Sukkah (סֻכָּה) refers to a temporary booth or shelter — a structure made from branches, leaves, and vegetation, not a permanent building. Plural: sukkot. Israel was commanded to live in sukkot during the seven-day Feast of Tabernacles (Sukkot) to remember their forty years in the wilderness (Leviticus 23:42-43). The feast also celebrated the harvest and anticipated eschatological rest.
The sukkah is Israel's most embodied act of memory — dwelling in a fragile structure to feel the vulnerability of wilderness life and dependence on God. John 1:14 likely echoes this: 'The Word became flesh and dwelt among us' — the Greek verb skenoo (tabernacled/pitched tent) directly recalls the Feast of Sukkot. Jesus, the eternal Word, 'sukkah-ed' among us in human flesh. Amos 9:11 prophesies the raising up of David's fallen 'booth' (sukkah) — a messianic promise quoted in Acts 15:16 to describe the gathering of Gentiles into the restored people of God. The New Jerusalem features no temple (Revelation 21:22) because God Himself is the eternal sukkah — the shelter of His people.
The sukkah is a compressed theology of existence: we are creatures dwelling in fragile temporary shelters, dependent on God's overarching protection. The Feast of Sukkot was the most joyful of Israel's festivals — joy precisely because of acknowledged frailty. The greatest joy is not the permanence of our dwelling but the permanence of our Keeper. As Psalm 27:5 declares, God's sukkah is the ultimate shelter on the day of trouble.