I'm here in a courtyard in Mea Shearim, one of the Orthodox neighborhoods of Jerusalem where you can see they've already built about 15 wooden huts or sukkas. They're getting ready for the holiday of Sukkot which commemorates the children of Israel's wandering in temporary shelters after they were freed from Egypt. Let's go talk people what it means for the next week to people who will eat, drink and even sleep in the Sukkah.
Another custom on sukkot is to buy what's called the "arba minim" -- or the Four species -- and they're here in front of me. We have the lulav or palm branch, the arava or willow, the hadas or myrtle and the etrog which is a very specific citron fruit. Now the Jews are commanded in synagogue to hold all these togther and shake them in 6 directions. The rabbis say that's to remind us that Hashem or G-d is everywhere. Now people spend a lot of time choosing exactly the 4 species they want because there's so much symbolism behind them.
Sukkot ushers in the very last holiday of the this new year season, that's Simchat Torah which is celebrated on the last day of Sukkot. It's a joyous festival where people spend hours of dancing around the Torah to commemorate finishing the reading of the entire Torah in a year. That means on the first day of holiday we will once again read the first portion of the Torah -- Brshiet -- which signals a new spiritual start.
Jordana Miller, JN1, Jerusalem.