The Feast of “Shelters”
Wednesday, September 26th, 2007Tonight marks the beginning of the strangest festival in the biblical calendar. It is called the “festival of shelters,” literally and it last for seven days. The word is Sukkoth in Hebrew, which literally means “huts” or some other kind of temporary dwelling. Its meaning is very close to our English “homeless shelter” today. Though it is often translated “tents” or “booths” the idea is some kind of arbor or lean-to under which one can get a tiny bit of needed shelter, but still very much exposed to the elements and the sky. This was one of the three ancient pilgrim feasts of Israel. We are not told too much about it, but the meaning seems simple, Israel, settled in permanent dwellings and cities in the land, is never to forget its “wilderness” origins, so that once a year, in the Fall, they are to actually “go back to nature” and camp out or live in huts, tents, or temporary dwellings, for a week, so as to remember that YHVH made our ancestors live in this nomadic, temporary way in the time of Moses. This festival then vividly reminds us of that, of the CAMP of Israel, of the time when the Column of Cloud/Fire was visible, when there were no sacrifices or Temple, just the simple “tent of meeting,” when everyone was fed morning and evening with the mysterious “manna,” and when YHVH spoke face to face with Moses.
You can find the descriptions in the Torah, particularly in Leviticus 23: 39-43. But what is really interesting about Sukkoth is that it not only looks back, but also forward. Notice these words of the Prophet Hosea:
I have been YHVH your God since your days in Egypt, and I will make you DWELL IN SUKKOTH again, as in the days of MEETING.
I will speak through prophets, I will give vision after vision and through the ministry of prophets will speak in similies” (12:9-10)
This is really an incredible verse, as it pictures a time of Israel’s restoration, when Prophecy returns, no more “hiding of the Face,” and the days of “meeting” could well refer to that “Tent of Meeting,” from those wilderness times. Here we have that same motif that we find elsewhere in the Prophets, the idea of an Exodus II that parallels Exodus I of the time of Moses. Thus Micah the Prophet declares: “Once again YHVH will show marvelous things as in the days when you came out of Egypt (Micah 7:14-15)
Zech 14 also tells of a time when the whole world will come up to Jerusalem and dwell in Sukkoth/tents/shelters during this week….
Some other relevant readings for this time are Hosea 12, Micah 7, Psalm 80-81, Isaiah 24-35…
Some folk camp out in tents, others gather at campgrounds or even hotels, some just stay out on their porches or balconies and many build shelters on their property, as is the custom within Judaism. The more one can actually “live” in the Sukkoth, the better in terms of getting the meaning of the festival. The moon during Sukkoth is full. On a clear night everything is bright and lovely, almost magical. The experience can remind us of a more simple and primitive time, getting away from all the “modern conveniences,” more or less what we mean when we talk of “camping out.”
We at United Israel wish all of you, our thousands of readers worldwide, a meaningful festival. Sukkoth is truly an extended Biblical “Thanksgiving.” In our troubled and complex world it pulls us outside, away from it all, to sit/dwell in our “huts” for the next seven days…


Two male goats were selected for Yom Kippur, one is “for YHVH” and the other “for Azazel.” Both are said to be “for a sin offering” (v. 5).
Since the days of the 2nd Temple, which the Romans destroyed in 70 CE, Yom Kippur has continued to be observed by Jews worldwide all through the centuries. Indeed, it is considered the holiest and most solemn day of the year. It has essentially come to be understood as a day of Atonement. The word Atonement, literally, “At-One-Ment” is the day Jews and Torah believers want to be at one and at peace with their heavenly Judge. Heshbon HaNefesh, is the Hebrew term for “an accounting of one’s life” and this is the prerequisite for entering into G-d’s redemptive plan for the past year and beginning the new year with a clean, pure slate. This is the day of being inscribed in the “Book of Life.” It is a day of individual and collective Acknowledgment of sins, Repentance, and Redemption, all steps which lead to G-d’s forgiveness and reconciliation. Yom Kippur is the holiest day of the Jewish calendar and though these three steps seem easy and simple enough, they are interwoven over a period of 10 days (known as the Asseret Y’mey T’shuvah, or 10 days of repentance) into a tapestry which is given in order to allow us to ask for forgiveness from our friends, acquaintances, and family as well as from G-d. Atonement is the goal on this day of “last chance” as G-d finalizes His judgment.
discovered that the HEBREW text of Deuteronomy agreed with the Septuagint, against the MT, those readings have been given much more attention and weight. Slowly the scholars have begun to have more and more respect for the LXX. By and large it is a very literal translation, and there is now every indication that the translators were in fact translating a Hebrew original that is different from the MT–however, one values it. In other words, they were not just adding things and being sloppy with their translation work. Often the differences are not so important, when we compare the Qumran Hebrew Bible with the MT, but in this case these variants seem quite significant. Of course the Qumran copies are older than the MT by more than a thousand years, so the discovery of these most ancient of Hebrew texts raises all kinds of questions, both for the scholars and traditional Judaism (and even fundamentalist Christianity). Here are the differences:

The first steps of any journey set the course and how we begin the year is the key to everything else that follows. The potential– and the responsibility– of the first two Jewish holidays are awesome.
Each year we order a batch of special United Israel World Union Jewish Calendars. The company we use really does a beautiful job with color photos for each monthly spread, all the Jewish holidays and Holydays marked, as well as the weekly readings printed out for the Torah and the Prophets. With the Fall Holyday season upon us we thought some of our readers might like to have one of these calendars. We have a limited number left and will happily send you one if you think you could use it this coming year. Our only requirement is that you write us by surface mail with your name and mailing address. Unfortunately, in this case, we can not accept e-mail requests, nor can we mail outside the U.S. due to prohibitive airmail postage costs.