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Sukkah Model

Sukkah Model

Dining Room with Walls as Projections of Chairs and Table (Study for Sukkah)

Allan Wexler (American, b. 1949)
New York, United States, 1988
  • Basswood
  • 6 3/4 x 8 x 7 in. (17.1 x 20.3 x 17.8 cm)
  • The Jewish Museum, New York
  • Purchase: Judaica Acquisitions Fund, 1998-86
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Sukkah Model

Dining Room with Walls as Projections of Chairs and Table (Study for Sukkah)

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Dining Room with Walls as Projections of Chairs and Table (Study for Sukkah)

Sukkot is one of the three Jewish holidays known as the pilgrimage festivals. The others are Passover and Shavuot (Pentecost). In ancient Israel at these times of the year, throngs of people would make a pilgrimage to the Holy Temple in Jerusalem so that the priests could offer sacrifices to God on their behalf. Like the other pilgrimage holidays, Sukkot has both an agricultural and a historical significance. Agriculturally, Sukkot celebrates the fall harvest; historically, it commemorates the forty-year period during which the Children of Israel wandered in the desert.

To celebrate Sukkot, a family traditionally erects a temporary structure, known as a sukkah, in which they will eat their meals during the festival. Cut branches cover the top of the sukkah but not completely: One must still be able to see the stars through the branches. Another important Sukkot tradition involves the use of an etrog (a yellow fruit similar to a large, wrinkly lemon) and a lulav (a bundle of branches from the date palm, myrtle, and willow trees). In the synagogue, these four species, as they are known, are waved in all six directions (front, back, right, left, up, and down) to symbolize God's omnipresence.