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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