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Sukkot

Orthodox Jews accompanied by Israeli border police on the Temple Mount, during Sukkot, in Jerusalem's Old City, on October 8, 2025. (Chaim Goldberg/Flash90)
October 14, 2025, 3:06 am
On Sukkot, eroding Temple Mount status quo lays bare rifts in the Orthodox world
As thousands of Jewish worshipers visit over the holiday, Haredim and religious Zionists spar over religious prohibition on touring the flashpoint holy site
By Charlie Summers
A sukkah built on a temporary balcony around the Meah Shearim neighborhood in Jerusalem, October 8, 2025 (Zev Stub/Times of Israel)
October 10, 2025, 8:01 am
To sit in the sukkah comfortably, some Jerusalemites are living on the edge
A balcony with a festive temporary hut commands a premium even in luxury apartments, but many eschew safety concerns to jerry-rig their own platforms without city approval
By Zev Stub
Jewish worshipers attend the 'priestly blessing' ceremony at Jerusalem's Western Wall during the Jewish holiday of Sukkot, on October 9, 2025. (Chaim Goldberg/Flash90)
October 10, 2025, 1:11 am
At ‘priestly blessing’ in Jerusalem, prayers, hope and ‘mixed feelings’ over hostage deal
Tens of thousands gather at the holy site to attend the service and celebrate the festival of Sukkot. Among them are ex-hostages, families of hostages, and IDF reservists
By Rossella Tercatin
Bereaved mother Galit Dan speaks at the Bereaved Families Memorial Ceremony marking two years since the October 7, 2023, massacre, in Tel Aviv's Yarkon Park, on October 7, 2025. (Benny Rutloy/Hostages and Missing Families Forum)
October 8, 2025, 4:44 pm
As October 7 and Sukkot coincide, Israelis struggle to reconcile grief and joy
Communities and individuals struggle over how – and when – to mark one of the Hebrew calendar’s most festive holidays, now also one of its darkest days
By Deborah Danan
National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir visits the Temple Mount in Jerusalem's Old City, October 8, 2025. (Temple Mount Administration)
October 8, 2025, 2:00 pm
Ben Gvir boasts Israel is the ‘victorious… landlord’ of Temple Mount, leads prayers there
‘Every house in Gaza has a picture of the Temple Mount and now, two years later, we are… the landlords,’ says far-right leader amid hostage-ceasefire talks; Hamas calls move ‘deliberately provocative’, ‘fascist’
By Charlie Summers and Nurit Yohanan
The 700-square-meter Beit Tefilah Israeli Sukkah at the Tel Aviv port, pictured here in 2016 (Courtesy Beit Tefilah Israeli)
October 8, 2025, 1:56 pm
This Sukkot, take a moment for birdwatching, singing in the desert or a motorcycle festival
Activities abound over the eight-day holiday, with events for lovers of nature, art, music and Jewish culture to be found throughout the country
By Jessica Steinberg
A soldier visits the site of the Nova music festival where revelers were killed and kidnapped during the October 7, 2023, Hamas-led attack. near Kibbutz Re'im in southern Israel, October 6, 2025. (AP Photo/Leo Correa)
October 7, 2025, 3:42 am
Zamir puts IDF on highest alert for Sukkot, coinciding with 2nd anniversary of Hamas invasion
Military chief stresses defensive operations will be ‘the main effort’ during holidays, amid pause on offensive activity in Gaza; army says strikes launched in response to Hamas attacks
By Emanuel Fabian
Explosives cleared from an old Syrian military position in the Golan Heights that is now open to the public in a photo published on September 29, 2025. (Defense Ministry)
September 29, 2025, 2:29 pm
Former Syrian base in Golan to open for visitors for 1st time after being de-mined
Visitors will be able to tour Ein Almin, view munitions and take part in mock mine-detection activity after over 600 explosive devices and old weapons cleared from area
By Stav Levaton
Shavuot celebrations in Kibbutz Ramat Yohanan in 1945 (Credit Yaakov Rosner/KKL-JNF archive)
June 1, 2025, 1:00 pm
Kibbutz marks 80 years of Shavuot song and dance with pioneering artworks
Northern Kibbutz Ramat Yohanan hosts expansive exhibit inspired by the pre-state work of choreographer Leah Bergstein and composer Mattityahu Shelem for the harvest festival
By Jessica Steinberg
An anti-Zionist Jewish group constructs a 'Gaza solidarity sukkah' on the campus of Northwestern University in Evanston, Illinois, for the holiday of Sukkot, 2024. (Courtesy of Jewish Voice for Peace via JTA)
November 3, 2024, 4:01 am
US campus ‘Gaza solidarity sukkahs’ ignite debates on anti-Zionist Jews’ observance
While almost certainly intended to be provocative, ceremonial huts at universities pose a question of whether the political messaging is cynical or genuine religious expression
By Andrew Lapin
Jewish worshipers pray at the Western Wall, in Jerusalem's Old City, during the priestly blessing of the Sukkot festival, October 20, 2024. (Chaim Goldberg/Flash90)
October 20, 2024, 2:31 pm
Relatives of hostages among thousands gathered at Western Wall for priestly blessing
Ceremony includes special prayers for those held captive in Gaza and for the welfare of Israel’s soldiers
By ToI Staff
Detail from an illustration from 'Qohelet: Searching for a Life Worth Living,' by Israeli philosopher Menachem Fisch and American artist Debra Band. (Courtesy)
October 18, 2024, 12:14 pm
This Sukkot, a new book gives a daring – and beautiful – reassessment of Ecclesiastes
In ‘Qohelet: Searching for a Life Worth Living,’ Israeli philosopher Menachem Fisch and American artist Debra Band paint the ancient eponymous text in a more optimistic light
By Rich Tenorio
A sukkah banner distributed by Hakhel, the Goldberg-Polins' synagogue in Jerusalem, features Hersh's face with the word meaning light. Shlomit Sattler hung the banner in her Jerusalem sukkah. (Courtesy Sattler)
October 16, 2024, 6:33 pm
In new take on tradition, UK group urges families to ‘save seat in sukkah’ for hostages
Board of Deputies of British Jews’ initiative hearkens back to the age-old Jewish practice of inviting symbolic guests to temporary huts built for the Sukkot holiday
By Jackie Hajdenberg
Hillel attendees in Berlin build a sukkah. (Debi Simon for Hillel Deutschland/ via JTA)
October 16, 2024, 2:11 pm
Despite record post-Oct. 7 antisemitism, European Jews are out and proud this Sukkot
From Milan to Warsaw, Jewish communities are building huts and brandishing the four species as usual — with a little bit of extra protection
By Mati Wagner
Yael Aisenthal-Kordevani decorated her sukkah in the city of Modi'in with symbols of the year since Hamas' Oct. 7 attack on Israel, October 15, 2024. (Courtesy Aisenthal-Kordevani)
October 16, 2024, 12:39 pm
Israelis decorate their first sukkahs since Oct. 7 with hostage photos
Symbols of devastated border communities line walls of sukkahs one year after Hamas onslaught, as soldiers deployed to Gaza erect festive hut, shown in viral image
By Deborah Danan
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