Last week, Elizabethtown College’s Hillel Jewish club celebrated Sukkot, a holiday commemorating the forty-year period during which the Israelites wandered in the desert and lived in temporary shelters. Hillel built its own Sukkah, a tent-like structure, on the BSC patio. The celebration began on Thursday, Oct. 7 and concluded yesterday.
Sukkot is also a harvest festival and is sometimes referred to as “Chag Ha-Asif,” the Festival of Ingathering. Dr. Amy Milligan, the advisor of the club, explained the history of Sukkot and how Hillel celebrated this holiday. “Sukkot is a joyous holiday,” Milligan wrote in an email. “After the initial dedication of our Sukkah, it can be used for a variety of purposes. Traditionally, families and communities eat inside of their Sukkah and spend time there with each other. On campus, our Sukkah is used for meals, office hours, class meetings and any other gathering of students, faculty and friends! It’s a great place to just enjoy being outside during beautiful fall weather!”
“The first day of Sukkot involves a special prayer service, but the remaining week (Chol HaMoed (festival weekdays) are filled with just spending time in the Sukkah. Traditionally, each day a blessing is recited over the lulav and etrog,” Milligan wrote. The lulav and etrog are the Four Species that the Jewish people are commanded to take to rejoice before the Lord. An etrog is a citrus fruit that is native to Israel and similar to a lemon. The lulav is the bounding together of a palm branch, two willow branches (aravot) and three myrtle branches (hadassim). It is called the lulav because in Hebrew lulav means palm branch and the palm branch is the largest part in the bounding of the branches.
With the four species in hand, they are to recite a blessing and wave the species in all six directions (east, south, west, north, up and down), symbolizing the fact that God is everywhere. At the dedication ceremony of the Sukkah on campus at Etown, they also performed the etrog and lulav ritual. Along with helping build the Sukkah and hosting the dedication ceremony, throughout the week there were opportunities for Hillel students to use the Sukkah or spend time with their faculty Hillel advisers there.
Milligan, Associate Professor of Biology Dr. Jonathon Coren, Assistant Chaplain Amy Shorner-Johnson, Assistant Professor of Music Education Dr. Kevin Shorner-Johnson and two Hillel students read the necessary prayers as well as other readings at the dedication ceremony on Wednesday, Oct. 8, the second day of the celebration. About seventy people came to watch and participate in the dedication.
“During Sukkot, Jews build temporary dwellings to remind us of the time spend wandering in the wilderness,” Milligan wrote. “Our Sukkah on campus reminds us that it is important to bring everyone to the table. Even though we may not literally be wandering in the wilderness, there are still many people who are living on the fringes; our Sukkah represents not only our history but also a commitment to radical hospitality and giving [a] voice to those who are silenced.”