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October 9, 2009

Last Day of the Sukkahs

Sukkot, the seven-day Jewish festival with origins as a celebration for the harvest, is ending today. One of the icons of Sukkot is the sukkah, a temporary hut built just for the week of Sukkot, reminiscent of the structures the Israelites built during their 40 years in the desert, following their exodus from Egypt. Here, we've put up ten iPhone photographs we took while biking around in Crown Heights and Williamsburg, home to large Jewish populations. You'll notice that Jews carry around leafy branches and lemons with them during Sukkot. These come from a commandment from Moses: "On the first day you shall take the product of hadar trees, branches of palm trees, boughs of leafy trees, and willows of the brook, and you shall rejoice before the Lord your God seven days".




Posted by jscheff at 2:59 PM | Comments (23)
Categories: Crown Heights, Culture, Williamsburg

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"You'll notice that Jews carry around leafy branches and lemons with them during Sukkot. These come from a commandment from Moses"

Thanks. I'd wondered about that particular aspect.

Posted by: East New York at October 9, 2009 3:03 PM

the leafy branches are palm fronds from a date palm tree, and the "lemon" is actually not your grocery store lemon, but a specific type of citron.

Posted by: BSD at October 9, 2009 3:24 PM

BSD - you talking lulav and etrog?

Posted by: jessibaby at October 9, 2009 3:28 PM

At the Renfest a Hasidic Jew came up to me and asked if I was Jewish and would I like to bless the harvest. We repeated the Shema and held the fronds and citron. It was very lovely.

Posted by: bxgrl at October 9, 2009 3:30 PM

jessi, yeah, but didn't want to confuse anyone :)
not sure if 'etrog' is the hebrew word for the fruit, or the english word for the species of citron that it is....i think the former. just wondering what kind of citrus it is, and where they are grown (assume mediterranean area).....and how they taste

Posted by: BSD at October 9, 2009 3:37 PM

I don't see any permits for those structures!
Certainly the ones on the fire escape pose an encumberance and should be violations!

Posted by: ou812 at October 9, 2009 4:00 PM

Very cool photos.
I had never seen a Sukkah on a balcony.

Posted by: Pigeon at October 9, 2009 4:13 PM

Some of them are constructed like little houses, complete with windows.

Posted by: bxgrl at October 9, 2009 4:22 PM

Kensington is awash in sukkahs, where you will see them on balconies and in backyards. One family near me never takes theirs down. I've seen them made of bamboo, sticks, plywood and even prefabricated plastic like a child's playhouse.

Posted by: Oleg at October 9, 2009 4:47 PM

ou812- The balconies I don't think are considered fire escapes. I'm pretty sure these buildings have sprinkler systems and are built to fire code so they aren't required to have an external fire escape.

Posted by: bxgrl at October 9, 2009 5:06 PM

Or at least I think in the photo you can see that the actual fire escapes are clear.

Posted by: bxgrl at October 9, 2009 5:14 PM

The etrov has to be perfect & some cost a couple of hundred dollars! They must jet over in 1st class seating.

Posted by: Arkady at October 9, 2009 5:40 PM

Violations - I'm sure that statement was a joke. I love this site and the comments here. It keeps me laughing all day, Monday through Friday at least! Keep up the good work.

Posted by: dptyrevere at October 9, 2009 7:28 PM

bxgirl, FYI, fire escapes are an outdated means of egress and you will NEVER see a new building constructed with them. you are allowed to replace an existing fire escape, but not put a brand new one on the building if it never existed. it has nothing to do with sprinklers.

Posted by: aj at October 10, 2009 12:07 PM

aj- not in today's construction but in older construction if you had sprinklers you didn't have to have an external fire escape. (straight from the FDNY's mouth).My reply was to ou who thought the balconies were fire escapes. And the picture above- to which we were both referring- has balconies and fire escapes. Although I have been in buildings that did have both sprinklers and a fire escape such are the vagaries of NYC architecture :-)

Posted by: bxgrl at October 10, 2009 3:36 PM

THANKS FOR POSTING

Posted by: CROWNHEIGHTSER at October 12, 2009 9:38 AM

THANKS FOR POSTING

Posted by: CROWNHEIGHTSER at October 12, 2009 9:38 AM

i'm pretty sure that the ridiculously out of scale cantilevered balconies you see in the hasidic areas of williamsburg are made specifically so religious families can set up their sukkahs for sukkot.

Posted by: benno at October 12, 2009 10:01 AM

I think those balconies may be what are illegal. I think zoning set a limit to the depth of balconies.

Posted by: myrtleandwashingtonave at October 12, 2009 10:40 AM

The building in the first picture clearly has fire escapes attached to it and would appear to be an older apartment building and not a condo development. That would make the shack above the entrance a bit of a problem assuming that is also a fire escape with a scuttle ladder.

Posted by: ou812 at October 12, 2009 1:12 PM

What a brilliant idea for a piece. Hope next year you get to it sooner! And fuller coverage!

Posted by: linkinplace at October 12, 2009 9:39 PM

Those balconies in Williamsburg and Boro Park are built for the purpose of putting up a sukkah. You'll notice that they're not directly beneath one another -- the sukkah needs to be open to the stars, so they're staggered so you can see up to the sky (through the branches) in at least part of it. It's a big selling point in Brooklyn to have space for one's own Sukkah.

Posted by: linkinplace at October 12, 2009 9:42 PM

nice celebration, in the northeastern United States, Jews commonly hang dried squash and corn in the sukkah to decorate it, because these vegetables are readily available at that time for the American holidays of Halloween and Thanksgiving. Building and decorating a sukkah is a fun, family project, much like decorating the Christmas tree is for Christians.

Posted by: rebeccamartin at November 14, 2009 5:04 AM

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