The mitzvah is "לישב בסוכה" (to sit in the sukah).
In theory, if a person builds a sukah but fails to sit in the sukah, the person missed the mitzvah.
Unless . . .
Unless the builder lets someone else sit in the sukah.
By providing an opportunity for another to perform a mitzvah, the "provider" also gets a share of the mitzvah.
This "sharing a mitzvah" is why, the rabbis tell us, when a person buys a kavod (honor) for another - e.g., a wife for her husband, a father for a son, a friend for a friend - both the buyer and the "do'er" get credit for the mitzvah. (Thanks to my wife, Sara, I was a cohen (first aliyah) on the first day of Rosh HaShana (ו'' פקד את שרה); our resident cohen was AWOL. She may have regretted her choice; the second aliyah included ...כל אשר תאמר אליך שרה שמע בקלה).
The following are North African - ממרוקו עד לוב - traditions מנהגים. Check with your rabbi for the traditions of your community.
Sit or stand?
According to Hakham Shalom Messas in ילקות שמ''ש the blessing לישב בסוכה (to sit in the sukah) normally is said sitting. The exceptions are erev Yom Tov and erev Shabat when the blessing is part of the kidush (קידוש), then לישב בסוכה is said standing. (Many Sefardim sit for the kidush following musaf.) R. Messas notes that אין צריך להקפיד לאומרה בעמידה in both cases. He adds that it is not required to sit in the sukah before the kidush.
On the first night, the kidush (קידוש) and שהחיינו are said standing, after which we sit. Hakham Yosef Messas in הוד יוסף חי, opines if שהחיינו was said by the men before the kidush - e.g., when the sukah is completed - שהחיינו after the kidush is omitted. (A woman says שהחיינו when she lights the Yom Tov candle{s}.)
On hol hamoed, when there is no kidush, לישב בסוכה is said immediately after המוציא (blessing on the bread/hallah).
From R. Yosef Messas in הוד יוסף חי: לישב בסוכה is said only if the meal includes המוציא (bread/hallah) and ends with ברכת המזון; if a meal includes only rice or couscous and not bread, לישב בסוכה is omitted.
Waving the lulav
According to Hakham Shalom Messas in ילקות שמ''ש, the lulav is waved as set forth by HaAri z"l:
According to the Shulhan Aruk (Yosef Messas in הוד יוסף חי the order is:
Also from הוד יוסף חי. the green stem of the lulav should be facing the person holding the lulav. As for the etrog, it should be free of defects, but the person buying the etrog need not examine the etrog "with a magnifying glass" else there would be no end to the inspection. The etrog shape should NOT be "round as a ball."
From דברי שלום ואמת: The lulav may be decorated by wrapping a colorful string or ribbon a la a barber pole or candy cane; many put a ribbon or string crown (bow) at the top.
(Assembling the lulav for both Sefardim and Ashkenazim is given on the Midrash Ben Ish Hai Web site at http://www.midrash.org/halakha/tielulab.html. Unfortunately if fails to show a Sefardi-decorated lulav.)
Going around the bema (haskafot)
According to Hakham Shalom Messas in ילקות שמ''ש, every day of Sukot except Shabat, after musaf, a Torah is taken from the ark to the bemah and the worshippers go around the bemah one time. On Hoshana Rabah the worshippers make seven trips around the bemah. (On Shabat the haskafot are recited, but there are neither lulav and etrog nor processional.)
There is a tradition among some that on Hoshana Rabah even worshippers lacking lulav and etrog also join the procession around the bemah.
Hoshana Rabah
According to Shalom Messas in ילקות שמ''ש on Hoshana Rabah the worshippers make seven trips around the bemah.
There is a tradition among some that on Hoshana Rabah even worshippers lacking lulav and etrog also join the procession around the bemah.
During the morning service:
מלך " and " הוא האלוים are recited two times each, just as is done from Rosh HaShana to Yom Kippor
נשמת כל חי follows שירת הים
שיר המעלות ממעמקים follows ישתבח as is done between Rosh HaShana and Yom Kippor.
There are some traditions (e.g. Bet El) that recite נשמת כל חי after עלינו.
A Yom Tov aside. In Morocco, according to ילקות שמ''ש, lighting a match was permitted on Yom Tov. When the Moroccans moved to Israel - which most, but not all, did - the younger olim began to follow the majority and gave up lighting matches; only the senior olim (such as my חותן) kept the old tradition.
הג סוכות שמח!
