When you purchase a sukkah in Israel it's supposed to
be a lifetime investment. The so-called sukkah l'netzach is easily
constructed and then stored away after the holiday for future use. How is it,
then, that I've gone through four or five of the contraptions over the years?
The first "ever-lasting" sukkah I bought
was nothing more than a set of irrigation pipes. The end of each pipe had to be
screwed onto the next pipe's connecting threads with the help of a monkey
wrench. This sukkah swayed dangerously in the slightest breeze. After
one or two holidays, the end of the pipes broke off, effectively shortening its
shelf life.
Of course, sukkot are more than just the corner poles
and support beams. If you do manage to get the skeleton structure upright and standing,
there is also the matter of the walls. Tradition calls for the use of shipment
container wood, the real reason anyone makes aliyah or sends a lift of goods to
Israel. This usage traces back to the containers carried on the backs of the
Israelites' camels during their exodus from Egypt. Lacking this wood, sheets
can be tied to the poles and then reused as bedding covers after the holiday.
It is important to remember that a sukkah is a
temporary hut or booth only for use during the holiday itself. Therefore,
pouring a concrete roof is unsuitable. Instead, software developers invented schach
l'netzach, the beach thatch that is imported specially from the bungalows
of Sinai. Over the years, the schach tears in enough places to allow for
ample starlight to filter through to the guests inside the sukkah as
they merrily shake palm fronds left and right.
With the sukkah fully assembled and the schach
amply sheltering everyone from the seasonal rains that fall every year during
the holiday, it's time to decorate. In the United States this is a simple task.
There you just stock up on Christmas decorations in December and use them in
your sukkah the following autumn. Luckily in Israel there is no shortage
of frilly, metallic-colored streamers and crepe paper pomegranates available
and people flock to the Sukkot fairs to purchase them along with the
funny-shaped etrog that also plays a part in holiday traditions.
Back to me. This year's construction of our latest sukkah
l'netzach took the usual amount of blood, sweat and frustration. Soon our sukkah
was standing proudly on our back patio, covered with a new carpet of bamboo schach.
It's time to decorate. But wait! Going into the house I feel that something is
inherently wrong with my booth.
The sukkah is upside down! No, I don't mean that the schach
is actually at my feet with the sky totally exposed. I have mistakenly placed
our sukkah poles upside down. As a result, there is a ledge of two
inches that one must step over to come inside. How could this have happened?
Admittedly, there was no diagram or construction manual for this most recently
acquired sukkah model but I assumed it could be assembled by instinct
alone.
Okay, we'll watch where we walk when we enter our sukkah
for tonight's festive meal. Upside down or not, we're ready to celebrate.
Originally published on The Times of Israel.
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