For the Young at Heart
Sukkot is a family affair
The goal is the communal offering, not recognition.
SHELLEY JAFFE SPECIAL TO THE JEWISH BULLETIN
Lisa Pozin, standing, Instructs Robert Lamond and Aliyah Shindler on the fine art otsukkah building.
Iam one fortunate lady. Why? Because as I sit at my dining room table, I can look out into my backyard and see a beautiful sukkah that my son's Grade 7 class helped to assemble. Today marked the fourth year of Temple Sholom's sukkah-raising prcgect and, by my accoimt, it was a huge success. Because not only do I have a wonderful structure to show for it, I have a significant symbol - one of hope, of family, of commimity, of opportunity.
I hate to admit, but I was disappointed the first year of the sukkah-raising. While there was a great sense of commimity in bijilding it with another family, very few came afterwards to see it and spend time in it. I had to ask myself why I was so disappointed. I had been so excited when I found out about this wonderful idea. I had researched what sukkot had looked like in the past, and did my best to recreate that warm, welcoming festive feeling. I went on the internet to Team about the appropriate decorations. I strung cranberries. And I waited. And only three families came. When I mulled it over some more, I realized that what we had done was indeed important. We had created a place where our fellow congregants were always welcome. Where they had the op-
portunity to participate, if they chose to. And providing that opportunity was all that mattered.
From that time onward, it has been a personal joy to put up the sukkah and again provide that opportunity. The second year, many more families came on a simny autumn afternoon, to smell the etrog and wave the lulav, to eat and to shmooze. It was lovely. We had three generations come and spend some time with us and this chain of family all together was such a meaningful experience.
This year. Temple Sholom's religious-schoolprincipal, Anne Andrew, decided that the sukkah-raising would become a class project. Each class, from preschool throu^ Grade 7, went to a classmate's home to help build and decorate the sukkah. It is a living lesson plan that beautifully illustrates to eadi and eveiy student, today and for each Sukkot going forward, how to create a welcoming environment, and how to begin to provide their family, their congregation and their community with an opportunity to come together on a simny autiunn afternoon, to wave the lulav and smell the etrog. □
Shelley Jaffe's sukkah is one stop on Temple Sholom's sukkah-hop.
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