Sukkot: Non-Jews

As a Hebrew Roots Christian, in the United Church of God , we keep the Saturday Sabbath, God's Holy Days, and His Food Laws. For the Feast of Tabernacles, they choose a city or two in each state in the USA, for people to go to , and they live in rented motel rooms, with all the modern comforts. It just doesn't seem right to me. I have been staying in a tent in my back yard. That is a temporary dwelling, like a "booth". Do modern-day Children of Israel go to some city to keep this feast, or keep it in their home cities? Do you think staying in a modern motel is what God intended? My question is really this. Where and how do modern Jews, serious, holy Jews keep the feast of Tabernacles?

Shalom!

Thank you for your question!

Yes, on the holiday of Sukkot, Jewish people (primarily men) are required to spend as much time as possible in the Sukka booths.

The Torah says "You shall dwell in sukkot (booths) for seven days, every member of Israel shall dwell in sukkot -- in order that your generations will know that I caused the children of Israel to dwell in sukkot when I brought them out from the land of Egypt (Leviticus 23:42-43).

As you can imagine, the desert is not a very welcoming or hospitable place. The heat, the snakes and scorpions, and all the rest make it nearly unbearable.

God took charge and protected the Jewish people from the harsh life in the desert. We are told that the sukkot He provided the Jewish people were the clouds of glory which further protected them from the elements and showed them the way.

The holiday is observed in Tishrei, September, and not in Nissan, April, when the Jews actually left Egypt. One explanation for this is that in September people are less likely to eat and sleep outdoors in booths. By observing this mitzva at that time we demonstrate that we are doing so for no other reason than God commanded us.

The Talmud tells us, "For the entire seven days, a person should consider the Sukkah to be his permanent home and his house to be his temporary home." So based on the Torah and Talmudic rulings one should eat, sleep and spend his time in the Sukkah in the same way that one spends time in one’s home during the year.

There more time one spends in the Sukka, the more praiseworthy one is.

So, to answer your question. No. One cannot fulfil the mitzva in a hotel room. However, we believe that only Jews need to observe the commandments of the Torah, so there is no need for your group to observe the holiday of Sukkot at all in our opinion.