ASU Hillel celebrates Sukkot

By Caroline Monday

Last week Appalachian State University students may have noticed some new construction on campus. A small shack, called a sukkah, was erected on Sanford Square last week in recognition of the Jewish holiday

Sukkot.

Roberta Fields, vice president of ASU’s Hillel, said the week-long celebration of Sukkot, is in remembrance of important times in Jewish history.

The sukkah is constructed to be reminiscent of the type of huts the ancient Isrealites built during their 40 years wandering in the desert after the Exodus from Egypt. The holiday is also in celebration of the time after the Exodus when the Isrealites became farmers. The huts are also meant to mimic the shelters farmers would build near their fields during times of harvest.

During the week of Sukkot, Jews are instructed to build these huts where they eat meals, socialize and even sleep. The sukkah is supposed to only serve as a temporary shelter, and thus can only have three and a half walls and a roof that is open enough to see the stars.

Fruits and vegetables are used to adorn the shelter in recognition of harvest time. The sukkah’s construction was funded by the Boone Jewish Community.

Fields and Hillel’s president Lyudmilla Trost said they are happy that they have been able to build the sukkah on campus because it gives the campus’s relatively small Jewish community some exposure.
Trost said she hopes the sukkah and other planned Hillel events will help both Jewish and non-Jewish students. She said she hopes Jewish students will see Hillel activities and learn that there is a religious community on campus for them. For other students, Trost said she hopes the events will serve as educational opportunities where they can learn about Jewish holidays and heritage.

Ruth Etkin, of the Boone Jewish Community, said there is a small but growing Jewish community in Boone. They meet for weekly services on Friday evenings at 7 p.m. at St. Luke’s Episcopal Church, located at 170 Councill Street, behind Earth Fare in Boone.