children of Israel to dwell in booths when I brought them out of the land of Egypt; I am Jehovah your God.” (Leviticus 23:34, 42-43)
This week, Israelis are celebrating Sukkot (Hebrew: סוכות, meaning booth), commonly translated as Feast of Tabernacles. It is a biblical Jewish holiday, and was one of the Three Pilgrimage Festivals, on which the Israelites were commanded to perform a pilgrimage to the Temple. It is also intended as a reminiscence of the type of fragile dwellings in which the Israelites dwelt during their 40 years of travel in the desert after the Exodus from slavery in Egypt. Throughout the holiday, meals are eaten inside the sukkah and many people sleep there as well.
The holiday lasts seven days in Israel. On each day of the holiday it is mandatory for the Jews to perform a waving ceremony with the Four Species. This ritual is according to Leviticus 23:40: “And on the first day you shall take for yourselves the product of stately trees, branches of palm trees and boughs of leafy trees and willows of the brook; and you shall rejoice before Jehovah your God for seven days.”
『你要對以色列人說，這七月的十五日是住棚節，要向耶和華守這節七日。… 你們要住在棚裏七日；凡以色列的本地人都要住在棚裏，好叫你們世世代代知道，我領以色列人出埃及地的時候曾使他們住在棚裏；我是耶和華你們的神。』(利未記23:34, 42-43)
這一週以色列全地慶祝住棚節（希伯來語：סוכות，意為棚）。它是聖經中提到的三大節期之一，持續七天。節期中猶太人必須每天手握四樣植物搖動，環繞會堂遊行並禱告。這四樣植物是：香櫞果實(類似檸檬)、棕樹枝、香桃木枝條、和柳樹枝，後三種枝葉通常綑紮在一起。在節日之前，猶太教團體中通常都會出售這些植物。這是根據利未記23:40：『第一日，你們要拿美好樹上的果子、棕樹的枝子、茂密樹的枝條、與溪邊的柳枝，在耶和華你們的神面前歡樂七日。』
住棚節即收藏節，在節日期間，猶太人蓋造一個臨時棚子，在其中進餐、款待客人、休息睡覺。這是為紀念以色列人在離開埃及之後，在曠野中漂流四十年期間所住的棚屋。住棚節是收割的完成，首先豫表要來的千年國。至終，永遠的住棚節將是所有神的子民在新天新地裏，對新耶路撒冷這永遠帳幕的享受，作他們對神經歷之收成的完成。
