Sukkah

What it is

A sukkah is a hut put up for one week a year at Sukkot. The Torah reading in Vayikra, or Leviticus, presents it as a reminder of the shelter God gave the Israelites while they travelled the wilderness after leaving slavery in Egypt. Jewish law asks people to eat their meals in it and, where they can, to sleep there as well. The week is a joyful one, called in Hebrew Z'man Simchateinu, the time of our rejoicing. At the same time the hut is deliberately flimsy, and the tradition reads it as a sign of how brief and uncertain life is, and of reliance on God.

Building the sukkah

A sukkah needs at least three walls, and it should stand around three feet tall or more. Its roof, called s'chach, is the part that matters most. The covering must be plant material that grew in the earth and has since been cut or gathered for this purpose, such as palm fronds, bamboo, pine branches or plain wood. There has to be enough of it to give more shade than sun inside, yet enough gaps for the stars or daylight to show through. Only the area under the open sky counts. Walls may be made from whatever material holds up in the ordinary wind of the season; if they flap about, the hut is not valid.

Sitting in the sukkah

Jewish law asks a person to eat in the sukkah during the festival and by tradition to sleep there. Nobody is expected to stay if the hut makes them genuinely uncomfortable, so Jews in northern places usually eat and relax inside but sleep indoors once the autumn nights turn cold. Rain is a different matter: when it comes down there is no duty to remain, and the Mishnah likens it to a host who takes a cup from a servant and throws it back. Where the weather allows, in Israel and in warm parts of the United States and Australia, many people do everything in the sukkah, eating, studying and sleeping there, and some take no food or drink outside it at all.

Guests and blessings

Before eating in the sukkah a blessing is said, usually right after the blessing over bread or cake. Many families welcome guests as well. The ushpizin prayer names seven figures from the Hebrew Bible, Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Moses, Aaron, Joseph and David, and invites one of them each night, with the other six alongside. Chabad tradition adds a second set of its own, beginning with the Baal Shem Tov. Inside, people hang streamers, ornaments and pictures, and fruit such as the etrog citron may hang too. Some line the walls with white cloth, recalling the Clouds of Glory. Chabad custom keeps the hut bare instead.

New forms

Portable sukkot made with a folding metal frame and cloth walls are now sold for people with little space or for those away from home. In 2010 a synagogue in Miami set up a tent in its car park as a drive-through sukkah, and an architecture competition in New York's Union Square chose a design to stand for the festival week. Sukkot have also been mounted on tricycles, an idea begun in 2009 that has since spread widely. Samaritans build their sukkahs indoors and use fruit where others use wood; according to the Samaritan historian Benyamim Tsedaka, they once built them outside like Jews and moved indoors during the Byzantine period after persecution.

How Sukkah is kept

Work starts a few days before the festival, when the frame goes up in a garden, on a balcony or on a roof. Three walls are fixed and the branch roof is laid on top. Through the seven days people eat their meals inside, say the blessing first, and in warm climates they sleep there as well. Guests are welcomed, among them the ushpizin named in the evening prayer. Neighbours call at each other's huts in what is known as sukkah hopping, and food is set out so blessings can be shared.

When and where

Sukkot comes in the autumn and lasts seven days. The sukkah is put up shortly before the festival begins and is used through the week. Jews in cooler northern countries tend to eat there in the day and sleep indoors, while those in warmer places may stay in it day and night.

Sukkot are built wherever Jews live. The custom is most fully kept in Israel, where hotels, restaurants, snack bars and outdoor attractions put up kosher sukkot for guests. It is also common in warm regions such as Florida, Texas, Southern California and parts of Australia.

What Sukkah means

The hut stands for the shelter God gave the Israelites during their years in the wilderness, and for the Clouds of Glory that travelled with them. Jewish teaching also reads it as a picture of how fragile and passing life is, and of how much people depend on God. Because it is temporary and open to the sky, it turns attention away from comfort and towards trust. The week itself is a happy one, and the sukkah is where that happiness is shared with family and guests.

Days Sukkah is marked

Questions people ask about Sukkah

See also

PassoverA Jewish spring festival celebrating freedom from slavery with ritual mealsSukkotA seven-day autumn Jewish festival of temporary booths, harvest prayers and hospitalityMishloach manotFood parcels exchanged on Purim, so everyone has plenty for the day's festive mealSmoking ceremonyAn Aboriginal Australian ritual of burning native plants to cleanse, heal and welcome

Good reading and sources

• Encyclopaedia BritannicaArticle

• Sukkah on WikipediaEncyclopedia
• More photos on Wikimedia CommonsPhotos and video
• Wikidata recordOpen data

It may contain mistakes. Traditions differ from one family, village and community to the next, and the people who keep them know them best. If something is wrong, tell us. Last refreshed 2026-10-05.