Sukkot
The Festival of Booths: seven days of gathering, gratitude, and life beneath a roof of branches.
A memory of the journey
Leviticus connects dwelling in booths with the Israelites’ departure from Egypt. The sukkah makes that memory tangible: a place to eat, pause, and remember life beyond the security of a permanent home.
A season of gathering
Sukkot is also an agricultural festival, celebrated after the produce of the threshing floor and winepress has been gathered. Gratitude for a harvest and awareness of life’s fragility sit together beneath the branches.
A joy meant to be shared
Deuteronomy’s invitation to rejoice includes the stranger, the orphan, and the widow. Hospitality belongs at the heart of the festival: a full table carries a responsibility to make room for others.
Keeping Sukkot
From building the shelter to the final prayers, the festival moves between everyday pleasures and sacred time. These are its main moments; family and community customs bring their own texture.
Build a little shelter
Prepare a sukkah beneath the open sky, with walls and a roof of detached plant material called s’chach. For a week, this temporary dwelling becomes a setting for ordinary life. The roof is the defining feature: branches or suitable natural covering provide shade without turning the sukkah into a permanent house. Ask your community about construction requirements.
Make room at the table
Festive meals bring people into the sukkah. The first day in Israel, and traditionally the first two in the diaspora, are festival days with restrictions on work. A meal outdoors can turn familiar gestures into something memorable: passing bread, finding another chair, lingering in conversation. The custom of ushpizin adds symbolic guests to those physically present.
Gather the Four Species
Palm, myrtle, willow, and citron are held together for the blessing and waved. This ritual is omitted on Shabbat; the sukkah remains central throughout the week. The intermediate days are called Chol HaMoed. They carry a festive character, with their own rules for work, and create space for visits, meals, and time together.
Carry the joy forward
Hoshana Rabbah, the seventh day, brings additional supplications and the willow ritual. Shemini Atzeret follows as a distinct festival, with Simchat Torah celebrating the cycle of Torah reading. In Israel, Simchat Torah is celebrated on Shemini Atzeret; in traditional diaspora observance, it falls the following day. The seven days of Sukkot and the celebrations that follow are not all the same holiday.
A small quarter. A much larger story.
Saida is also known as Sidon; its Jewish history belongs to the life of a port city, its streets, schools, households, and neighbours. Haret el-Yahoud preserves that connection in its very name: the Jewish quarter. The old synagogue, known locally as the knis, stands within this history. Its precise origins remain uncertain; the Nabi Saydoun heritage project calls for further archaeological research.
Early 1860s · A growing religious life
Aline Schlaepfer’s research records the building of a second synagogue in central Sidon.
1902 · A new school opens
The Alliance Israélite Universelle opened a local school, enrolling around 120 pupils in its first year.
1920s · A local voice
Sidon had its own Jewish community council. Its relationship with Beirut reveals a community with distinct local interests.
1980s · Departure, and what remains
Nabi Saydoun dates the departure of Saida’s last Jewish families to this decade. Buildings and memories outlasted the community.
The neighbour who helped on Shabbat
In Molly Oringer’s fieldwork, an elderly Old City shopkeeper recalled helping Jewish neighbours with cooking or electrical appliances on Shabbat. His memory brings the quarter into focus through everyday friendship, beyond the surviving buildings. This is a memory of Jewish daily life, not a documented Sukkot event.
Seven guests you cannot see
The Zohar’s tradition of ushpizin imagines biblical ancestors joining the sukkah as spiritual guests. Abraham, associated with hospitality, heads the invitation. The Jewish Theological Seminary connects this welcome to sharing the festival with people in need. A Jewish tradition of hospitality, rather than a custom documented specifically in Saida.
A city lit up with celebration
Mishnah Sukkah describes the Temple’s water-drawing celebration with great lamps, music, and dancing. Preserved in the Talmud, the account gives Sukkot a vivid night-time scene: a festival remembered not only through shelter, but through shared delight. An ancient literary account of Jerusalem, not a scene from Saida.
The Sidonia edit
Lemon-patterned cotton, a gift for your host, and a little of Saida in the everyday. Explore our picks from Sidonia. Homewares inspired by citrus and hospitality. The ritual etrog is a citron; these gifts are not ritual items.
Lemons · terry towel
Soft Egyptian cotton with a bright lemon motif. A small welcome for guests, or a thoughtful gift for your host.
Lemons · waffle towel
Pure cotton in a honeycomb weave, finished with a row of lemons. A fresh touch for the kitchen as you prepare to gather.
Lemon olive oil soap
Handmade in Saida with olive oil and fragrance. Pair it with a lemon towel to make your own citrus-themed host gift.
What should I bring?
Ask your host first. A lemon-patterned towel makes a simple gift for the home; check with your host before bringing food.
Are these towels or a gift set?
The two linked products are individual towels with different weaves and sizes. The basket and decorative soaps in the terry-towel photograph are styling; the soap featured here is sold separately.
Can I use a lemon instead of an etrog?
The ritual calls for an etrog (citron). Choose your Four Species with guidance from your community.
How do I care for the waffle towel?
Sidonia notes that it may shrink slightly after its first wash and recommends stretching it when ironing. See the product page for current care information.