In practicing Judaism with MJ for over a decade, I had a passing familiarity with Sukkot, but much like Purim, it didn’t have much meaning until we had kids. Which is not to say they’re kids holidays, it’s just that Judiasm has a lot of holidays and these ones just weren’t on my radar.
But our kids love Sukkot. There’s a tent-ish thing outside! You get to eat stuff in it! And stay up late to see the stars! Lots of fun things.
Sukkot is an autumn harvest holiday, which also reflects upon the 40 years the Israelites spent wandering in the desert following the Exodus from Egypt. As such, it’s traditional to build (or at least, experience) a sukkah, a three-walled structure with an open-ish roof that allows you to see the stars through whatever minimal leafy covering you place over it. According to tradition, it represents dwellings of the Israelites in the desert, so spending time inside it and eating is important. We’ve gone to a few sukkahs at synagogues over the years, but when Adam learned that some people also build one at home, he really, really wanted to.
Unfortunately we learned about his strong desire for this five days before Sukkot began, so we had to scramble a bit. MJ first looked into building one out of wood, but the panels ended up being heavy and ultimately we don’t have a place to store them. After some more searching for ideas online, we settled on making one out of PVC pipes. Most things were ordered from local hardware stores, including the 10ft PVC pipes, which the boys helped MJ cut up in the back lot of the hardware store so we could safely fit them in the van. I did end up ordering some “greenhouse clips” online which were specifically designed to clip fabric on to 1 inch PVC pipe.
We first thought we’d want the sukkah to be made up of two four-foot pipes, but once we got building a four foot and a two foot ended up working much better, since that put it at just over 6 feet so everyone could walk under it and it was a lot more manageable for building and decorating the roof.
The PVC pipes were just pushed together rather than glued, so we could disassemble it after the holiday. That did make it slightly less structurally sound than we might have liked, but once it was all put together and then the rope we strung across the top to hold leafy green things it actually was safe enough for us to feel comfortable.
And then the old sheets I had set aside for it were too heavy. As soon as a gust of wind came by, the whole structure would wobble, and we were quite afraid it would take flight. OK, more likely it would just fall apart, but still, it wasn’t working. Since it was Friday afternoon and Sukkot began at sunset, we were running out of time, so we took to searching for some light/breathable fabric that we could pick up that night before dinner. And voila! Michael’s craft store had some transparent/black material covered in sparkly stars and crescent moons. I wasn’t sure how well it would work out, but with the exception of sparkles getting everywhere, it actually looked quite nice!
On Saturday morning we completed the fabric work and searched around the yard for some greens to put on top, which meant we grabbed a bunch of stray plants I’d been meaning to pluck, and did a little pruning on a tree that was getting a little too close to the house. It wasn’t much, next year I’d like to plan that ahead of time, maybe see if there’s a way we can get some palm leaves or something. But it worked! The roof was DEFINITELY see-through enough to see the stars, hah! Final touches were some harvest themed decorations we picked up at the dollar store.
We spent the evening Sukkot began at the synagogue, also celebrating Shabbat, and keeping the boys up much too late. They were the only kids there, but families were encouraged to come so I didn’t feel too bad at the energy they brought, and they definitely enjoyed all the treats that were available for enjoying with the congregation.
The next evening was at home though. We concluded Shabbat with doing Havdalah there in our sukkah.
On Sunday we enjoyed a PB&J sandwiches and chips dinner in the sukkah, and I made up some dairy-free whipped cream so we could enjoy strawberries and cream there for dessert.
Another evening was spent making s’mores in our backyard fire pit, and then having MJ read Sukkot books to the boys before bed.
In all, a great first year! The boys were disappointed when we put it away, and putting it away became the next challenge, how do you store 4 ft PVC pipes and all the other accessories? After some searching, I settled upon a Christmas tree bag. It’s the right length and has nice straps inside for holding the long pipes in place, but it is a bit big otherwise. Still, I think it works.
The Jewish holidays were winding down at this point, but the boys started up Sunday school at the end of September, so our visits to the synagogue have picked up a lot since the summer break. And the we had one more holiday: Simchat Torah! This musical, dancing celebration observes the completion of the reading of the Torah for the year, so the entire scroll is unrolled and various excerpts read aloud as members of the congregation stand around and hold it. It’s a celebration I’ve only done once before, when MJ and I were living in San Francisco and attending Sherith Israel. We figured the boys would really enjoy it though, so another late Friday night was spent there – and we were right! They really did enjoy seeing it fully unwound, and I think they’ve developed a greater appreciation for the scrolls, I know I did the first time I attended a Simchat Torah event.