Do It Yourself

We used to start thinking about the High Holidays when we received our synagogue’s theatre-like tickets in August. Upon presenting my High Holiday ticket, I‘d be handed a new prayer book, and an usher showed me down the aisle to my reserved seat. All was quiet and sedentary except for the occasional page turning rustle and the congregational sitting down and standing up.

My gaze would wander from the prayerbook’s Thous and Thees to the embroidered velvet curtain on the magnificent Ark up front. My eyes followed the Ark’s exquisite woodwork, elaborate engravings and intricate detail up to the Ten Commandments framed by golden lions crouching over an emblazoned quote:

“Let them build me a Sanctuary, and I will dwell among them.”

Let Them Build

That Biblical verse intrigued me. “Does ‘them’ building a Sanctuary also include an all thumbs amateur like me?” “And,” I wondered, “who are the plural ‘them’ among whom
G-d dwells beyond the synagogue?”

I had never heard of Sukkot. The "Feast of Tabernacles" on the synagogue’s marquee sounded like a Southern Baptist thing, so I ignored it. I had no idea that the solemn High Holidays also involved nitty gritty, rolling up sleeves, noise and clatter, banging and sawing, joy and celebration.

But my spiritual exploration eventually led me to discover the ramshackle Sukkah located right behind the High Holidays. Not grand and impressive like the Holy Ark, yet it is a Divine abode during the holiday.

Major Home Improvement

The Sukkah walls, constructed of any material that stands up to the wind, are covered by a bramble of pine or palm branches, bamboo sticks, corn stalks, or your yard and garden clippings.

It’s amazing how an inexpensive Sukkah will add value to your home. Without a ceiling overhead, the Sukkah allows us to think out of the box.

It erases the rankings of wealth and economic classes, as the rich leave their mansions to camp out at the grace of the elements. A Sukkah drills in the message that only G-d is our ultimate shelter.

Mitzvah de Jour

Celebrating in the Sukkah is as nourishing and fulfilling as a delicious hot bowl of Holiday soup. Rosh Hashanah is the King of Prayer and Yom Kippur is devoted to Atonement, but Sukkot is where the action is! Sawing is believing when building a Sukkah, welcoming Moshiach to raise the falling Sukkah of the House of David.

Hammering It In

Jackie Mason jokes about Jews who use butter knives as screwdrivers. I, too, am tool challenged, but you don’t need a degree in architecture to build a Sukkah. In fact, I knew right away that the Sukkah’s assemblage of wood panels and two by fours was no ordinary board meeting.

Do it yourselfers reign supreme in this age of Lowe’s, Home Depot and Desktop Publishing. Thank G-d, there are instructions for us to follow, and you’ll be surprised how the ‘rigid’ halacha can bend and stretch the Sukkah walls to meet all your Sukkah specifications.

The synagogue’s Holy Ark is professionally designed and built to last, while my flimsy Sukkah is ad hoc, temporary and lacks polish. But a Sukkah was meant to be simple, raw and rustic. The Ark houses Holy Torah scrolls while the Sukkah hosts our family for dinner, but that’s where it’s at.

I just hit the nail on the head: my humble Sukkah is a unique masterpiece ‘cause I made it myself!