SUKKAH-BUILDING: Involve the children in a day of constructing and decorating!

The Book of Leviticus makes it clear that our obligation as Jews is to “live in booths…[f]or a seven-day period”, the idea being that future generations would remember that G-d allowed the children of Israel to leave Egypt and that, on that journey out of Egypt, they lived in booths. The reference to a ‘booth’ is what we know as a sukkah. This Sukkot (which runs from sunset on 16 October until nightfall on 23 October), why not build a sukkah with your children? It’s a fun activity for the young ones, and you can teach them about the festival of Sukkot during the process. 

Here are some tips about building your sukkah:

•  Choose a spot outside that is easy to get to from your home. It could be in the garden or on a stoep or in a backyard area. It must be open to the sky – i.e. there shouldn’t be trees or a roof above it.

•  You should have at least two full ‘walls’ for the Sukkah but it’ll be more secure if you have four full sides.

•  Use any material for the walls. You can make use of existing walls, such as the walls of a balcony. Whatever you use should be sturdy enough to withstand wind, an important consideration for us in Cape Town. 

•  For the roof, you may need to use some plain wooden beams to build a framework on which to attach the roof covering. You need to collect things from the garden, such as evergreen branches from trees or reeds. (These must be cut down; they should not still be attached to the tree.) You can also add timber poles or reed mats. Whatever you choose for the roof, make sure that it’s heavy enough to remain on top without being tied down. If you have a structure that is permanently going to serve as a sukkah, you need to change the cover material each Sukkot. The roof cover is what makes the structure into a sukkah.

•  You can decorate the inside of the sukkah with pictures, fresh fruit, and other colourful items. This could be a good opportunity for the children to do some craftwork, such as making paper chains and drawing their own pictures.

•  Put a table and chairs inside the sukkah. The idea is that you should eat your meals there as a family, so make it as comfortable as possible. You may also want to add some lighting so you can see well when eating your supper in the sukkah.

Most importantly, enjoy the building of the sukkah and the times spent in it together as a family.


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