Feast of Tabernacles
“Sukkot is the time we ask the most profound question of what makes a life worth living. What matters is not how long we live, but how intensely we feel that life if a gift we repay by giving to others. Joy, the overwhelming theme of the festival, is what we feel when we know that it is a privilege simply to be alive.” — Rabbi Jonathan Sacks
15-21 Tishrei 5787
Begins: Sundown on Friday 25 September 2026
Ends: Nightfall on Friday 2 October 2026
Essays and writings from Rabbi Sacks' extensive body of work
SHORT THOUGHTS & ACTIVITIES
Created especially for your succah, we invite you to download and print the new collection of 4 posters featuring inspiring...
REFLECTIONS, SHIURIM, SHORT CLIPS, SHORT THOUGHTS & ACTIVITIES
Recorded by Rabbi Sacks in 2019, these brief thoughts reveal his ideas on the significance and symbolism of Succot, Shemini...
REFLECTIONS, SHIURIM, SHORT THOUGHTS & ACTIVITIES
This brief Dvar Torah from Rabbi Sacks explores the deepest question of all - what is the point of life?...
REFLECTIONS, SHIURIM, SHORT THOUGHTS & ACTIVITIES
This short Dvar Torah from Rabbi Sacks expounds upon the meaning of Shemini Azeret - the eighth day of the...
REFLECTIONS, SHIURIM, SHORT THOUGHTS & ACTIVITIES
This short Dvar Torah from Rabbi Sacks examines the true meaning of the festival of Succot through the lens of...
REFLECTIONS, SHIURIM, SHORT THOUGHTS & ACTIVITIES
This short Dvar Torah from Rabbi Sacks discusses the true meaning of the succah, in which we dwell on the...
REFLECTIONS, SHIURIM, SHORT THOUGHTS & ACTIVITIES
This short Dvar Torah from Rabbi Sacks explores a unique element of the festival of Succot - the way it...
REFLECTIONS, SHIURIM, SHORT THOUGHTS & ACTIVITIES
This short Dvar Torah from Rabbi Sacks explores the symbolism behind the Four Kinds - the lulav, the etrog, the...
REFLECTIONS, SHIURIM, SHORT THOUGHTS & ACTIVITIES
This short Dvar Torah from Rabbi Sacks explores the duality of the festival of Succot. Listen Transcript Succot is different...
BOOK EXTRACTS
An extract from the Koren Sacks Succot mahzor Of all the festivals, Succot is surely the one that speaks most...
BOOK EXTRACTS, BOOK EXTRACTS
This is an extract from ‘Faith in the Future’, published in 1995. Many years ago I built my first succah. It was...
TEACHINGS, BOOK EXTRACTS
Extract from the Koren - Sacks Pesach Machzor Shir HaShirim (which will be read on the afternoon of Shabbat chol ha’moed...
ARTICLES
What exactly is a succah? What is it supposed to represent? The question is essential to the mitzvah itself. The...
SPEECHES, SPEECHES
The following is a transcript of the address delivered by Chief Rabbi Lord Sacks at the induction of Rabbi Ephraim...
THOUGHT FOR THE DAY
For Jews, the festival season is well and truly on us. We’ve just celebrated the New Year and the Day...
THOUGHT FOR THE DAY, BROADCASTS
First came the tsunami in the South Pacific, then, less than 24 hours later, the earthquake in Sumatra, claiming hundreds...
THOUGHT FOR THE DAY
As storm winds blow through the financial centres of the world is there a thought we can take with us...
THOUGHT FOR THE DAY
Transcript Tonight we begin the Jewish festival of Succot, Tabernacles. For eight days we leave the comfort of our homes...
The series of weekly commentary essays on the Torah by Rabbi Sacks
EMOR • 5776, 5783
The parsha of Emor contains a chapter dedicated to the festivals of the Jewish year. There are five such passages...
EMOR • 5780
The Parsha in a Nutshell Emor focuses on two kinds of holiness: that of people and of time. Chapter 21...
EMOR • 5780
There is something very strange about the festival of Succot, of which our parsha is the primary source. On the...
EMOR • 5767, 5773, 5786
In its account of the festivals of the Jewish year, this week’s Parsha contains the following statement: You shall dwell...
EMOR • 5769
This week’s sedra outlines the festivals that give rhythm and structure to the Jewish year. Examining them carefully, however, we...
