Sukkot reminds me of the American Midwest of popular imagination. And this Sukkot has so far been all about hardy corn-fed boys braving snappy fall weather to erect a temporary structure in which to conduct the business of life for a week. I did not build the Sukkah that currently stands proudly behind Swarthmore’s dining hall, because I was in class on the Friday afternoon before Sukkhot began, which is when our Hillel got together and built the Sukkah. Replace “sukkah building” with “barn raising”, and you’ve got yourself a fair analogy. Bear with me here…
Swatties of all shapes and sizes braved the first cold snap of the year, donning their cheeriest and thickest plaids, to erect us a Sukkah behind Chateau Sharples, our famed dining hall. For the brief amount of time I was there during the Sukkha erection, said process of erection resembled a good ol’ fashioned barn-raising. Though I have never seen a real live barn-raising, I’ve seen enough Westerns to have a decent idea of the process. The frame of the Sukkah was laid out on the ground, awaiting strong hands to hoist each beam and secure it with screws. Apple cider (for refreshment) and gourds (for decoration) lay beside our Sukkah frame, adding to the down-home country flavor of this particular Sukkah erection. And because everyone (including myself) wears plaid these days, it looked like a bunch of frontier-dwellers had come to set up the booth. Also, please recall that Sukkot is known as the “Festival of Booths” in our vernacular. Where I grew up, the ‘festivals’ I attended were generally not Jewish in nature. Rather, they were usually celebrations of the beginning of a harvest season, for such awesome products as pumpkins, strawberries, craw-fish, and soy beans. So we’ve got ourselves a fall festival, celebrated by building a temporary structure in which we are supposed to hang out for a week, which we decorate with brightly-colored fall fruits.
Also, with regards to etrogim— not since the days of Davy Crocket have people paid so much for a citrus fruit. Remember reading about those mid-19th frontier types getting an orange as a present on Christmas? Well, a $300 etrog is kind of like that. And the lulav kind of reminds me of a ‘switch’ cut from a willow tree, and low and behold, willow is one of the ‘4 species’ of the lulav.
On the off-chance that I sleep outside in the Sukkah this week, I plan to wear my long underwear, and having been awoken by the sun’s rays early in the morning, head to to Sharples dining hall for a nice, thick breakfast of scrambled eggs, pancakes, oatmeal, and toast. Have a glorious and countrified Sukkot.
