A Sukkot Family Tradition

by | Oct 5, 2014 | Editorial

October 8th, in addition to being the birthday of one of my daughters, this year begins the weeklong Jewish holiday of Sukkot. On Sukkot we eat in a temporary dwelling, a sukkah.

Some people (one of my sons-in-law and assorted grandchildren included) even sleep there!
Our Sukkah is a wooden pergola with fabric walls and a roof of palm leaves. Decades ago we started a special tradition as a way to decorate the sukkah. I got this idea from my dear friend Linda. Her oldest child is ten years older than mine, so she’s way ahead of me. I draw pictures in black marker on poster board and the kids color and embellish them. They give me their requests for different symbols of the High Holidays: a shofar, a Torah scroll, the lulav and etrog (ie, palm frond and citrus fruit) we use on Sukkot, etc. I always write each child’s name on the poster and date it. Then each year I have them laminated before hanging them up.
I have spent countless, delightful hours with my children and now with my grandchildren, creating these posters in anticipation of the holiday. And by now I have quite a collection. The posters date back to 1982! My grandkids love to see the artwork their parents, aunts and uncle were producing when they were still writing their names with backwards letters.
Lately, in honor of my new book, Mindel and The Misfit Dragons, the kids have been asking for a  new drawing motif: a  sukkah with a dragon in it! I’ve been happy to oblige.

Some people (one of my sons-in-law and assorted grandchildren included) even sleep there!
Our Sukkah is a wooden pergola with fabric walls and a roof of palm leaves. Decades ago we started a special tradition as a way to decorate the sukkah. I got this idea from my dear friend Linda. Her oldest child is ten years older than mine, so she’s way ahead of me. I draw pictures in black marker on poster board and the kids color and embellish them. They give me their requests for different symbols of the High Holidays: a shofar, a Torah scroll, the lulav and etrog (ie, palm frond and citrus fruit) we use on Sukkot, etc. I always write each child’s name on the poster and date it. Then each year I have them laminated before hanging them up.
I have spent countless, delightful hours with my children and now with my grandchildren, creating these posters in anticipation of the holiday. And by now I have quite a collection. The posters date back to 1982! My grandkids love to see the artwork their parents, aunts and uncle were producing when they were still writing their names with backwards letters.
Lately, in honor of my new book, Mindel and The Misfit Dragons, the kids have been asking for a  new drawing motif: a  sukkah with a dragon in it! I’ve been happy to oblige.