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Still, Sukkot is a joyous occasion, one that is centered on four plant species: the myrtle, willow, citron and date palm, whose frond is known as the lulav.

Rabbi Susan Goldberg of Nefesh, a transdenominational congregation that offers Shabbat services in Echo Park, said that “when you are holding the lulav and etrog, you remember we are an ancient people very much connected to the Earth.”

Holding these together with the citron, each participant faced the east and shook the lulav in all four directions and then up and down — probably the vestiges of a pagan rain dance that is now an expression of God’s omnipresence.

The lulav and etrog dry and shrivel.

On a recent day in Rabbi Chaim Teller’s class, two dozen 10- and 11-year-olds were learning about the lulav and esrog — the palm frond and citron that combined with myrtle and willow are brandished and shaken during prayers for the Succoth holiday.