Youth Department

We start by attaching posts and beams with the wood on the ground.

We raise the front wall of the sukkah. The beams for the two side walls act as support.

We attach corner braces to stabilize the front wall before moving to the next step.

Next we attach the beams of the side walls to the posts and beam for the back wall.

We hold on tight to the posts until we can add corner braces all around.

We raise a gloved fist in victory!

We stand by our sukkah…thanks to Zeno and all who attended.

The MJCS Confirmation Class invites you to join us Sunday morning (the day AFTER Yom Kippur) from 9am to 11am, for a sukkah building workshop.

With help and materials from Zeno Construction Company, we will put up a free-standing wood sukkah on the grounds of MJCS. Our friend Zeno has been building custom homes in Malibu, Topanga and the Palisades for over 30 years. In addition to being a master builder and the informal “Mayor of Topanga Canyon,” Zeno has two daughters, Arianna and Aleia, who both became b’not mitzvah at MJCS.

Last year Zeno and his lead carpenter, Raphael, helped us build a sukkah at MJCS that became a place of learning and celebration for the religious school. In the sukkah we build this year, the Youth Department will host our Turkish Muslim friends from Pacifica Institute for an interfaith Sukkot luncheon on October 16th.

Jewish tradition refers to the holiday of Sukkot as z’man simchateinu, “the time of our rejoicing.” Join us on Sunday and you will see how easy it is to build a sukkah at home. Once you spend even a few moments “dwelling” in a handmade sukkah, you will know the great joy we are “rewarded” with after the deep soul-searching of the High HolyDays.

On the sixth day of Pesach this year, 5771, Sunday April 20th,

a group of Turkish Muslims from the Pacifica Institute came to MJCS.

We painted together,

cooked together,

sat at tables together,

looked into the Passover Haggadah together.

We drank grape juice together. We ate together:

spelt, rye and whole wheat matzah,

Ashkenazic and Turkish haroset,

katz’s kosher barbecue, and the bitter herb.

We talked, smiled and laughed together.

We got some practice walking with the stranger … together.