High Holidays · Sukkot and Simchat Torah

What are the ushpizin?

Guests you cannot see, and guests you can

The teaching is tender: when you sit in the sukkah, that fragile little booth open to the sky, you are not alone. Each night one of the seven shepherds of our people enters as an honored visitor, and the others accompany him. Abraham comes first, on the first night, and David comes last. Welcoming them, many have the custom to say aloud a short invitation to that night's guest to share the shelter. And because heavenly guests call for earthly ones, it is the beautiful custom to invite real people to your table — especially those who have nowhere else to be.

Where this comes from

The tradition of the seven ushpizin is drawn from the Zohar, the central work of Jewish mysticism, which pictures these seven as spiritual presences drawn to dwell with those who sit in the sukkah. Each is associated with one facet of holiness, so that across the week the sukkah becomes a place where the whole character of the good is welcomed in turn.

What to do

Each evening, as you enter the sukkah, name that night's guest and, if you wish, say the customary words of welcome. Then make the invitation real: ask someone to your table who might otherwise eat alone. The rhythm of the seven is the frame; the open door is the mitzvah.

Source: The Zohar.