NEW YORK, NY October 13, 2008 —Traditional Jewish communities are getting ready to celebrate the autumn harvest festival of Sukkot, which begins at sundown. On Diamond Row in midtown, a sidewalk vendor was selling the palm fronds and other items that are part of an ancient seasonal ritual. Joseph Ghodis was inspecting boxed citron fruits. They're fragrant and look like lemons, and Ghodsi says he's very particular.

GHODIS: I haven't found The One just yet, but I'm hoping I will. You want to find one that looks like a heart, because the heart is what it represents -- the idea of putting them altogether is really the idea of putting the spiritual and the physical together.

REPORTER: During the Eight Days of the Sukkot festival, traditional Jews eat and sometimes sleep out in makeshift booths -- in back yards, and on balconies and rooftops.

In the Christian Calendar, Sukkot is known as the Feast of the Tabernacles.