Sukkot is one of the most joyful festivals on the Jewish calendar. Occurring shortly after the “Days of Awe” of Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur, Sukkot is a week-long thanksgiving for the fall harvest, which in Israel is usually completed in September.1 The holiday also commemorates God’s protection of the Israelites during the Exodus and the forty years of wandering in the desert. But what can an ancient holiday that most non-Jews have never heard of teach Christians today, and what is it about Sukkot that Rabbi Meir Soloveichik posits “speaks profoundly to the moral and spiritual challenges of our time”?2
The Regent University Library and the School of Divinity invite the CBN and Regent communities to join us for this special event. Rabbi Dr. Israel Zoberman, founder of Temple Lev Tikvah and senior rabbi scholar at Eastern Shore Chapel Episcopal Church, will explain the meaning and significance of Sukkot and its place in the liturgical year. There will also be traditional Sukkot Scriptural readings in Hebrew and English.
For more information and a link to register for in-person and online attendance, see our Sukkot event page.
1For a concise account of the annual agricultural cycle in Israel and its relationship to the cycle of Jewish holidays, see Les Saidel, “The Circle of a Year,” The Jerusalem Post, September 25, 2019, https://www.jpost.com/israel-news/the-circle-of-a-year-603008
2Rabbi Meir Soloveichik, “Sacred Time Ep 4: Sukkot – The Eternal Lulav and Etrog,” YouTube Video, 35:15, October 5, 2018, https://youtu.be/3zExi3hCwN8?si=gqAOJy7IpAbbRZ3O