אשר תקראו אותם מקראי קודש, which you are to designate as periods of sanctified time. Whenever the word קרא appears in connection with the festivals it means the fixing of certain dates in the calendar. We have an example of this in Lamentation 1,15 where the prophet Jeremiah refers to the date on which the Temple was destroyed as קרא עלי מועד,”G’d having fixed the date the Jewish people was to experience this traumatic event including the killing of the flower of its youth.” Yonathan ben Uzziel, in translating Kohelet 2,15 כםקרה הכסיל, normally translated as “like the fate of the fool,” renders these words as מערע קדיש, [my version of the Targum renders the meaning of the verse quite differently, in a fatalistic sense, i.e. that G’d decrees death regardless of whether one is a fool or as wise as Solomon. Ed.]

ממחרת השבת, on the day following the first day of the Passover festival.

מנחה חדשה, to permit use of the new wheat harvest in the Temple, seeing this is the period when the wheat ripens.

ובקצרכם, on the day following the Passover, (16th of Nissan) after the Omer and the sheep which is part of that offering, had been offered on the altar.

זכרון תרועה, you will be remembered by G’d as a result of your blowing the t’ruah from the shofar. This is spelled out more clearly in Numbers 10,9 והרעותם בחצוצרות...ונזכרתם...וגו', “when you will blow the sound of the t’ruah…. You will be remembered… etc.

'אך בעשור וגו, on the other festival days preparation of food had been permitted and only מלאכת עבודה had been forbidden. Not so on Yom Kippur, a day of self denial when all manner of work is prohibited just as on the Sabbath

והקרבתם אשה, as already mentioned in chapter 16 and again in Numbers 29,8-11.

עצרת, a stoppage, i.e. a day when one must refrain from work.

אך בחמשה עשר יום לחודש השביעי, even though both New Year and the Day of Atonement are primarily designed to help the people achieve atonement for their sins and their being remembered favourably by G’d, Sukkot is for enjoyment and giving thanks to the Lord for having enabled them to fill their barns with good produce at the end of the harvest season.

וענף עץ עבות, the vowel kametz under the letter ע in the word עבות is similar to the same vowel in the word kadosh, קדוש or tahor, טהור, or amok, עמוק, i.e. a branch of a tree which possesses dense foliage.

כל האזרח, even those who own houses must move to the huts and dwell in them during the festival.

למען ידעו דורותיכם, the plain meaning of the text is in agreement with the view expressed in Sukkah 11 according to which the word סוכה is to be understood literally. The meaning of the verse then would be: “construct for yourselves the festival of huts when you gather in your grain and grape harvest (Deuteronomy 16,13) You are to do this at the time you gather in the produce of the earth and your houses are filled with all the good things the earth produces such a grain, grape, wine and oil (olives). This is to be done in order that you will remember” כי בסוכות הושבתי את בני ישראל, in the desert for a period of 40 years when they neither owned land nor found themselves in a cultivated part of the earth. Remembering all this you will have ample reason to be grateful to the One Who has provided you with all of your present wealth and comfort. You must not fall into the trap of thinking that all this success is due to your own efforts. We find a similar thought expressed in Deuteronomy 8,2-3 “you shall remember all the way which the Lord your G’d has led you for these last 40 years…and He fed you the manna, etc.” Why do I command you to do all this? For the Lord your G’d brings you to a good …and you will eat and be satisfied, etc. As a result your heart may become haughty and you will credit yourself with all this as your own achievement. (Deuteronomy 8 7-18) In order that this will not happen and to show that the Israelites G’d’s part in their success they will move out of their solid houses as a reminder to the time when they had not been blessed with any of these benefits which they enjoy ever since inheriting the land of their forefathers. They acknowledge that it is G’d Who provides the Jewish people with the ability and valor.