SUKKOT -- Third, Fourth, Fifth and Sixth Grade

SUKKOT -- Third, Fourth, Fifth and Sixth Grade

Scheduling: Sukkot follows so closely after Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur, that when you talk to the teacher about scheduling your Rosh Hashanah presentation, you should also talk about scheduling your Sukkot presentation. They should be two separate presentations, because there is just too much material for one, and the tone and mood of the holidays are so different.

Materials: A model sukkah to accomodate 11" dolls or action figures, lulav and etrog (optional). Plans for buildig Barbie's sukkah, or GI Joe's sukkah are in the Appendix.

You can purchase a lulav and etrog through your synagogue, but they frequently arrive just a day before the start of Sukkot. If you are going to bring them into school, you must schedule your presentation accordingly.

You may decide to focus on Barbie's sukkah for the Third Grade presentation and add the lulav and etrog for Fourth Grade.

START OF PRESENTATION

Hello, I am Danielle's dad. (Please insert your child's name and your relationship to the child, such as "John's mom" or "Rifka's grandpa.")

I'm here today to talk with you about some Jewish holidays that start next Monday. (Please insert the actual weekday on which the holiday occurred or will occur, such as "last Thursday" or "two weeks from now.")

Five days after Yom Kippur, Jewish people celebrate Sukkot. Sukkot is a harvest festival like Thanksgiving and lasts for 7 days. The two days after Sukkot are also holidays, Shemini Atzeret and Simhat Torah, but I will not talk about them today.

Sukkot is a very old holiday. It is a much older holiday than Hanukkah. Sukkot celebrates events that took place more than a thousand years before the Hanukkah story. Sukkot is almost as old a holiday as Passover and you can read about it in the Bible.

Can we all say "Sukkot" together?

SUKKOT.

Very good.

SUKKAHS

Sukkot is also called the Festival or Feast of Booths or the Festival of Tabernacles.

Why is it called that?

Because we build temporary huts called sukkot during this holiday. Sukkot is the plural Hebrew word for these huts. One of these hugs -- a single hut -- is called a sukkah.

Can we all say "sukkah" together?

SUKKAH.

Very good.

THE STORY OF SUKKOT

Let me tell you why we build these huts.

Remember when we talked about the spring holiday of Passover. Thousands of years before Jesus was born, the Jewish people were slaves in Egypt. Passover celebrates how they became free and left Egypt.

They were free but they didn't have any houses. They spent many years in the desert until they got homes and farms in the land of Israel. During those years of wandering, they lived in temporary huts. Temporary, sort of like tents or the Indians' wigwams or teepees. When the Jewish people moved from place to plae in the desert, they would take the hut apart, and take it with them. Bedouin nomads in the deserts of the Middle East still live sort of like this today.

Sukkot celebrates G-d's protection of the Jewish people after they left Egypt. It celebrates the protection G-d gave during the 40 years of the Jewish people's wandering in the desert until they were given a real home in the land of Israel.

During Sukkot, we build a hut and eat meals in it. We give thanks for all the things we have, including our freedom. The sukkah reminds us how hard it was to become free and how much we have to be thankful for.

We can not build a sukkah in this room. But we did build a sukkah for two of Danielle's (your child) Barbies. (If your child is a boy, you can use the plans in the Appendix to make GI Joe's sukkah, or a Batman's sukkah for standard 11" action figures.)

A sukkah can be built in several different shapes and out of different materials. But the roof can not be solid. You have to be able to see the stars through it. Barbie's sukkah has a roof of pine branches. Last year our sukkah had a roof of corn stalks. A sukkah is often decorated by hanging fruits or gourds from the branches.

This sukkah is a little wobbly. But a sukkah is supposed to be a little wobbly to remind us that it is only a temporary home.

SUKKOT AS A HARVEST FESTIVAL

At Rosh Hashanah, we talked about calendars, and how Rosh Hashanah marks not just the New Year, but also the beginning of the fall harvest season.

Sukkot is also a fall harvest festival celebrating the in-gathering of crops. It is time to be thankful for a plentiful harvest and more generally to be thankful for all life's bounty.

In the United States, in the fall, at harvest time, lots of people decorate their homes and porches with pumpkins, corn stalks, gourds and other fruits of the field.

In the same way, Jewish people, by decorating sukkot with hanging fruits are celebrating the harvest festival aspects of Sukkot.

In some ways, decorating a sukkah is as fun as decorating a Christmas tree. And some Jewish familes have sukkah decorating parties like some of you have Christmas tree decorating parties.

But they do look different. Besides, with a Christmas tree you stand back and look at it. With a sukkah you step into it and it surrounds you. Having a meal in a sukkah is a little like a bird in the cartoons living inside a Christmas tree.

LULAV AND ETROG (Optional)

Another custom of Sukkot described in the Bible, is shaking together what the Bible calls the "Four Species." These are the palm branch, myrtle branches, willow branches and the fruit called a citron. The palm branch, myrtle branches and willow branches are bound together into a contraption called a "lulav."

Can we all say "lulav" together?

LULAV.

Very good.

The citron is part of the lemon family. Its Hebrew name is "etrog."

Can we all say "etrog" together?

ETROG.

Very good.

Taken together, shaking the "Four Species" would be called shaking the lulav and etrog. Each day of Sukkot, the lulav and etrog are shaken. They are shaken in all directions: north, south, east, west, up and down.

There are many explanations for this ceremony. One is that the "Four Species" represent different types of people, but that we are united in our reverence for G-d and that G-d is everywhere.

(In this explanation, taste represents religious learning and smell represents good deeds. The etrog has both taste and smell. The palm has taste but no fragrance. The myrtle has smell but no taste. And the willow has neither. Likewise, some people have both learning and good deeds, some have only one and not the other, some have neither. For a further discussion of the Four Species see the Jewish Catalogue or other Jewish reference book.)

SUKKOT AND THANKSGIVING

At Sukkot the Jewish people give thanks for their blessings. Does anyone know the connection between Sukkot and the Pilgrims?

Sukkot is described in the Bible. And the Pilgrims spend a lot of time reading the Bible. After they had survived the first winter, and had a good harvest, Sukkot gave them the idea to hold a feast in the autumn in November to give thanks

What do we call that holiday now? (Let child answer.)

Right. Thanksgiving.

SUMMARY

Sukkot thanks G-d for protecting the Jewish people during their wanderings in the desert after they escaped from slavery in Egypt and also thanks G-d for a bountiful harvest. Holiday celebrations include building a temporary hut, decorating it with fruit and eating meals in it.

(This is where you can insert a short presentation on Simchat Torah. I would hold off until at least Fifth Grade. What Simchat Torah celebrates is a bit more abstract than most of the holidays, except Shavuot which I also postpone till Fifth Grade. Simchat Torah is also an opportune time to talk about skullcaps, tallit and "etiquette" for visiting a synagogue -- which require even more maturity.)

You have been a good audience. Do you have any questions? (Take questions.)

Thank you for listening so well.