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Community Corner

Golden Valley Jews Reflect on Homelessness and Hospitality

The seven-day Jewish Thanksgiving party under a rickety hut recalls Israel's 40 years of desert wanderings.

If God seemed a grim judge to Jewish families who fasted and sought his favor on Yom Kippur on Saturday, he shows his “party side” by commanding a joyous outdoor feasting holiday to begin sundown Wednesday:

“Take … the fruit of choice trees, branches of palm trees, and the boughs of leafy trees, and willows of the brook; and you shall rejoice before the LORD your God seven days.” (Leviticus 23:40, KJV)

The Feast of Tents (or Booths) called Sukkot (soo-cote), observed throughout the west metro this week, is a seven-day celebration beneath temporary dwellings Jewish families construct in their backyards.

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Out of garages come the poles, lattice, bamboo canes and pipes to construct the temporary dwelling. In come the pumpkins, corn stalks, gourds, palm fronds, candles, and hanging fruit to decorate the seven-day home with a harvest and hospitality theme.

Sukkot recalls the days when Jews wandered for 40 years in the desert, living in tents, and were led by the fire of God’s presence at night and by a cloud each day.

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It’s a time to celebrate the land’s abundance by inviting guests to dinner, and to humbly remember harder times and the futility of placing security in homes and possessions, explained Luke Weisberg of .

“When I put up our sukkah each year,” he said, “I make a direct connection to those who are unemployed or marginally employed and in danger of losing what they have.”   

This year, due to a shaky economy, that threat is close to home. “I have a brother, cousins, nieces and nephews who are out of work. They could run out of money and become precariously housed.”

“There was a time when the Jewish people were purposely nomadic, when this was our lifestyle,” but today that’s not the case, said Weisberg.

As a consultant in workforce and neighborhood development, Weisberg has been involved in Heading Home Hennepin which is at the halfway mark of its 10-year plan to end homelessness in the county. “The numbers this fall are sobering,” he said.

“In the past,” Weisberg said, “there was more often a precipitating event or a dramatic behavioral issue you could point to” as the cause of homelessness. “But today, families’ stories are, ‘I’m running out of money. Period.’ It’s phenomenal.”

Suddenly, needing a makeshift home is all too conceivable, he said. “As we build the sukkah, I’m thinking, ‘This is where we go. This is what would happen.’”

“You don’t have to do anything wrong and no terrible event has to happen to you. You can just run out of money because you’re unemployed or marginally employed and this is what’s happening to people.”

On a more joyful note, Sukkot is a Jewish Thanksgiving that celebrates the harvest festival, and a time of community-building through hospitality.

“My family participates in an annual Sukkah Hop,” said , 13, of Golden Valley. “It’s a progressive meal in a five-block area involving eight or 10 houses. Somebody has soup, somebody has the main entree, and somebody has the side dish.

“My mom makes tons of kosher desserts,” Meirovitz continued, “and we serve hot chocolate and coffee because at this time of year it’s a little brisky in Minnesota. We sit in the sukkah and play games.”

A favorite holiday of children, Sukkot includes a scavenger hunt in a synagogue community of the Fern Hill neighborhood of St. Louis Park. “Instead of having a meal, we have 10 or 12 houses in our Sukkah Hop that give out candy and treats,” said Rivka Buchbinder, 13.

“One house has chocolate, another cookies or candies. Our family does wafer cookies or pretzels. The cool thing is they give you riddles along the way so you have to guess which house to go to next.”

Kids in her community are asking to sleep overnight in their sukkahs this year, a tradition among the orthodox, but one often short-circuited by parents due to cold weather in Minnesota.

“Many religious Jews eat, live and sleep in their sukkahs and only go into their house to shave,” Meirovitz said. “I do quite a bit of camping, but I can’t imagine that!”

Nonetheless, it arouses deep sympathy in Weisberg for the homeless who may have no choice. The lack of affordable housing and high unemployment and foreclosure, combined with the has created an unprecedented hurdle for hundreds of struggling families in the Twin Cities, he said.

“Let’s hope that this Sukkot not only causes us to pause and reflect, but moves us to action,” he said.

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