Our director of Jewish education and arts Dr. Maria Carson shares some perspective about #Sukkot with the Pittsburgh Jewish Chronicle:
"Sukkot has wonderful messages, but for many people, those lessons are enshrouded in practical concerns, explained Maria Carson, director of Jewish education and arts at the Jewish Community Center of Greater Pittsburgh.
For starters, “it’s expensive,” she said.
A 4-foot-by-6-foot sukkah with interlocking frame, a schach mat to place on top and shipping costs total more than $700 on sukkahoutlet.com.
Another possible detriment to the holiday is that it’s difficult to celebrate “if you live in an apartment,” Carson noted.
The lack of space to easily build the structure requires celebrants to visit other people’s dwellings for an entire week.
Finally, Carson said, there’s the whole harvesting concept: “I don’t feel super connected to the Israeli agricultural season. I’m not a farmer — I like to be inside.”
After a conversation with another Jewish educator, Carson began warming to the often cool holiday.
“She told me that God is always with us no matter where we are dwelling, whether it’s in small or even temporary structures,” the JCC staffer said.
From that conversation, Carson began thinking about Sukkot as a time of “showing empathy to people who are unhoused or have temporary housing.”
Reframing her understanding of the holiday enabled her to realize that “we are celebrating that God can be with us during dark times,” she said."
jewishchronicle.timesofisrael.com/lessons-of-sukkot-shared-by-pittsburghs-clergy-and-educators/ ... See MoreSee Less
