## Rabbi Sacks on Siddur, Festivals, On Entering the Sukka

###### Rabbi Sacks on Siddur, Festivals, On Entering the Sukka 1
[Rabbi Sacks on Siddur, Festivals, On Entering the Sukka 1](https://torahapp.org/share/book/Rabbi%20Sacks%20on%20Siddur/s/Festivals,_On%20Entering%20the%20Sukka/r/1)

**English Edition; Koren Publishers Jerusalem, 2017:**
MEDITATION IN THE SUKKA
Meditations before the fulfillment of mitzvot are especially important when an essential component of the mitzva is its symbolic content (for example, tzitzit serves as a reminder of the entire life of commandments, and tefillin reminds us of the bond of love between us and God). The Torah explicitly mentions the symbolism of the sukka: “So that your descendants will know that I made the Israelites live in booths (*sukkot*) when I brought them out of Egypt; I am the LORD your God” (Lev. 23:43). The meditation, said on the first night of Sukkot, emphasizes the nature of the sukka as a symbol of God’s protective presence.


###### Rabbi Sacks on Siddur, Festivals, On Entering the Sukka 5
[Rabbi Sacks on Siddur, Festivals, On Entering the Sukka 5](https://torahapp.org/share/book/Rabbi%20Sacks%20on%20Siddur/s/Festivals,_On%20Entering%20the%20Sukka/r/5)

**English Edition; Koren Publishers Jerusalem, 2017:**
*Ushpizin*, the Aramaic for “guests,” reflects a Jewish mystical tradition that on Sukkot, seven great figures from the biblical age, from Abraham to David, visit us as we sit in the sukka, a different guest entering first each day. Each of the seven figures suffered some form of exile from home to a temporary dwelling, and as we sit in the sukka we remember their fate, their faith and the continuity of the Jewish journey. We also remind ourselves of the importance of hospitality, said by the sages to be “greater even than receiving the Divine Presence” (*Shabbat* 127a). It is a mitzva to invite guests to join us in the sukka, especially the poor and lonely, in keeping with the command to rejoice on the festivals together with “the stranger, the orphan, and the widow within your gates” (Deut. 16:14; see Maimonides, Laws of Festivals 6:18). *The skin of Leviathan:* A reference to the saying in the Talmud that at the End of Days, God will make a sukka for the righteous from the skin of Leviathan (*Bava Batra* 75a).