The festival of Sukkot commemorates the time when the Exodus generation lived in the desert; a time when they had no permanent homes to live in. The Bible calls it the Feast of Tabernacles, Feast of the Ingathering, the Feast at the Turn of the Year, or just "The Feast." This festival lasts seven days and immediately follows Yom Kippur, a day of repentance and reflection. Later, this feast became associated with the giving of the Law to Moses and even with Solomon's consecration of the temple.
One of the customs is to build a sukkah (booth) on your roof, balcony, or porch. Basically a sukkah has to have at least three sides made of nearly anything. The roof, I surmise, has to be made of something organic. There has to be more shade than space open to the sun, but the roof has to be open to the sky. This sukkah is to be decorated. It's customary to eat and sleep in the sukkah during the festival. If it is cold and rainy, you can go indoors. The point is not to make life miserable but to remember one's roots.
I took a walk through a nearby neighborhood of Jerusalem to get a few photos of Sukkah's. I saw sukkas made of plywood, shower doors, tarps...you name it.
The last day of the feast is Simchat Torah, which celebrates Moses' receiving of the Law. It also ends the prior year's cycle of Torah reading and begins a new one. The photo above is a pile of lulavs that are waved toward the east, south, west, and north, above and below. I went to the western wall plaza to see what was going on and saw lots of people carrying mattresses around for their first night's sleep. Virtually no one was at the Western Wall as you can see. I tried to be considerate, as you are not supposed to take pics on the plaza during high holy days.
One last picture of an apartment building with various kinds of sukkas on the porches.
