Saturday, October 7th, 2006...5:35 pm

Israel’s first Chinese Sukkah

Israelis have the strangest holiday season. Right now, after celebrating the lunar new years and fasting on the holiest of days, Israel is celebrating Sukkot.

The word Sukkot is the plural of the Hebrew word sukkah, meaning booth or hut. During this holiday, Jews eat their meals, entertain guests, relax, and even sleep in a sukkah, a temporary structure. The sukkah is reminiscent of the type of huts in which the ancient Israelites dwelt during their 40 years of wandering in the desert after the Exodus from Egypt, and reflects God's benevolence in providing for all their needs in the desert.

In Israel (and among Reform Jews), Sukkot is a 7-day holiday, with the first day celebrated as a full festival with special prayer services and holiday meals. (Wikipedia)

So, most people around Israel build a hut, or a booth, or what ever you want to call it, out in their backyards or balconies and decorate it with some really weird decorations. My parents are no exception and they have their own Sukkah which they host their guests and eat their meals in throughout the 7 days of the holiday.

Since decorations have not being renewed since us kids grew up a long time ago - every year the Sukkah in our family is decorated in exactly the same way. This year, having a member of the family that is a bit funny in the head with too much Chinese influence, the Sukkah has been added some important Chinese decorations to form Israel's first Chinese oriented Sukkah.

This is what it looks like :