Sukkot is a week-long Jewish holiday that celebrates the fall harvest and commemorates the 40 years that Jews spent in the desert after escaping slavery in Egypt. It is one of the most joyful festivals in Judaism, meant to bring families, friends, and communities together. The holiday is celebrated five days after Yom Kippur on the 15th day of the Jewish month of Tishrei. In 2023, the holiday will begin on the evening of Friday, September 29, and go until the evening of Friday, October 6. During Sukkot, many Jews build a sukkah, which is a small hut. Jews live, eat, and sometimes even sleep in the booth during Sukkot, commemorating the time the Israelites spent in the wild — in huts of their own — after being freed from slavery in Egypt. The sukkah represents the huts that farmers would live in during the last hectic period of harvest before the coming of the winter rains. The holiday is also known as "the Time of our Happiness".

Some key features of Sukkot include:

• Sukkah: A small, temporary booth or hut that Jews build during Sukkot. Sukkot (in this case, the plural of sukkah) are commonly used during the seven-day festival for eating, entertaining, and even for sleeping. The sukkah has open walls and open doors, and this encourages people to welcome as many guests as possible.

• Chag HaAsif: Another name for Sukkot, meaning "Festival of the Ingathering." It represents the importance in Jewish life of giving thanks for the bounty of the earth.

• Rejoicing: Sukkot is the only festival associated with an explicit commandment to rejoice. It is also called Z’man Simchateinu (Season of Our Rejoicing) .

Sukkot is celebrated by Jews, Samaritans, and Semitic Neopagans. The festival is also celebrated by some Christian denominations that observe holidays from the Old Testament.