Four Traveling Sukkahs Make Their Way Through Metro Detroit

DETROIT (WWJ) One of the most important Jewish holidays is under way.

The Feast of the Tabernacle, or Sukkot, begins at sundown Wednesday and lasts through nightfall on September 25th. Rabbi Kasriel Shemtov of Lubavitch Yeshiva School in Oak Park says Jews have been celebrating this holiday for more than 5,000 years.

How does one celebrate? For eight days and seven nights, Jews traditionally eat and sleep in a small dwelling called a Sukkah.

And even if you've never done it before, you can get in on the celebration. There will be four travelling Sukkahs making stops across metro Detroit through the holiday to help people celebrate the Feast of the Tabernacle.

The holiday is based on the verse: "Every resident among the Israelites shall live in booths, in order that your [ensuing] generations should know that I had the children of Israel live in booths when I took them out of the land of Egypt" (Leviticus 23:42-43).

And the sukkah is a physical remembrance of the "clouds of glory" that surrounded and protected the Israelites as they wandered the desert after escaping from Egypt.

Another important aspect of Sukkot is welcoming of guests (known as ushpizin in Aramaic) into the sukkah. People invite friends, family and strangers into their hand-built temporary homes.