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Rabbi Rami Pavolotzky,
B’nei Israel Congregation, Costa Rica

Translated by Inés Baum - Proofreading by Ellen Zindler

Ye shall dwell in booths (sukkot) seven days; all that are home-born in Israel shall dwell in booths; that your generations may know that I made the children of Israel to dwell in booths, when I brought them out of the land of Egypt: I am the Lord your God. (Leviticus 23:42-43)

Throughout the seven days of the festival of Sukkot, we are commanded to dwell in fragile huts, so that we remember how our ancestors lived in the wilderness. That is why, just at the end of Yom Kippur, we start building a booth in our house, following the rules established by our sages long ago.

The obligation to dwell in a sukkah is strictly observed by making the sukkah our home during the festival days, staying as long as possible within it. There are those who sleep in the sukkah, but not everyone is able to do so. All sages agree on the obligation of eating the main daily meals inside it.

Although each person/family has the duty to build a sukkah, there are those who do not have enough land at their homes to build one; furthermore, there are always people traveling far from their homes during this time. This is probably the reason why synagogues started building sukkot, in order to guarantee that those who cannot have a sukkah could converge at the synagogue’s sukkah, at least to recite the kiddush and eat one of the festive meals. We do not know exactly when this custom began, but some affirm it goes back to the Middle Ages (see Isaac Klein, “A Guide to Jewish Religious Practice”, Sukkot section).

Even though the original purpose of building sukkot at the synagogues was to help those who didn’t enjoy their own sukkah, today it is usual to find synagogues where the synagogue’s sukkah is almost the only one, and sometimes definitely the only sukkah, built by the members of the congregation. In many cities everywhere, just a small number of people build sukkot in their homes, for whatever reasons which we will not discuss here.

We see that the community sukkah has become the rule instead of the exception. All members of the congregation place their personal/family responsibility on the synagogue institution, which serves the role of preserving the sukkah custom, even when it has fallen into disuse in the particular sphere. Others will say that the community sukkah is meant to teach, to be an example for the members of the congregation concerning the way a sukkah is built, even when there are few expectations about such an example becoming a reality in the hands of the congregants.

We could mention other cases of Jewish mitzvot which, in the last decades, have been moved from the home to the synagogue, from the personal framework to that of the community, such as the kindling of the Shabbat and holiday candles at the synagogue, the existence of tallitot and kippot in the synagogues for people to use them, the kiddush and hamotzi at the synagogue, etc. In all these cases we see the same phenomenon: the synagogue as a center for the preservation of customs and/or source of education and inspiration regarding the Jewish rituals for their members.

I believe these examples depict an impoverishing of the Jewish experience in our time. What was conceived as a personal or family practice, leaves that level and ends up restricted to the synagogue scenario. Similarly, the synagogue changes from being a house of reunion to a “living museum”. Jewish practice reduces more and more its place of action, no longer being part of our daily lives but rather becoming an extraordinary and limited experience.

Does this mean we should not build a sukkah at the synagogue? No, that would be counterproductive, since most modern Jews would be deprived of the beautiful possibility provided by the synagogue, that of entering a sukkah and sharing with the community the joy of the festival. But I think that, perhaps, we should change the course of our congregational work without neglecting the community experience of sukkot; we should encourage people to again build sukkot in their homes. The richness and warmth of the experience of living together as a family for one week in your own sukkah is unforgettable and unequalled.

We should apply the same recipe, for instance, regarding the kindling of the candles: we should continue doing so at the synagogue before Friday services, but at the same time, we should develop projects to inspire people to do so at their homes. And the same with other practices.

We continually hear that Judaism is a way of life, which implies that we must fill our daily lives with Judaism. If we do not develop new strategies, it is possible that we will hear, in the near future, that Judaism is “that which is done at the synagogue… life is something else entirely”.

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Forwarded by Rabbi Gustavo Kraselnik, from Kol Shearith Israel Congregation, Panama.
Translated by Inés Baum and proofread by Ellen Zindler, from B’nei Israel Congregation, Costa Rica.

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