“The fifteenth day of this seventh month (Tishri) shall be the Feast of Tabernacles (‏סכות‎) for seven days unto the Lord” (Lev. xxiii. 34). The name has its explanation in the commandment, “Ye shall dwell in booths seven days” (ibid. 42); “that your generations may know that I made the children of Israel to dwell in booths, when I brought them out of the land of Egypt” (ver. 43). We are thus commanded to commemorate the travelling of the Israelites through the wilderness. They dwelt in tents, that gave them shelter to some extent; but without the Divine protection this shelter would have proved insufficient. Of this twofold shelter and protection we are reminded by the tabernacle in which the Law commands us to dwell during the Festival. In fulfilment of this commandment we make booths (‏סכות‎). The chief difference between a booth and an ordinary house consists in the mode and in the material employed for roofing the two structures. For the succah must not be covered with fixed boards and beams or with canvas, but with detached branches of trees, plants, flowers, and leaves, in such a manner that the covering is not quite impenetrable to wind and rain, or starlight. During the Festival the succah is our dwelling-house, in which we take our meals, study, receive our friends, and, if possible, enjoy rest and sleep. If, on account of the severity of the climate, the constant dwelling in the succah threatens to prove injurious to our health, we content ourselves with taking our meals in the succah. Before each meal we recite the blessing ‏ברוך … אשר קדשנו … לישב בסוכה‎ “Blessed art thou ... who hast sanctified us by thy commandments and hast commanded us to dwell in the booth.” The first time we are in the succah we add the blessing, ‏שהחינו‎ (p. 358).