Sukkot

The Jewish holiday of Sukkot celebrates the Fall Harvest. We are told to sleep, eat, and relax outdoors in our sukkah. Sukkot also celebrates the time when farmers have completed their harvest and are able to indulge in some relaxation before the first rains of the season hit. This holiday inherently relates to the environment, where we are gathering our seasonal fall produce from. Sukkot celebrates our seasonal food gatherings and the environment, hence during this holiday we should be more mindful of the impact that our celebrations have on the world around us.


“Branch” Out. 
Invite your favorite farmer into your sukkah for a meal and ask him/her how the harvest went.  Don’tknow a farmer?  Go to a local farmers market for some produce and congratulate one of the farmers there on a job well done.  Even better, find out where a local farm is and go straight to the source for some seasonal goodies.

Meditate. Take the time to recite blessings before and after every meal during Sukkot and think about all of the hard work and resources that went in to bringing the food to your table.

Green Sukkah Contest.Team up with other members of your congregation to have a “who can build the greenest sukkah?” competition. How many recycled, creative items, can you and your team incorporate into your sukkah decorations? You and your congregation choose what reward would be most suitable for you to offer the contest winners! You can get ideas from the Sukkah City Contest based in Union Square, New York City which was held in 2010.

Hazon Resources

Food for Thought- A 130-page sourcebook that draws on a range of texts from within and beyond Jewish traditions to explore a range of topics relating to Jews and food.

Hazon Food Guide-  The Hazon Food Guide and Food Audit Toolkit will help you navigate food choices in your synagogue or JCC, and offer practical suggestions for bringing our ancient tradition of keeping kosher–literally, eating food that is “fit”– to bear on the range of food choices we’re making today.

Sukkot Recipes

Pumpkin Souffle Recipe
Vegetable Tangine with Cous Cous Recipe
Pear, Date, Pomegranate, and Goat Cheese Salad Recipe
Stuffed Tomatoes Recipe
Apple-Plum-Pear Crisp Recipe

Celebrate the Harvest Season by Eating Local. Don’t want to cut out meat?  Use only local, organic meat.  In addition, replace one of your favorite imported foods with a local delicacy. Also, think about the food you normally eat during one week and calculate how far that food travels to get to your plate.  During the week of Sukkot, try to cut those miles in half.

Drink Organic Wine
Sukkot should be a time of rejoicing.  Say “L’Chaim” over organic wine and/or other locally distilled or brewed beverages.

Visit the Hazon Food Guide for Kosher Sustainable Meat and Wine Suggestions.

Go Vegetarian! Celebrate the bounty of the harvest by eating a vegetarian diet during the week of Sukkot.

Host a Sustainable Sukkot Meal
It is a mitzvah to eat in the sukkah on the first night of Sukkot.  Host a sustainable Sukkot meal and invite your guests to bring dishes that include local, sustainable ingredients.

Bake Sustainable Challah!
Bake your own sustainable challah!  Use organic flour that was harvested within 200 miles; local, organic eggs; and local honey instead of sugar. For recipes for sustainable challah, check out The Jew & The Carrot.

Reuse and Recycle
Commit to using only reusable or recyclable plates and cutlery in your Sukkah. In addition, recycle your lulav and etrog!  Here are some creative ideas on ways to reuse your lulav and etrog.

Host a Sustainable Kiddush in the Sukkah
Serve local apples and honey; salads made of seasonal produce; and egg salad made out of local, organic eggs.

Compost!
Use Sukkot as an opportunity to start composting.  Start your parsley plants on Tu B’shvat with the soil you produce from your Sukkot scraps!

Take the Sukkot Locavore Challenge
Eat only local foods on the Shabbat during Sukkot.  Want a bigger challenge? Include the first and last days of Sukkot. Want to take it a step further?  Commit to eating only foods produced within 250 miles for the entire week of Sukkot.  Sign up for NOFA’s Locavore challenge.

Check out this resource from Kibbutz Lotan for ideas for how to make a Sukkot a green holiday, and suggestions for the key to success for your green sukkah competition!

Suggestions from Fair Trade Judaica:

  • Decorate your sukkah with fair trade banners, textiles, and rugs

My Jewish Learning - Sukkot 101

More Jew & The Carrot articles Relating to Sukkot

Welcoming Strangers

Preservating the Season’s Bounty During Sukkot

Czech Fruit Dumplings

Sustainable Sukkot

Stuffed Full of Blessings

A Basil-Scented Sukkah

Reports From the Field- Gleaning Past and Present

Types: Holidays.