Thank you Kineret Spector for sending in this beautiful inspiring story about the importance of carrying on our wonderful Jewish holidays and traditions! Marlene

The Reason for Everything

It was Sunday night dinner in our Sukkah.  Family and good friends totaling 20 were gathered around the table, already a beautiful sight!  I beamed at my guests for a minute and thanked everyone for being there, before turning to go in for the soup. Suddenly, my friend Jody’s daughter spoke up.”I want to say something!” she announced.  We all turned to look at Gilda, 6 years old, a normally reserved and serious child, and shy around adults – definitely not one to speak up at a table of 20. But Gilda showed no sign of hesitation as she continued, ”I just want to say how happy I am to be here in this Sukkah, and it is so beautiful in here, and I really love it.  I am so happy.”  Her eyes glistened as she looked around the Sukkah.

I was speechless. Years of hosting, cooking, decorating, inviting. Every Shabbat and holiday, as we say, Eem kol ha lev - with our whole heart.  And always to a happy, satiated, and appreciative crowd.  But Gilda’s pure and genuine compliment, in all its simplicity, instantly reminded me (and provided a case in point to my whole family), why we do this at all.  For our children.  For the next generation of Jews.

Every Shabbat and Holiday is ultimately for them, but especially Sukkot.  We know the symbolism of a sukkah and retell it every year.  But for children, it’s even more than that. It’s a fort! A little hut! A small house! An enchanted little getaway. And we get to have this in our driveway every year because we’re Jewish!  While the Sukkah is being erected, the kids are hard at work at the decoration table, making paper chains, paper lanterns, and welcome signs.  They get to decide where it goes.  It’s their own little Sukkah fort.  Truly, the party starts that evening, as it all starts to come together.

For Gilda, the magical appeal of a sukkah may have been just that spark that evoked the gush of appreciation and awareness. I’m so lucky. I’m so happy. I’m Jewish. I’m part of something. Our kids do as we do.  We tell them we’re Jewish, we model the rituals and tradition, we tell and retell stories of our ancestors, we explain and we teach. But to witness the moment when the first burst of genuine spirituality is stirred in a child – that is just a transcending experience.  From oldest to youngest, we were all touched by a little bit of sukkah magic that night.

Kineret Spector lives in Los Angeles with her husband and four daughters.  Please ‘like’ her facebook page BSG Tablescapes. 

 

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This past summer, the Morris I. Franco Community Cancer Center hosted a fund raising event at the home of Charles and Ariella Ben Dayan in Deal, New Jersey. Ten teams of Jewish hostesses took on a different Jewish table setting theme that resulted a fierce competition. Though it was an extremely tough decision, Muriel Hidary and Barbara Franco were the table setting winners of the day.

During the festival of Sukkot ,its hard enough to get someone to put up your Sukkah decorations, but imagine how hard it is to build a Sukkah from scratch just for a charity event, for hundreds of women to check out- and then take it all down after 24 hours!! What a feat!!

When I sat down with Barbara and Muriel (a great team- I must say!!!) to discuss the mini- sukkah that they whipped up , they casually described how easy it was to:

1. Create a faux chandelier by buying 2 bunches of branches and somehow figuring out how to suspend a bird’s nest from Michael’s Crafts with candles balanced atop the birds nest ring!
2. Buy burlap, beautifully drape it as a table cloth using stick pins from Michael’s crafts in New Jersey.
3. Sew a beautiful beige linen fabric onto the backs of folding chairs, and THEN wrap each chair with a darker beige gauze and tie together with a mini wreath- also from Michael’s.(how stunning???)
4. Find real looking greens that resembled the green leaves that are found on the lulav- Hadass and Aravah.
5.  Tie fishnet that adorned the back columns of the Sukkah.- (from A.C. Moore.)
6. Sew fabric for back curtains- Lana fabrics in Brooklyn, N.Y.

More Gorgeous Details:

1. Vietri dishes and Kim Seybert napkin rings were borrowed from “Aimee”.
2. Each place setting had a name printed within a $1.99 garden daisy picture frame bought from Michael’s Crafts.
3. The etrog box is antique and is inscribed with the owner’s initials.
4. The centerpiece is a cylinder vase filled with lemons (etrogs weren’t available in August!)
5. Artificial succulents- from A.C Moore

I’m sure you found some inspiration here!! Happy Holidays!!!!