It is customary to bind the Lulav on the day before Sukkot, preferably inside a Sukkah.

Click here for info on how to bind the Four Kinds.

Light Candles:
Women and girls light candles tonight to usher in the holiday, please click here for candle lighting times in your city and recite the following blessings:

Blessings for the nights of October 1-2, 2001: Note: On October 2, candles must be kindled from a pre-existing flame, (such as from a pilot flame), as on the holiday one is not allowed to create a new flame.

1) Blessed are You, L-rd, our G-d, King of the universe, who has sanctified us with His commandments and has commanded us to light the candle of the Holiday.

Ba-ruch A-tah Ado-nai E-lo-hei-nu Me-lech Ha-olam Asher Ki-deshanu Be-mitzvo-tav Ve-tzvi-vanu Le-hadlik Ner Shel Yom Tov.

2) Blessed are You, Lord our G-d, King of the universe, who has granted us life, sustained us, and enabled us to reach this occasion.

Ba-ruch A-tah Ado-nai E-lo-hei-nu Me-lech Ha-olam She-heche-ya-nu Ve-ki-yi-ma-nu Ve-higi-a-nu Liz-man Ha-zeh.

Eat In The Sukkah
The holiday of Sukkot commemorates G-d's kindness to the Jewish people while in the desert at the time of the Exodus, we mark this kindness by eating in a Sukkah, a hut covered with branches, on the first night of Sukkot, and by blessing the "Four Kinds". All other meals are eaten in the Sukkah as well.

The mitzvah of dwelling, eating and spending time in the Sukkah is unique in that the entire person is involved in a mitzvah. The mitzvah of Sukkah encompasses every part of the body. Every limb and cell of the person is completely submerged, surrounded and encompassed by the Sukkah

When partaking of a meal in the Sukkah, containing at least two ounces of bread or cake, we say the following blessing

Ba-ruch A-tah Ado-nai E-lo-hei-nu Me-lech Ha-olam Asher Kideshanu Bemitzvotav Vetzivanu Leshev Basukkah.

Click here for info on how to build a Sukkah.
Click Here To Find a Sukkah.

The Four Kinds
One of the special mitzvahs of Sukkot is to recite a blessing on the "The Four Kinds," a citron, a palm branch, three myrtle twigs and two willow branches. We hold them close together, we recite a blessing over them and, as is customary, wave them to all the four winds and upward and downward.

1) Blessed are You, L-rd, our G-d, King of the universe, who has sanctified us with His commandments and has commanded us to hold the lulav.

Ba-ruch A-tah Ado-nai E-lo-hei-nu Me-lech Ha-olam Asher Ki-deshanu Be-mitzvo-tav Ve-tzvi-vanu Al Netilat Lulav.

Recite the following blessing the first time only.

2) Blessed are You, Lord our G-d, King of the universe, who has granted us life, sustained us, and enabled us to reach this occasion.

Ba-ruch A-tah Ado-nai E-lo-hei-nu Me-lech Ha-olam She-heche-ya-nu Ve-ki-yi-ma-nu Ve-higi-a-nu Liz-man Ha-zeh.

Click here for info on how to bind the Four Kinds.