Public invited into shelter of Jewish autumn holiday

By Sandra J. Pennecke

Correspondent

Members of the Jewish community are welcoming autumn with a festival open to all.

The Sukkot Fall Festival on Sunday at the Marilyn and Marvin Simon Family Jewish Community Center, 5000 Corporate Woods Drive, will be in celebration of the Jewish holiday.

The Hebrew word Sukkot (pronounced soo-coat) means "booths" and refers to the temporary dwellings - or sukkahs - Jews built for shelter during the 40 years they wandered the Sinai Desert during the biblical Exodus.

The joyous holiday commenced Monday, just five days after the solemn Yom Kippur, the Day of Atonement.

Jointly sponsored by the JCC, Strelitz Early Childhood Center, Hebrew Academy of Tidewater and the Chabad of Tidewater, this is the first year the festival has been celebrated in such an open way.

"We always have a dinner in celebration of Sukkot," said Shannon Sauerwald, membership director and co-coordinator of the festival. "We want to bring more of the community into the center and provide a family event."

The day's free events will include games, crafts, prizes, pony rides and petting zoo.

Food and drink combinations, including hamburgers, hot dogs, veggie burgers and Israeli salad, will be sold for $3 to $4 inside the sukkah.

The sukkah, which is enclosed on three sides and mostly open to the sky, will be decorated throughout the week by preschool students.

The Chabad of Tidewater will hold a workshop on lulav and etrog, two other major symbols of the holiday.

Miriam Brunn Ruberg, director of Jewish life and learning for the Simon Family JCC, described the symbols.

"The lulav is tied together from palm, willow and myrtle branches, and the etrog is a citrus fruit (similar to a lemon)...," she said. "They are carried around and waved in all different directions to show God's presence is everywhere."

Sauerwald hopes people will come out and enjoy this community family day whether they are Jewish or not.

"They can learn about Sukkot, the blessing and have fun," Sauerwald said.

Sandra J. Pennecke, pennecke@cox.net