You build it, sit in it, eat in it, and feel the weather through it.
Sukkot combines harvest and wilderness memory
Britannica defines Sukkot as the Jewish autumn festival that begins on the 15th of Tishri, combining thanksgiving for the harvest with remembrance of the Israelites dwelling in booths during the wilderness years.
That double meaning is what gives the holiday its texture. It remembers abundance and fragility at the same time.
The sukkah is the center of the practice
Britannica explains that Jews build temporary huts called sukkot and dwell in them during the festival, at least for meals and sometimes for sleeping as well.
This matters because Sukkot is not only commemorated in prayer. It is enacted through shelter.
The holiday makes vulnerability visible
Living in a temporary structure is one of Judaism's clearest ritual critiques of permanence. A secure life is good, but it is not ultimate. Sukkot asks people to remember dependence even in a season of harvest.
Why it still matters
Sukkot still matters because it turns gratitude into an embodied practice and links prosperity to humility. The holiday is joyful, but it does not pretend stability is absolute.
The shortest accurate answer
Sukkot is the Jewish festival of booths, combining harvest thanksgiving with the memory of Israel's wilderness wandering and observed through dwelling in a temporary sukkah.