The First Sukkah
From Jacob the Tent-Dweller to Jacob the Builder
And Jacob journeyed to Sukkot and built a house for himself and stalls for his cattle. That is why the place was called Sukkot. (Genesis 33:17)
“And Jacob journeyed to Sukkot”— After parting from Esau, Jacob removed darkness and judgments from himself. He then merited the ability to build a settled, peaceful home and made booths for his cattle, signifying the revelation of Divine providence even within the workings of nature. The place was called Sukkot because there, it was revealed that he walked under the shadow of God. (Toldot Yaakov Yosef)
“And he built for himself a house— because Jacob no longer wished to be a wandering tent-dweller as he had been until now, for he was near to entering his ancestral land. For his cattle, he made enclosed booths; therefore, he called the place ‘Sukkot.’” (Ibn Ezra)
“And Jacob journeyed to Sukkot”— After enduring many trials, Jacob arrived at Sukkot, a place symbolizing the Divine love that shelters a person. (Mei HaShiloach)
After reconciling with Esau and removing his fears, Jacob attained a level where the light of faith and trust shone upon him. (Kedushat Levi)
Rather than meeting Esau in Seir, Jacob traveled to the nearer location of Sukkot. Telling a gentile that one is traveling to a farther destination might cause the gentile to delay an attack, assuming there is more time to plan and execute it. This delay gives the Jew a better chance of reaching their true destination safely. (Avoda Zara 25b)
They found written in the teaching that the LORD had commanded Moses that the Israelites must dwell in booths during the festival of the seventh month and that they must announce and proclaim throughout all their towns and Jerusalem as follows: “Go out to the mountains and bring leafy branches of olive trees, pine trees, myrtles, palms, and [other] leafy trees to make booths, as it is written.” So the people went out and brought them and made booths on their roofs, in their courtyards, in the courtyards of the House of God, in the square of the Water Gate, and in the square of the Ephraim Gate. (Nehemiah 8:14-16)
The Torah’s first mention of Sukkot is not as a holiday to be observed but as the name of Jacob’s first way-station after encountering his brother Esau for first time in 20 years. Jacob builds a house for himself and huts (Sukkot) for his animals. While this detail might seem trivial, it serves as an important moment of initiation into a leitmotif that defines the Jewish journey. Jacob’s time in Sukkot is narratively brief—just a few verses. Shortly after going to Sukkot, he journeys to Shechem, where his daughter Dinah is taken hostage, his sons retaliate violently against the Shechemites, and his beloved Joseph is sold into slavery. Jacob’s journey to Sukkot directly precedes these pivotal events in Shechem and must be considered in their light.
Commentators are divided on whether Jacob’s residence in Sukkot reflects a moment of joy, faith, and love or a calculated act of strategic insight and defensive maneuvering. At the heart of this debate is a deeper question: What was the true nature of Jacob’s reunion with Esau? Was it conciliatory and cathartic, or did it merely extend a cautious stalemate in which Jacob outwits his brother and survives to face another day?
The Talmud suggests Jacob went to Sukkot for defensive purposes. Another Midrashic commentary describes Jacob’s house as a tower designed to ward off Esau’s potential thoughts of conquest. However, Hasidic commentators emphasize a turning point in Jacob’s life. Having stood face-to-face with Esau and wrestled with his “shadow side” in preparation, Jacob is now a transformed person, ready to face challenges with grace. In this reading, his newfound faith equips him to weather future adversities. The sukkah symbolizes a metaphysical defense: the ability to accept impermanence and make a home within it, thereby neutralizing both external and internal threats.
An alluring detail in the story is that Jacob builds the sukkah not for himself but for his animals. This gesture reflects domesticity and ownership—a significant statement given Jacob’s earlier struggles as an indentured servant to Laban, during which the ownership of livestock was fiercely contested. The sukkah here is not merely a functional shelter or a totem of private property but an acknowledgment of life’s impermanence and the precariousness of sudden prosperity.
In Nehemiah, we read of an exiled people returning to Jerusalem after the destruction of the First Temple and rediscovering the laws that had since fallen into obsolescence. One such law was Sukkot. Ironically, the holiday of impermanence had itself become impermanent. Celebrating it marked a homecoming. Only someone with a home can dwell in a sukkah; sacralizing an impermanent dwelling requires one first to feel a sense of stability. Thus, Jacob’s building of a sukkah expresses homecoming and illustrates a profound tension between permanence and transience.
Ibn Ezra emphasizes that Jacob sought permanence in settling in Sukkot: “He didn’t want to be a tent-dweller anymore.” Yet Jacob’s life would remain one of wandering, culminating in his move to Egypt during a famine. He would die in Goshen and be buried in the Cave of Machpelah in the land of Israel. Nevertheless, Ibn Ezra’s insight is valid: Jacob no longer wanted to be “a man on the run.” Building a home represents resolve and the willingness to confront fears. The sukkah thus becomes a compromise between permanence and impermanence, a structure for the nomadic life. Notably, neither Abraham nor Isaac built homes or sukkot. Abraham and Sarah are instead remembered for their open-sided tent, a symbol of hospitality.
Jacob’s most enduring innovation may be the creation of the first sukkah—not just as a holiday (moed) but as a metaphorical stage of life: an ambiguous home. Significantly, Jacob made the sukkah not for himself but for his animals. If Jacob, now called Israel, represents the Jewish people, his first act as a national symbol is the invention of Sukkot. With the name Israel, he is now capable of building a home.
Jacob’s sukkah reflects a delicate balance between stability and uncertainty, conviction and caution. This dialectical sukkah is fitting for a person who wrestles, whose name alternates between the parentally bestowed “Jacob” and the angelically conferred “Israel.” Jacob dodges; Israel dwells. Yet not all houses are homes. By observing Sukkot, we, like Jacob, discover that building a home is not an endpoint but an ongoing practice.
Shabbat Shalom,
Zohar Atkins