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Sukkah Huts Blossom Despite Violence

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and boasts bigger and better holiday spe-
Jerusalem
cials to entice customers. The day before
t should be the worst of our
the yom toy, or holiday, the Orthodox
problems. Access to the animal
neighborhoods of Geula and Mea
shelter belonging to the
She'arim were almost impassable, as
Jerusalem Society for the Pre-
trucks hauling wondrous quantities of
vention of Cruelty to Animals in the
palm
fronds to top sukkot, drove slowly
northern suburb of Atarot has been
along the narrow streets.
cut off, leaving hundreds of
During Sukkot, practition-
cats and dogs at the mercy
ers of the art of etrog sniffing
of a few brave volunteers
— a holiday custom — could
who come in to feed the
be seen on every street corner.
animals when it's safe.
I walked down to the Western
But the people living
Wall to take part in Birkat
here in Israel are feeling the
HaKohanim (the Priestly
effects of the ongoing road
Blessing), passing a group of
closures and restrictions on
Arab street cleaners in blue
our activity even more acute-
uniforms who were chatting
ly than our canine/feline
JUDY LASH
on their break in the Jewish
friends.
BALINT
Quarter. Not five yards away,
Normally, Sukkot is a
Jewish Telegraphic a dozen Israeli border police
popular time to schedule
Agenc y
lounged on the railings, their
trips around the country, go
waists
hung with batons, guns
to concerts and enjoy other
and
helmets
in
a
show
of protective
family entertainment. Virtually the
force. The crowd at the Wall was consid-
entire country is on vacation during
erably less than on other recent holidays;
the weeklong holiday (which began
instead, the ambulances, police and
this year on Friday night, Oct. 13).
media were out en masse.
Government offices are closed for the
week, teachers and students are home
from school, and religious and secular
Jews each celebrate the holiday in
their own ways.
Mordekhai, 16, was
Sukkot 5761, however, will be
remembered as the dampened festival.
given a crash course by
Not only did the weather change this
week, with bursts of rain, thunder and
the local civil guard,
lightening challenging those who want
to fulfill the mitzvah of sleeping in the
including basic arms
sukkah, but the general atmosphere
was dampened, too.
The Israel Defense Forces issued
training, and he now
orders canceling all tours through
Judea, Samaria and the Gaza Strip;
patrols the community
evening events such as the Shlomo
Carlebach Fest were canceled; the
after school.
Mordechai Ben David concert in
Hebron won't take place. Jews are
being warned to stay alert for terrorist
Many residents of outlying commu-
activity at major gathering places, such
nities couldn't get into the city because
as shopping malls and parks. Fathers
of the continuing road closures. In Gush
are being called up for extended
Etzion, for example, home to many
reserve duty.
English-speaking immigrants, sporadic
closures due to shooting and stoning on
Signs Of The Season
the road to Jerusalem have caused vary-
But many Israelis are trying to preserve a
ing degrees of hardship.
feeling of normalcy. The holiday's
or
booths,
come
in
every
size
and
sukkot,
Not Business As Usual
description. They can be seen on bal-
For the Taragin family, the situation
conies, rooftops and in courtyards. Every
brought the frustration of being pre-
kosher restaurant in town has a sukkah
vented from meeting with visiting
grandparents at their hotel in
Judy Lash Balint is a freelance writer
Jerusalem. The relatives arrived on the
in Jerusalem. The London native spent
Thursday before Sukkot, and it was
a year in Israel, then lived in Seattle,
six days before the kids could find a
Wash., and Riverdale, N.Y., before
guaranteed opening of a few hours'
making aliyah in 1997.

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safe passage to arrive in the city.
For others, the aggravation was more
urgent. For example, Efrat resident Dan
Goldstein, a patent agent for high-tech
companies, and his wife, Yael, are
expecting the birth of their child at any
moment. They are concerned about
arriving at the hospital in time.
Goldstein and his brother, Doug, a
financial planner with offices in
Jerusalem, temporarily have moved their
business operations home to Efrat.
Those involved in the tourism
industry aren't quite so fortunate. My
friend Adina was laid off for the week
as a receptionist at the Sheraton Plaza
Hotel in Jerusalem. Like almost every
hotel in the country, the Plaza was only
60 percent full during the normally
packed Sukkot period. No groups, no
job, Adina was told. Her side business
of kosher catering for visitors who rent
apartments here also has suffered. Tour
guides are sitting home waiting for the
few Christian groups that haven't can-
celed to show up.

Patrolling The Moshavim

But it's defense and security that are
on everyone's mind. Regular citizens
are doing guard duty at the moshavim
(kibbutzim with individual owner-
ship). At Moshav Mattityahu, for
example, a longtime resident named
Morris notes, "Men arrive home in
the evening after a long day's work,
and then they are up until 11 or 12 at
night patrolling the moshay.”
Moshav teenagers and pensioners
have been called upon to help share
the extra security burden, especially
during the hours when most of the
community's men are at work.
Mordekhai, 16, was given a crash
course by the local civil guard, includ-
ing basic arms training, and he now
patrols the community after school.
Mordekhai's father, Larry, works for
an Israeli high-tech company. Larry's
boss was upset to learn that Larry had
been drafted since he is working on a
project where he is the only employee
with the requisite expertise.
Still, all of us gathered around the
Shabbat table here last week agreed
that despite the tension and fear of
what may yet occur, we'd all much
rather be here in Israel than sitting in
the diaspora.
There, during all the other crises
that Israel has endured, we would
worry helplessly about what was hap-
pening, and live with that nagging,
disturbing feeling that while one's
physical being was in one place, one's
soul was in another.

❑

