ing throughout the desert dur-
ing the Exodus.
Orthodox and Conservative
congregations celebrate the
first two and the last two days
of Sukkot as full festival days,

which can mean no labor or
creative work, no watching TV
or turning lights on and off.
Most Reform temples recog-
nize the first day of Sukkot as a
festival. Sandwiched in-be-

tween is what is known as
chol-ha-moed, or the interme-
diate days, when one is permit-
ted to drive, shop and engage
in any other regular activity, al-
though other aspects of the
holiday continue to be ob-
served.
The Torah directs Jews to
observe two mitzvot when cel-
ebrating Sukkot. The first is to
dwell in the sukkah for seven
days, "that your generations
may know that I (God) made
the Children of Israel to dwell
in booths, when I brought
them out of the land of Egypt"
But don't worry. No one ex-
pects you to move all the furni-
ture out of your house and put
it in your sukkah. In fact, most
families translate "dwell" to
"eat," taking all their meals in
the sukkah but confining other
activities to their regular home.
You might want to consider
studying some Jewish texts in
the sukkah, though, or even
sleeping there (always popular
with children). But don't even
think about trying to be in the
sukkah if it's pouring rain. Ha-
lachah, Jewish law, tells Jews
they must not remain in the
sukkah in inclement weather.
The second mitzvah, or
commandment, during the
holiday is to take of "the fruit
of goodly trees, branches of
palm trees, and boughs of thick
trees, and willows of the
brook" and "rejoice before the
Lord."
Palm and willow are clear,
but what, exactly, is the "fruit
of goodly trees" and "boughs of
thick trees"? The rabbis inter-
preted the former to mean a
certain citrus fruit, and the
thick boughs to mean those of
the myrtle tree. The tree

branches are placed together to
form what is known as the
lulav, and the citrus fruit is, of
course, the wonderfully aro-
matic but ridiculously over-
priced etrog.
When you use the lulav and
the etrog in the sukkah, you
should shake it six times; ac-
cording to Ashkenazi tradition,
you will go from east to south
to west to north, then up and
down.
Decorating a sukkah is strict-
ly a matter of taste. Many fami-
lies like to affix laminated
posters or drawings on the
walls.
Don't look for anything or-
nate in sukkahs at Lubavitch
homes, though. These families
opt for no decorations whatso-
ever, feeling that the sukkah is
decoration enough itself. If
you're looking for new ways to
make your sukkah feel like
home, consider some of these
options:

suncatchers, hung from
the "ceiling"

paper chains

dried flowers, hung in
bunches

tiny, multicolored lights
(popularly known as
"Christmas lights,"
though there is nothing
religious about them)

pictures from your fa-
vorite Jewish calendars
from years past

hearts, woven of small
tree branches (available
at craft stores) which you
decorate yourself by glu-
ing on small items

popcorn chains (though

SEPTEMBER

might want to look into this
method of sukkah building.
Sukkot begins on the 15th of
Tishrei, recalling the sukkot, or
booths, in which the Israelites
lived while they were wander-

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