Sukkot Is The Jewish Festival Of Rejoicing

The celebration of Sukkot is the Jewish festival of rejoicing. Sukkot commemorates the forty-year period during which the children of Israel were wandering in the desert, living in temporary shelters. Ushpizin takes place during this festival. There are customs seen in the movie such as gemah meaning acts of kindness, the waving of the four species, and the shtreimel; a circular fur hat made of fox tails that are worn on the Sabbath or holidays.
There are three major traditions associated with Sukkot, the building a sukkah and eating in the sukkah, welcoming guests or ushpizins to your sukkah during Sukkot, and waving the four species. To honor the descendants, Jews are instructed to live or at least eat in temporary shelters. During the festival of Sukkot, it is considered a blessing to host guests in the sukkah.
The four species are made up of lulav and citron and are waved together while delivering special prayers and blessings.
“They are waved in each of the four directions and are included in the ritual representing God's dominion over Creation.” A distinctive facet of Sukkot encompasses the search for the flawless citrine. Moshe hastily uses the money to buy the citron dubbed “the diamond,” believed to be the most perfect citron in all Jerusalem.
Gemah means acts of loving kindness and traditionally is a charitable group that allocates funds and other provisions to the poor within the Orthodox society. Moshi and Malli are broke at the beginning of the movie; they pray for a miracle and by God’s grace are selected to receive a thousand dollars from the organization. The service of the organization provided the miracle Moshe and Malli needed in order to give thanks and praise God properly for Sukkot. Moshe buys the citron, finds an abandoned sukkah and rebuilds it, and the couple is blessed to welcome guests to celebrate
Sukkot.
A shtreimel is typically made of genuine fur from the tails of Canadian or Russian sable, stone marten, baum marten, or American gray fox. The shtreimel is the most expensive piece of Hasidic attire, ranging in cost from one to six thousand dollars. Moshe is seen wearing a shtreimel as he walks with the other men of the community as they pray. Moshe’s guests comment snidely on the attire his newfound faith requires. The shtreimel is a symbol of Godliness in the community and Moshe wears his old shtreimel proudly when he is with the rabbi and the other men of the community but neglects the sarcastic comments by his former friend inferring the shtreimel is old and passed down. Although I didn’t understand very much of the movie I did understand the symbolic undertones the movie suggests. It was interesting for me as I watched the movie I tried to read the subtitles to understand the words that were being said, it was when I stopped trying to read the subtitles that the meaning of the movie became clear to me. Watching the interactions of the people was a much better way to understand what was happening. I learned that it wasn’t the words that were spoken but the interactions between all of the people that were the true story of Ushpizin.