Sukkot, the Feast of Tabernacles, is one of the seven annual holidays instituted by God in the Tanakh, or Old Testament. As such, it is viewed as a "Jewish" holiday. So it must seem strange to Israelis and Jews everywhere to see thousands of Christians make the journey to Jerusalem every year in accordance with Deuteronomy 16:16-17 to celebrate Sukkot.

Indeed, so many Christians converge on Jerusalem every year for the Christian Feast of Tabernacles celebration that it is by far Israel's largest annual tourism event, injecting an estimated $15 million into the local economy in a matter of days.

So, while most Israelis aren't complaining that Christians desire to mark one of "their" holidays in such grand fashion, the question remains - why?

Travelujah asked a number of participants at the Feast of Tabernacles hosted by the International Christian Embassy Jerusalem to answer that question.

"Zechariah says the nations will all come up to Jerusalem for Sukkot, so we are fulfilling that prophecy," said Judy Ball from North Carolina, referring to Zechariah 14:16.

The ICEJ website notes that "the Bible describes the Feast of Tabernacles as the third of the three annual feasts which the people of Israel are commanded to celebrate in Jerusalem."

As Christians, the ICEJ states that it "believes that celebrating the Feast each year honors the Lord in anticipation of the fulfillment of the words spoken by Zechariah when ‘the nations...shall come up from year to year to worship the King, the Lord of hosts, and to keep the Feast of Tabernacles' (Zech. 14:16)."

Ball said that she and her husband have been making that journey of anticipation for the past 14 years, and today lead the ICEJ intercession team at the Feast.

"We see it as a perfect opportunity to not only intercede for Israel, but also for the nations that are all represented," Ball told Travelujah.

Beyond that, Ball also sees the huge influx of Christians during the Feast as "an opportunity to help promote peace in the region and build bridges between Christians and non-Christians. God not only loves the Jews, but all the people of this region, so we are here to pray for them, too."

Herta and Irene from Austria, who are by comparison relative newcomers to the Feast, said their participation and decision to come up to Jerusalem with a group of 20 fellow Christians was a simple expression of faith.

"We want to bless Israel," they said, adding that "our roots are here, in Israel. We have the same God."

In truth, it should be little surprise for those who read and believe the Bible (be they Christians or Jews) that people from all nations come up to Jerusalem during Sukkot.

Sukkot is a harvest festival. It occurs just after the summer harvest has been gathered, and the first fruits of that harvest are to be brought up to Jerusalem as a sacrifice to God (Leviticus 23). Sukkot is also known as the Feast of Ingathering, which, like most things in the Bible, has a physical and a spiritual meaning.

In the physical, that passage refers to the harvest season, and to offering a thanksgiving sacrifice to God for His provision. In the spiritual, many Bible teachers believe this is speaking of an ingathering of the nations that will be drawn close to God by the Word He gave through Israel.

Sukkot also has tremendous messianic overtones, and is closely related to the closing of Jesus' earthly ministry and his anticipated return.

The seventh day of Sukkot is known as Hoshana Rabbah, or the Great Supplication. During Hoshana Rabbah, Jews of faith will wave palm branches while calling out to God for salvation and for the coming of Messiah.

Psalm 118 is recited, and special emphasis is put on verse 26: "Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord..."

Jesus' early followers, being all Jewish themselves, made use of these messianic Sukkot traditions when welcoming him into Jerusalem:

"As they approached Jerusalem... A very large crowd spread their cloaks on the road, while others cut branches from the trees and spread them on the road. The crowds that went ahead of him and those that followed shouted, ‘Hoshana to the Son of David! Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord! Hoshana in the highest!" (Matthew 21:1, 8-9)

As they had been for generations, the Jews of that time were anxiously awaiting their conquering King Messiah, and so greeted Jesus with those signs and symbols they had been taught during Sukkot. But Jesus had other plans, knowing that he must first conquer death and fulfill the spiritual aspects of redemption by allowing the shedding of his blood for the people's sins.

Jesus was coming to die, not to reign. But he did acknowledge that the Sukkot traditions were accurate when he told the people they would "not see me again until you say, ‘Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord,'" a clear reference to the Sukkot prayers.

And so it is that those Christians who have reconnected to their Hebraic biblical roots join the Jews in viewing Sukkot as the season in which Messiah will arrive and establish his kingdom from Jerusalem.

Is it any wonder that so many Christians would desire to be in Jerusalem at the time of Sukkot?

Ryan Jones writes for  Travelujah, a Christian social network focused on fostering a deeper connection with faith through Holy Land tours. You can plan, learn and share your holy land experience on Travelujah using our in-depth locational content, user and expert blogs that can take you off the beaten track, and individual or group tour booking services.

The Book of Leviticus in chapter 19 opens with God issuing the lofty commandment to all of the Jewish people, to each and every member of the God's covenant: You shall be holy, for I, the Lord your God, am holy. When the Lord revealed Himself to Moses and the Jewish people at Mt. Sinai (Exodus 19-20), God made a covenant with the Jewish people collectively, challenging them to be a kingdom of priests and a holy nation. But what is holiness? How does a people become holy and mirror God's presence on earth? By isolating oneself and separating from the dirty politics and mundane work of society? By engaging solely in spiritual meditation or religious ritual? It is only in these sections of Leviticus that God gives the Jewish people specific commandments and direction for achieving holy lives. The quest after holiness is the theme that unites Leviticus 19-27. We will see that according to the Torah, we become holy through everything we do: how we talk, how we farm, how we spend our money, how we celebrate holidays, how we eat, how we exercise our power and run society-but most of all, how we behave toward other people, especially those less fortunate than ourselves. These chapters are one of the most important sections of the Torah, which led the classical Rabbis to proclaim, "The main substance of the Torah is contained there."

holiness as ethical human relations

Some religions teach that holiness is achieved by living a pure monastic life, but Judaism insists that the holy life must take place in society. The majority of the commandments for achieving holiness that appear in Leviticus 19 are concerned with how we treat our fellow human beings--God's children. As an example, consider 19:13: You shall not oppress your neighbor, nor rob him; a hired person's wages shall not remain with you until morning. This verse actually lists three prohibitions, and their common denominator is to prevent exploiting others who are weaker than us. Holiness is a result of ethical human relations that give full respect and dignity to each and every person who we interact with. We injure people when we take their physical possessions, but on a more personal level we injure them also when we damage their reputation and dignity. So the Torah demands that you shall not go about bearing tales about others.

equality of human beings created in the image of god

The Torah sums up the entire way we must relate to others with the challenge to love your neighbor as yourself (Lev. 19:18). When Jesus stated this as the "Golden Rule" of Christianity, he was speaking out of the teachings of rabbinic tradition on this verse from the Jewish Bible. Before Jesus, Rabbi Hillel taught that this was the most fundamental principle of the Torah. Some medieval and modern Jewish commentators read this verse in a creative way that is both profound and beautiful. The original Hebrew grammar is ambiguous and allows one to read the phrase "as yourself" as describing the neighbor who we are commanded to love, not the way we should love others. So these commentators understood the commandment to say, "Love your neighbor because he is like yourself." They explain that every person has equal dignity and equal sanctity because each and every one of us is created in God's holy image (Genesis 1:26). We are all God's children, made equal under the Fatherhood of God, and we bring God into the world and make it holy by treating others as equals, with justice, compassion and dignity.

holiness in time: the festivals and sukkot

Leviticus 23 describes the annual cycle of Jewish holy festivals. (The word "holidays" is derived from "holy days.") Religious holidays are ways we sanctify time, making it holy and using it to direct our thoughts and actions to God. One of the major holidays is "Sukkot" (Hebrew for "booths") that occurs every fall. The Torah states, seven days you shall dwell in sukkot; every native Israelite shall dwell in sukkot so your future generations shall know that I made the children of Israel dwell in sukkot when I brought them out of the land of Egypt (23:43). Religious Jews from biblical times until today erect temporary huts where they eat and sleep during this festival in order to fulfill this biblical command. The Torah issues this commandment not to make us historians of biblical history, but to remind us that we are dependent on God's grace and blessings. Our greatest possessions-including our permanent homes-do not give us security or blessing. Only God's benevolence and concern for us can provide that. We all belong to God and are dependent on Him. We must have gratitude for the daily miracles He performs to sustain each one of us, whether it be shelter, health or food.

According to Jewish law, the booths in which Jews dwell cannot have a permanent roof and must be exposed to the heavens. It is as if the act of sitting in sukkot says to us, "Look what is above you, the heavens. See who created all these things and accept the yoke of God's kingship." "The prophet Zechariah had a vision (chapter 14) that in messianic times all the nations of the world will come to Jerusalem and observe the holiday of Sukkot. The meaning of this event is that all the people of the earth will come to recognize God and His sovereignty over all the world. Today thousands of evangelical Christians make the pilgrimage to Jerusalem during the festival of Sukkot to be witnesses to God's sovereignty.

the jubilee year

The Torah also gives us spiritual direction in how we till the soil and treat those who are economically indebted and subordinate to us. Chapter 25:1-7 instructs the Jewish people to let the land to lie fallow every seven years. Jews are not allowed to sow or harvest crops during that year. The goal of this prohibition is to teach us that "The earth and its fullness belong to God." We are only caretakers of the land that is not ours. In addition, during that seventh year debts are forgiven, so that each person can start anew and not be subordinated to another person for his entire life. God once again tries to equalize us-this time economically.

After seven cycles of seven years, God demands that we proclaim the "year of Jubilee:" You shall sanctify the fiftieth year and proclaim liberty throughout all the land to its inhabitants. ...You shall return every man to his possession and return every man to his family (25:8-10). In addition to servants being freed in the Jubilee year, any land that a person was forced to sell out of poverty reverts back to the original owner or his family. The Jubilee year was designed to counter our natural instincts to acquire property to aggrandize ourselves and again to remind us that ultimately, everything belongs to God. In verse 55, God states: For the children of Israel are My servants, i.e. my servants and not servants to other human beings. Being a servant of the Lord is inconsistent with permanent subjugation to another human being. Here the Torah teaches us that being God's servant should ensure freedom from poverty, as well as equality and dignity for all. When we build a society where these values are secure, we build a holy society.

sanctifying god's name

Being a holy people means following these commandments designed to create a holy society in which each person is treated with dignity that reflects his Divine Image. When we do this, we become witnesses to the authority and holiness of God. This is what the Torah means in Leviticus 22:31-33: You shall observe my commandments and do them, I am the Lord....I will be sanctified in the midst of the children of Israel. I am the Lord Who sanctifies you. Our religious mission is to be holy, to sanctify our lives, and to create a place in our world where God can enter.

Rabbi Dr. Eugene Korn is the North American Director of The Center for Jewish-Christian Understanding and Cooperation in Efrat, Israel.  For more information on the Center or to visit and learn with rabbinic scholars about the Hebraic roots of Christianity, please visit www.cjcuc.com or email the Executive Director, David Nekrutman, at davidnekrutman@gmail.com. Travelujah partners with the CJCUC by providing specialized Holy Land tours for Christians seeking to visit Israel in a biblical journey that offers tailor made "meet the people" experiences including learning about Jewish roots.For more information contact Travelujah or email elisamoed@travelujah.com