“Zeide (1908-1999)
Built a sukkah
to last a lifetime…”
Zeide, a carpenter, hand-built every piece of this beautiful sukkah for my family 40 years ago. The idea was to create a kosher structure that we could assemble and disassemble every single year
Over the past few decades, that assembly process has become one of our most beloved family traditions. I will forever associate Sukkot with chilly autumn dinners under the stars, laughing with my many siblings, the aroma and exquisite fragility of the etrog, and of course my beloved Zeide—my dad’s dad, Yaakov.
Our simple, skeletal, unvarnished (but structurally perfect) sukkah has stood tall under rainfall, high winds, even hurricanes. We never put it away when there’s a storm. We never replace the branches. We don’t have to; they don’t blow away. Our sukkah stands for the full seven days of sukkot (eight if you count simchat torah). And yet it’s needed next to no repairs.
I’d call that a miracle.
After Zeide passed away , one of my older brothers added a pencil inscription on top of the sukkah’s doors:
“ZEIDE (1908-1999)
BUILT A SUKKAH
TO LAST A LIFETIME…”
***
Chag sameach, friends. May you, too, be architects for miracles this week, and always.
May you work hand in hand with Gd, with the memory of your ancestors, and with your brothers, sisters, and children to form the foundation of a better world.
But may you never leave it up to someone else to build the things that will keep you safe.
May you be shielded, but never separated from whatever’s outside: the rain, the wind, the sunshine, the darkness, and all of the other things that make our world what it is.
May you choose to build sturdy walls, walls that will never fall down—
but not too sturdy. not too strong. And only three of them, so that whoever and whatever wishes to enter can do so.
May you learn that not everything is permanent, not everything lives forever or stays the same. not everything lasts.
And yet—
On the darkest, coldest nights, as the first raindrops pour in,
may you take a deep breath, look through the branches at the stars,
and remember this:
What matters will last.
I’am Naomi from Brazil
Amei suas fotografias e sua Sucá. A ornamentação é de muito bom gosto.
Kol hakavod pra você e sua família!
muito obrigado naomi!! 🙂