Sukkot Workshop
One workshop that I began developing for next year, but that seems
relevant right now, is a Sukkot class/workshop which explores the Sukkah
as an exercise in remembering our state of being refugees. What does it
mean to be a refugee? How would we build a temporary shelter if we were
forced to leave our homes and everything we own and had to make do with
what we could find or salvage? What are some alternative building
techniques for building Sukkot that reflect this aspect of our very
human history? How does Sukkot, as a festival, help us understand the
experience of the millions of refugees around the world (and here at
home)? And how, really, does this relate to our lives? What does Torah
teach us about all of this?
ANYONE HAVE ANY IDEAS?
relevant right now, is a Sukkot class/workshop which explores the Sukkah
as an exercise in remembering our state of being refugees. What does it
mean to be a refugee? How would we build a temporary shelter if we were
forced to leave our homes and everything we own and had to make do with
what we could find or salvage? What are some alternative building
techniques for building Sukkot that reflect this aspect of our very
human history? How does Sukkot, as a festival, help us understand the
experience of the millions of refugees around the world (and here at
home)? And how, really, does this relate to our lives? What does Torah
teach us about all of this?
ANYONE HAVE ANY IDEAS?
posted by Maggid Sarah @ 6:06 PM
3 Comments:
At 2:14 PM,
Anonymous said…
interesting questions! The only practical suggestion I have is to focus on *communal* building techniques. Here's why:
The key to Sukkot is removing the illusion of safety/permanence we dwell in most of the times. This is an outward physical manifestation of the inward physical journey we take on Yom Kippur, when we fast.
The sukkot have always reminded me of humans, and their efforts, in general - impermanent, fragile, yet potentially very beautiful. The structures we make together, whether a community, a family, a physical building, or an ideal like a nation, cannot last on their own. The wind comes by, and knocks off some skhakh; we climb back up and string it up again, knowing that at some point, we will have to take the whole thing down, or let others take over as we pass on to new things. But every moment that we choose to "dwell" in that temporary creation, and create it anew, is a blessing.
There's something reassuring in this, for me - we know the sukkah will only be up for a week, that it cannot last, but we also know that next year we'll get another chance to build it, to try out a new design, and make new decorations, and invite new guests in to share it with us. As long as we have the will to work together to recreate it, the impermanence is an illusion - it is not the sukkah which is important, but our repeated efforts to create, maintain, and dwell in the sukkah. In some sense, the sukkah is always with us, either manifest (for one week a year) or as potential - just like all our other creative efforts at community.
At 1:37 PM,
Maggid Sarah said…
Thanks Tziporrah for these comments which are so insightful into the nature of this sacred time in our year. I especially like your emphasis on the communal aspects of sukkah building. After YK I plan to come back to this topic and think some more on it-- egads! Sukkot is right around the corner! Well, that's one of the things I love about Judaism, it's an ever unfolding story, so if you don't get it all in this year-- keep at it!
Thanks for visiting the site. You are always welcome here. Blessings!
At 3:35 PM,
Anonymous said…
thanks! just keep posing these thought-provoking questions, and I'll be back!
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