Getting Ready for Simchat Torah Simchat Torah caps off the Sukkot season and marks something distinct: the completion of the annual Torah reading cycle and the start of a brand...

Sukkot commemorates the temporary shelters the Israelites lived in during their 40 years in the desert after leaving Egypt. It marks the start of fall and the new Torah-reading cycle, observed by building a temporary outdoor hut (sukkah) with at least 2.5 walls and a roof of branches or plant material (schach) open enough to see the stars.

Building it takes four steps:

1. Pick the spot — outdoors, fully open to the sky (no trees or overhangs), built after Yom Kippur, with a stable, reinforced frame.
2. Add the walls — at least three kosher walls (the third can be partial), fabric stretched and secured starting right of the entrance.
3. Add the roof (schach) — support boards across the frame, then kosher branches/mats laid over them, shading most of the space.
4. Finish and furnish — check structural safety (especially on balconies, and around electrical lines), decorate only once stable, then set the table — candleholders, kiddush cup, and challah cover for evening meals, plus a honey jar and conversation cards to carry the hospitality and conversation through the week.

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It’s about the joy – or oneg – of taking time out of your crazy week to stop, unplug and experience traditions that have helped keep our community together for thousands of years. But most of us find it hard to take that time.