Like Passover and Shavu'ot, Sukkot has a dual significance: historical and agricultural. The holiday commemorates the forty-year period during which the children of Israel were wandering in the desert, living in temporary shelters. Sukkot is also a harvest festival, and is sometimes referred to as Chag HaAsif, the Festival of Ingathering. The festival of Sukkot is instituted in (Leviticus 23:33) (Nehamiah 8) (Book of Jub 16 seq. No work is permitted on the first and second days of the holiday. In honor of the holiday's historical significance, we are commanded to dwell in temporary shelters, as our ancestors did in the wilderness. The commandment to "dwell" in a sukkah can be fulfilled by simply eating all of one's meals there; however, if the weather, climate, and one's health permit, one should live in the sukkah as much as possible, including sleeping in it.
What are the procedures for each festival? Tabernacles is indeed the last of the appointed feasts and concludes the festive calendar. As such, it anticipates the culmination of God’s purpose for Israel, the final fulfilment of God’s promises for and through that nation. To emphasise perfection and completion, it occurs in the seventh month, lasts for seven days and the number of its sacrifices are divisible by seven. Whereas the sacred number seven appeared at the Feast of Unleavened Bread only in the number of its days, and at Pentecost in the period [which must transpire before] its observance (7x7 days after Passover), the Feast of Tabernacles lasted seven days, took place when the seventh month was at its full height, and had the number seven impressed on its characteristic sacrifices.
