Sukkot

I went to a friend’s mother’s apartment for Shabbat dinner on Friday night. As they were eating late, I walked up to the neighborhood and waited for my friend to come and show me the rest of the way there. While I was waiting, another friend walked by and, seeing me sitting there alone, invited me to come for dinner at their sukkah. When I told her that I could not because I was waiting for another friend, she told me to come for the afternoon meal on Saturday. Their sukkah was erected in Gan Sacher park, the largest park in Jerusalem.

The Shabbat dinner was excellent and the company was engaging. There were a number of people there that I knew, so felt right at home.

Saturday afternoon I went to Gan Sacher park to search out my friend. She told me that the sukkah was in the forest area of the park and gave me general directions. This park is huge, with sections for sports, picnics bar-b-queue, camping out, walking trails, botanical gardens, museums and just plain open area.

Below are pictures of a section of the park, which should give you a rough idea of how big it is. In the distance you will see some play equipment for the kids. There are other pictures of this below taken from the sukkah area.





When I found the sukkah that I thought was the correct one there were only 2 people there. These were both men that were sleeping in the sukkah. It should be noted that the state puts up many public sukkot for public use. With this in mind, I started looking in other sukkot in the area but did not find my friend. While sitting in a sukkah with a good view of the approach to the area I spotted her walking and went to join her. We went back to the sukkah with the sleeping men, who were friends of hers. This sukkah was well decorated and definitely not one put up by the government.

During conversation I told her that I had not yet had the opportunity to say Kiddush (blessing over the “fruit of the vine”, generally wine) in a sukkah this year. I was promptly given the honor of saying Kiddush for the entire group. By the time we were ready to eat there were about 40 people in the sukkah, including several rabbis. Saying Kiddush for them was a great honor, and I am thankful for the opportunity to fulfill the mitzvah.

I stayed chatting with people, eating, singing and dancing for several hours. It was a marvelously festive experience.

Today (Sunday) I went back to take pictures, some of which are below. I was warmly welcomed back in by the same 2 men that had been sleeping there yesterday. We talked for about 45 minutes or so before I left to return to the apartment.

Below are pictures of the sukkah as I approached it, the inside, some of the decorations, and the view from the inside. I have also included a picture of the children’s play area as seen from the sukkah.