A portion of this reading (Deuteronomy 15:19 – 16:17) is also read on the holidays of Passover and Shavuot. The relationship to the pilgrimage festivals is evident in chapter 16. In making this the reading for Shemini Atzeret, a connection is drawn between Sukkot and this “eighth day of assembly.” For congregations that celebrate Shemini Atzeret and Simchat Torah on the same day, this reading is omitted.
14:22. You shall set aside every year a tenth part of all the yield of your sowing that is brought from the field.
14:23. You shall consume the tithes of your new grain and wine and oil, and the firstlings of your herds and flocks, in the presence of the LORD your God, in the place where He will choose to establish His name, so that you may learn to revere the LORD your God forever.
14:24. Should the distance be too great for you, should you be unable to transport them, because the place where the LORD your God has chosen to establish His name is far from you and because the LORD your God has blessed you,
14:25. you may convert them into money. Wrap up the money and take it with you to the place that the LORD your God has chosen,
14:26. and spend the money on anything you want-cattle, sheep, wine, or other intoxicant, or anything you may desire. And you shall feast there, in the presence of the LORD your God, and rejoice with your household.
14:27. But do not neglect the Levite in your community, for he has no hereditary portion as you have.
14:28. Every third year you shall bring out the full tithe of your yield of that year, but leave it within your settlements.
14:29. Then the Levite, who has no hereditary portion as you have, and the stranger, the fatherless, and the widow in your settlements shall come and eat their fill, so that the LORD your God may bless you in all the enterprises you undertake.
15:1. Every seventh year you shall practice remission of debts.
15:2. This shall be the nature of the remission: every creditor shall remit the due that he claims from his neighbor; he shall not dun his neighbor or kinsman, for the remission proclaimed is of the LORD.
15:3. You may dun the foreigner; but you must remit whatever is due you from your kinsmen.
15:4. There shall be no needy among you — since the LORD your God will bless you in the land which the LORD your God is giving you as a hereditary portion –
15:5. if only you heed the LORD your God and take care to keep all this Instruction that I enjoin upon you this day.
15:6. For the LORD your God will bless you as He has promised you: you will extend loans to many nations, but require none yourself; you will dominate many nations, but they will not dominate you.
15:7. If, however, there is a needy person among you, one of your kinsmen in any of your settlements in the land that the LORD your God is giving you, do not harden your heart and shut your hand against your needy kinsman.
15:8. Rather, you must open your hand and lend him sufficient for whatever he needs.
15:9. Beware lest you harbor the base thought, “The seventh year, the year of remission, is approaching,” so that you are mean to your needy kinsman and give him nothing. He will cry out to the LORD against you, and you will incur guilt.
15:10. Give to him readily and have no regrets when you do so, for in return the LORD your God will bless you in all your efforts and in all your undertakings.
15:11. For there will never cease to be needy ones in your land, which is why I command you: open your hand to the poor and needy kinsman in your land.
15:12. If a fellow Hebrew, man or woman, is sold to you, he shall serve you six years, and in the seventh year you shall set him free.
15:13. When you set him free, do not let him go empty-handed:
15:14. Furnish him out of the flock, threshing floor, and vat, with which the LORD your God has blessed you.
15:15. Bear in mind that you were slaves in the land of Egypt and the LORD your God redeemed you; therefore I enjoin this commandment upon you today.
15:16. But should he say to you, “I do not want to leave you” – -for he loves you and your household and is happy with you —
15:17. you shall take an awl and put it through his ear into the door, and he shall become your slave in perpetuity. Do the same with your female slave.
15:18. When you do set him free, do not feel aggrieved; for in the six years he has given you double the service of a hired man. Moreover, the LORD your God will bless you in all you do.
15:19. Youshall consecrate to the LORD your God all male firstlings that are born in your herd and in your flock: you must not work your firstling ox or shear your firstling sheep.
15:20. You and your household shall eat it annually before the LORD your God in the place that the LORD will choose.
15:21. But if it has a defect, lameness or blindness, any serious defect, you shall not sacrifice it to the LORD your God.
15:22. Eat it in your settlements, the unclean among you no less than the clean, just like the gazelle and the deer.
15:23. 0nly you must not partake of its blood; you shall pour it out on the ground like water.
16:1. Observe the month of Abib and offer a passover sacrifice to the LORD your God, for it was in the month of Abib, at night, that the LORD your God freed you from Egypt.
16:2. You shall slaughter the passover sacrifice for the LORD your God from the flock and the herd, in the place where the LORD will choose to establish His name.
16:3. You shall not eat anything leavened with it; for seven days thereafter you shall eat unleavened bread, bread of distress — for you departed from the land of Egypt hurriedly — so that you may remember the day of your departure from the land of Egypt as long as you live.
16:4. For seven days no leaven shall be found with you in all your territory, and none of the flesh of what you slaughter on the evening of the first day shall be left until morning.
16:5. You are not permitted to slaughter the passover sacrifice in any of the settlements that the LORD your God is giving you;
16:6. but at the place where the LORD your God will choose to establish His name, there alone shall you slaughter the passover sacrifice, in the evening, at sundown, the time of day when you departed from Egypt.
16:7. You shall cook and eat it at the place which the LORD your God will choose; and in the morning you may start back on your journey home.
16:8. After eating unleavened bread six days, you shall hold a solemn gathering for the LORD your God on the seventh day: you shall do no work.
16:9. You shall count off seven weeks; start to count the seven weeks when the sickle is first put to the standing grain.
16:10. Then you shall observe the Feast of Weeks for the LORD your God, offering your freewill contribution according as the LORD your God has blessed you.
16:11. You shall rejoice before the LORD your God with your son and daughter, your male and female slave, the Levite in your communities, and the stranger, the fatherless, and the widow in your midst, at the place where the LORD your God will choose to establish His name.
16:12. Bear in mind that you were slaves in Egypt, and take care to obey these laws.
16:13. After the ingathering from your threshing floor and your vat, you shall hold the Feast of Bootl1s for seven days.
16:14. You shall rejoice in your festival, with your son and daughter, your male and female slave, the Levite, the stranger, the fatherless, and the widow in your communities.
16:15. You shall hold festival for the LORD your God seven days, in the place that the LORD will choose; for the LORD your God will bless all your crops and all your undertakings, and you shall have nothing but joy.
16:16. Three times a year-on the Feast of Unleavened Bread, on the Feast of Weeks, and on the Feast of Booths –all your males shall appear before the LORD your God in the place that He will choose. They shall not appear before the LORD empty-handed,
16:17. but each with his own gift, according to the blessing that the LORD your God has bestowed upon you.
This English translation is reprinted with permission from Tanakh: The Holy Scriptures published by the Jewish Publication Society.
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Sukkot
Pronounced: sue-KOTE, or SOOH-kuss (oo as in book), Origin: Hebrew, a harvest festival in which Jews eat inside temporary huts, falls in the Jewish month of Tishrei, which usually coincides with September or October.
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Torah
Pronunced: TORE-uh, Origin: Hebrew, the Five Books of Moses.
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