4 s

Cover Story

Jacob
Shulkin, 5,
ofWest
Bloomfield
shows off the
paper
lantern he
made for his
family's
sukkah.

favorite project completed last year: a
to form a chain. You'll also need some
sign reading, B'rachim Habaim
for cutting out shapes of fruit.
("Welcome ). Her family plans to use
While at the craft shop, be on the
the sign every year.
lookout for multicolored packets of lit-
Dorya works with her siblings,
tle beads, which can be glued onto the
including Orly, 2, and Elad, 5, on a
fruit shapes (these are the "seeds").
long chain, made from plain or con-
Once you have cut out and added
struction paper, which she describes as a seeds to -your fruit, punch a hole at the
very happy project. Sister Noa agrees,
top, then use a pipe cleaner to attach
adding that she also
the foam fruit to its
brings home lots of deco-
foam chain.
rations from school and
"The wonderful thing
makes pictures showing a
about these chains is
lulav (bundle of palm,
that, even in the rain,
myrtle and willow
they don't lose their
branches) and etrog (cit-
color or shape," Elliot
ron) to be hung in the
says. "They stay colorful
family sukkah.
all the eight days of
Tarni Elliot, Jewish
Sukkot."
family life educator at
Alicia Nelson of
Adat Shalom Synagogue
Southfield is owner of
in Farmington Hills, is
the Jewish art gallery
very flexible when it
Tradition! Tradition!
comes to Sukkot decora-
When her children were
tions.
young, they brought
Elliot is especially fond
home from school tons
of a Sukkot project she
of art projects that she
Orly Jerusalem, 2, draws
learned about at a CAJE
a picture.
and her husband, Rabbi
(Coalition for the
David Nelson, used to
Advancement-of Jewish
decorate the family
Education) national convention.
sukkah. There were always holiday
Start by visiting your favorite craft
cards, as well.
store, such as Michael's, Elliot says.
"Rosh Hashanah cards would leave
There, you'll find Flexi-Foam, made by
the front hall and then wander out into
Fibrecraft. It comes in 12-by-18-inch
the sukkah," she says.
sheets of various colors, and the material
A favorite sukkah decoration for the
is exactly what it sounds like: soft and
Nelsons involved stringing together
foam-like.
chains of cranberries and cereal
Use the Flexi-Foam to cut out strips
(Cheerios work well, Alicia Nelson says,

Masha and
Jacob
Shulkin of Now
West
Bloomfield
make art for
their sukkah.

Of Lulav And Etrog

ELIZABETH APPLEBAUM
AppleTree Editor

When: The first day of Sukkot is the
15th of Tishrei. This year, Sukkot
begins the evening of Friday, Sept.
20.

What It Means: Sukkot has many
names in the Tanach. The most
familiar is probably "Feast of
Tabernacles," (in Leviticus and
Deuteronomy), but the holiday is also
referred to as "Feast of the
Ingathering" (Exodus), "The Feast" ( I
Kings) and "Feast of the Lord"
(Leviticus and Judges).

9/20
2002

60

Purpose Of The Holiday: Sukkot
recalls the sukkot, booths, where the
Israelites lived after their exodus from
Egypt. Leviticus 23:39-43 tells how
God commanded the Jews to live in
the sukkot, as well as to take "the
fruit of goodly trees, branches of
palm trees and boughs of thick trees
and willows of the brook" to use to
"rejoice before the Lord."

How We Celebrate: The sukkah is
our home for seven days — and
nights, too, for those who actually
want to sleep there.
On Sukkot, we use the lulav and

•etrog, also known as the arba minim,
four species. The lulav consists of a
date-palm frond to which are tied
branches from the willow and myrtle
trees. The Israelites, wandering in the
desert, used these to make the first
sukkot.
The etrog, which looks something
like a fat lemon, is the "fruit of good-
ly trees" mentioned in Leviticus.
Holding the lulav and etrog togeth-
er, families stand in the sukkah and,
according to Ashkenazi custom, gen-
tly shake first to the east, then the
south, the west, the north, and finally
up and . dOwn. (This also is done dur-
ing the Hallel prayer at synagogue

services.)
In the days of the Holy Temple,
Sukkot was a pilgrimage holiday, and
Jewish families from everywhere
would come to Jerusalem. Sukkot
back then also included Simchat Beit
haShoevah, the Water-Drawing
Festival, when holiday celebrations
featured musical and dance presenta-
tions, often with torches, in God's
honor. So joyous were these events,
which lasted until dawn, that tradi-
tion says that whoever did not experi- -
ence one had never really seen a festi-
val.
Today, once the sukkah has been
built the major activity that takes