Sukkot Together and the Value of Extending Hospitality – Ushpizin

By: Partnership-2-Gether – Tel Aviv-Los Angeles and the School Twinning Network

The Sukkot holiday presents an opportunity for a mifgash between student delegations. The
value of extending hospitality to guests (hakhnasat orkhim) is a central value of Sukkot and
accompanies us as we meet, host and get to know each other.

In this lesson plan we offer a joint activity that deals with one of the holiday's central values—
extending hospitality to guests, also known as Ushpizin. This unit contains background
information for familiarizing students with the holiday as well as options and methods for
delivering the unit.

Goals of the activity

1. Participants will become familiar with one of the key values of the Sukkot holiday—
extending hospitality to guests.
2. Participants will experience being hosted in the sukkah of their overseas friends.
3. Participants will become familiar with figures their friends consider significant and
discuss the significance of those figures.
4. Participants will deepen their acquaintanceship with their overseas friends.

Thus the people of Israel behaved, that when guests entered the sukkah, before sitting down
at the table they would be invited in honorable fashion: "Come in our guests", "I invite our
exalted guests to my meal". They would call the guest by name and list the names of the
other six Ushpizin who would accompany today's guest.
And a fine chair would be prepared in the sukkah, and a beautiful cloth placed upon it as well
as books and they would say: "This is the chair for our guests". A candle would be lit in the
guest's honor.
Since the sukkah is the venue for hosting the supernal guests, it is fitting for those sitting in
the sukkah to also invite flesh and blood guests—the poor—to sit around the table and bring
gratification to the supernal guests who are happy with the sukkah's mortal guests.

~ Sefer HaTodaa, seventh chapter.

One of the conventional customs of the Sukkot holiday is the mitzvah of inviting
guests to the Sukkah – Ushpizin.

According to Jewish tradition, Ushpizin (Aramaic for 'guests') are spiritual guests who visit the
sukkah during the course of the seven days of Sukkot. The custom of Ushpizin apparently
originates from the Kabala and the Zohar. Each day, tradition says, a different 'guest' visits
the sukkah and is later joined by other guests, each of them a biblical figure from Jewish
history.

The guests' importance is expressed in the character that is attributed to them. Each day, the
character of that day's guest is ascribed special importance:

Abraham – the attribute of benevolence and love.

Isaac – restraint and discipline.

Jacob – beauty, harmony and truth.

Moses – victory and endurance.

Aaron – splendor and humility.

Joseph – foundation and connection.

David – sovereignty, receptiveness and leadership.

The above attributes correspond to seven of the sefirot of the Kabala:

http://www.chabad.org/holidays/JewishNewYear/template_cdo/aid/571505/jewish/The-
Ushpizin.htm

The following page contains a proposed joint activity to be held in the sukkah.
Proposed joint sukkah activity
Rationale:

The below activities refer to the custom of Ushpizin and touch upon the emotional aspect of
students' worlds. Here, Ushpizin reflects participants' personal feelings and desires,
emotional/social needs, and so forth. The information that emerges offers a wide scope for
group discussion and support, and opens a portal for shared study of the topic we seek to
emphasize in the Tel Aviv-Los Angeles Partnership: "Zionism Today – Vision and Reality".

Note: The proposed activity can be carried out together with students of the host school or,
alternatively, with the host family while sitting in the sukkah—led by the guest student.

Option A:

Stage 1 – Brief explanation of the essence of the Ushpizin custom as explained above.

Stage 2 – Each student receives a note, chooses a known figure, and writes on the note:

 The name of the figure

 The reason for which he/she chose this figure – character traits / something the figure
symbolizes / the meaning of this figure as he/she sees him / a positive association
evoked by the figure (without naming the figure).

 A question or statement the student wishes to refer to the figure.

Stage 3 – In turn, each student reads out the reason for which he/she has chosen this figure
and a question/statement that he/she directs to the figure. Through this information as well
as the student's response to 'yes/no' questions, the group must guess who the figure is.

If the group has not successfully guessed the figure, then the student discloses the identity of
the figure and the reasons/she chose him.

Option B:

Stage 1 – Brief explanation of the essence of the Ushpizin custom as explained above.

Stage 2 – Each student receives a blank note and writes down the name of a known figure
he/she thinks is important to meet/invite to the sukkah. The figure can be a historical or
current figure, a teacher, and figure taken from literature, cinema and so forth. It is important
to also mention female guests – women and revered national mothers. Along with the
traditional guests, it is customary to also invite guests from the surrounding community.

Stage 3 – Collect all of the notes and place them in one container.

Stage 4 – In turn, each student randomly pulls out one of the notes and refers to the figure
on the note as follows: If it is someone he/she would choose, then why would he/she invite
him? And if not, then why would he/she not invite him? What does the figure symbolize for
him/her?

Stage 5 – The student who chose that figure will identify himself/herself and explain the
reason for inviting that person. What does the person symbolize for him/her?

The student who has identified himself/herself is the next person to pull out a note, and so on.

Questions for discussion:

1. Was it easy/hard for you to identify the figures that were chosen?
2. Did you identify with the chosen figures? Did the choices surprise you? How?
3. Did you identify with the reasons your friends gave for choosing their figures? Did any
of the reasons surprise you?
4. Which figure who you did not choose would you now like to invite / or invite next year?
5. Where would you like to be hosted?
6. How did you feel as guests?
7. How did you feel as hosts?
8. Which seems easier to you?

Next page: The Sukkot holiday – identity card.

The Sukkot holiday identity card

Name of holiday: Sukkot

Aliases: "The holiday", Harvest Festival; and on the final day: Simchat Torah,
Shmini Atzeret, Water-drawing Festival, Holiday of Water.
Date: Tishrei 15 – Tishrei 22
Reason for holiday: To recall sitting in the sukkah during our wanderings in the desert.

Holiday mitzvoth
 Building and sitting in the sukkah.
 Taking hold of the Lulav-the four biblical species and reciting a blessing over them.
 Recalling the existence of the Temple.
 Pilgrimage festival, bringing in the wealth of the harvest.
 Water libation upon the altar at the Temple. The Water-drawing Festival – large
celebration including a fire and water procession.
 Sacrifice of 70 bulls, symbolizing the 70 nations.

Holiday customs
 Decorating the sukkah with paper strips.
 Inviting guests to the sukkah – Ushpizin.
 Eating pomegranate and decorating the sukkah with pomegranate – symbol of fertility
and the ripening season.
 Beating of the aravot (branches of the willow tree) – to commemorate the ceremony
performed at the Temple and as a prayer for rain.
 Holiday of water – ceremonies connected with water, to remind us of the Water-
drawing Festival.
 Rain prayer – As the Sukkot holiday ends, we begin praying for rain.
 Simchat Torah – celebrate the reading of the final chapter of the Torah in synagogue
and beginning a new cycle of reading.
 Hakafot (circling) – dancing in circles around the Torah at synagogue, to mark Simchat
Torah.
 Waving decorated flags (sometimes topped with an apple and candle) by children at
Simchat Torah.
 Reading from the Book of Kohelet (Ecclesiastes).
The evolution of the holiday

Sukkot is the last of the three pilgrimage festivals mentioned in the Torah (the biblical year
begins in Nissan). Each of the pilgrimage festivals bears an agricultural nature: Passover –
the reaping festival, Shavuot – the holiday of the first fruits; and Sukkot – the harvest
festival.

Sitting in the sukkah

For generations people have wondered: If the Children of Israel, while wandering in the
desert, sat in sukkot all year-round for forty years, then why do we observe the holiday
during autumn at which time we are commanded "you shall sit in the sukkah for seven days"?
One speculation is that contrary to the custom of most farmers—who build a sort of hut in the
heart of agricultural land in the spring in order to protect them from the sun—the Jewish
People build a symbolic hut in autumn, in effect saying "Spread over us the sukkah of Your
peace". Indeed, many significations are connected to the sukkah, and one may invite
participants in the holiday meal to suggest their own interpretations of the holiday's
symbolism.

"During Sukkoth, a person makes his Sukkah his permanent dwelling and his house a
temporary dwelling" by sitting and eating in the sukkah; there are some who even sleep in
the sukkah. It is fitting for all collective activities to take place in the sukkah: the family meal,
parties, studying, or simply gathering to meet.

According to the Kabala, during each of the seven days of the holiday, a different ancestor is
"hosted" in the sukkah: Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Joseph, Moses, Aaron and David. The custom
of hospitality in Aramaic is called Ushpizin, an expression of the Jewish and universal value of
hospitality. There are those who receive female biblical guests, i.e., Sarah, Rebecca, Rachel,
Leah, Miriam, Deborah and Hannah. The Ushpizin custom is meant to remind us that on the
Sukkoth holiday we are supposed to come into direct contact with nature and also preserve
direct contact with friends.

In the event participants in the activity don't have enough background on the holiday, the
attached information can be divided into a number of subtopics. You may split the group into
subgroups and ask them to prepare an experiential activity that conveys the particular topic
they are responsible for—by writing riddles, putting on a show, pantomime, etc.

You can ask participants to investigate the sources of the holiday's different names as well as
the traditional biblical Ushpizin and what each of them symbolize.
Significance of the holiday

Sukkot – “On the fifteenth day of the seventh month the LORD’s Festival of Tabernacles
begins, and it lasts for seven days." (Leviticus 23:34).

“Live in temporary shelters for seven days: All native-born Israelites are to live in such
shelters." (Leviticus 23:42).

The Harvest Festival – “Celebrate the Festival of Ingathering at the end of the year, when you
gather in your crops from the field." (Exodus 23:16).

The holiday – "On Sukkot is the judgment of the water" (Mishne Rosh Hashanah A:2).

The time of our joy – "And the Lord our G-d has given us with love festivals, holidays, and
times for gladness, and this Sukkot holiday, the time of our joy" (from the Kiddush blessing).

The days of the holiday

Sukkot holiday – According to the Torah, the Sukkot holiday lasts for seven days during which
we sit in the sukkah and bless the four species (on Shabbat there is no mitzvah of the four
species). The first day is a holiday in which people do not work, followed by the six days of
Hol Ha'moed.

Hoshana Rabah – The seventh day of Sukkot is marked by beating the branches of the willow
tree, in remembrance of the special event held at the Temple on that day that included seven
circuits of the altar. For generations biblical interpreters have sought the secret of the
branches or 'hoshanot' as they are called today. For the most part, the branches are
perceived as a link in a chain of activities performed during Sukkot to bless the approaching
rainy season. (If you listen closely with your eyes closed during the beating of the branches,
the sound is perhaps reminiscent of the sounds of rain pelting the roofs of homes!)

As is known, our sages made a connection between good deeds and the coming of the rains.
In this regard, cabalists viewed this day as the final decree of the Yom Kippur judgment.
Therefore religious Jews perform a tikkun (rectification) on the night of Hoshana Rabah, with
Torah study all night long.

Shimini Atzeret – The Torah adds a holiday for the eighth day of Sukkot, which is a holy
convocation and a day of no work. On this day Jews recite the rain prayer in each Jewish
community around the world; the prayer is in fact for the falling of rain in Israel.

Simchat Torah – In Israel this day is celebrated together with Shmini Atzeret. Since the days
of the Babylonian sages, the Torah's chapters have been recited weekly in a yearly cycle (in
contrast with the more ancient custom in Israel of doing this once every three years). On
Simchat Torah, we finish reading from the Book of Deuteronomy and begin anew from the
Book of Genesis. In synagogues, this day is distinguished by the seven 'circuits' in which
worshipers dance and sing with the Torah in the evening and once again in the morning.

The four species

It is customary to bless the four species in the synagogue or at home during each day of the
seven days of Sukkot, with the exception of Shabbat.

Rambam explains the taste of the four species in his book Moreh haNevuchim (3:43):

"It appears to me, regarding the four species taken with the lulav, that they represent
the joy of leaving the wilderness, a place without planting, figs and grapes and
pomegranates, and without water to drink, to a place of fruit-bearing trees and rivers.
To commemorate this, they took the most attractive of the earth's produce (date,
lulav), and the best-smelling (etrog-citron), and the one with the prettiest leaves
(myrtle), and the best of the grasses (the willow)."

Another explanation: The four species represent the growing regions in Israel: The citrus –
the warm and moist climate of the coastal plain; the lulav – the warm, dry climate of the
desert; the myrtle – the mountainous regions; the willow – water and riverside crops.

Prior to the rainy season

As mentioned, "On Sukkot is the judgment of the water". During the Temple period, Jews
would anoint the altar with water during all seven days of the holiday—as a type of appeal for
a rainy winter and agricultural productivity. This ceremony is perceived as an innovation
since it is not mentioned in the Torah; and it brought forth an additional event that took place
in the Temple – the Water Drawing festival. The Mishnah says: "He who has not witnessed
the Water Drawing festival has never seen joy" (Sukkah 5:1)

With its symbolic four species, Hoshana Rabah – the beating of the willow branches, and the
rain prayer on Shimini Atzeret/Simchat Torah, the Sukkot holiday is filled with symbols and
activities connected with the Jewish People's longing for the approaching rainy season. We
hope that each year we are blessed with timely rains and that throughout the year we
remember to treat our scarce water resources with the utmost care.

Book of Kohelet – On Shabbat of Hol Ha'moed, we read from the Book of Kohelt, which is
traditionally attributed to King Solomon. Scattered among the author's attacks on the world's
'vanity of vanities', he often praises joy as a supreme value. And joy, as mentioned, is the
supreme value of the Sukkot holiday!

A page of Hebrew sources can be downloaded at:

https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B6LCSnFQngMpTV9MYndvQjFNVVU/view?usp=sharing