Inviting in the Ancestors
Ushpizin
by Rabbi Dr. Goldie Milgram
[photo above is of Reb Goldie's maternal grandfather, Benjamin Fradin and maternal grandmother Lena Obermann Fradin]

Perhaps you know of this practice, it is the inviting in of the souls of ancestors to be present in your sukkah.

Here’s a simple way to do it. Ask those present to think about who from the family or Jewish history that has gone on to the next level of existence, whom of these do you want to be in the sukkah with you? It’s nicest to say why you are inviting them...tell a story about them, or recall something they did that meant a lot to you. Then recite the Aramaic welcome: Tivu, Tivu, ushpizin ee-lah-een, tivu, tivu, ushpizin kaddishin: (and announce): Welcome to our Sukkah: Aunt Sylvia ( or whoever)...

The seven traditional male guests are

Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Joseph, Moses, Aaron, and David.

(Some texts place Moses and Aaron before Joseph.) And according to the 16th-century Kabbalist Menachem Azariah, known as the Ramah of Fano, the seven invited female figures, known in the tradition as prophetesses, are:

Variant traditions have Rachel, Rebecca and Leah substituted for some of those above.

Some pair these ancestors with the sephirot as follows:
          order of Arizal (Sefirah based)

Avraham Chesed
Yitzchak Gevurah
Yaakov   Tiferet
Moshe    Netzach
Aharon    Hod
Yosef      Yesod
David      Malchut

Rabbi Geelah Rayzl Raphael has a delightful ushpizin song with lots of fun and helpful verses, click here for the words.

P.S. There are Kabbalistic wall charts available listing the ancestors for this purpose and assigning them to different directions on the compass or to the order of the sephirot. If you are interested in learning at a bit more of an advanced level, here is a guide for how you, yourself, can engage in a research project for correlating the ancestors and the directions.

Have a magical, meaningful Sukkot!  Love and blessings, Reb Goldie