Sukkah:ATL Atlanta's Only Public Sukkah -- Come Join Us!

 

Atlanta-based Jewish Food Alliance, along with over a dozen community partners, erected its second annual public-space sukkah in Oakhurst Community Garden on Sunday, October 9th.  When sukkot begins on Wednesday, October 12th, Sukkah: ATL will host opportunities for worship, community gathering, learning, and cultural experiences.

The construction of the sukkah is led by architects from Design Plus Collective, who designed the “Seen by Unseen” Sukkah for New York's Sukkah City competition last Fall.

Sukkah: ATL is Atlanta's only public-space sukkah, and is built and programmed as a community cooperative effort, led by Atlanta-based Jewish Food Alliance.

Programs open to the public during the week of Sukkot include:

• Wednesday, October 12th: Chanting Service with Cantor Gayanne Guerin Weiss at 6:30 PM
  
• Friday, October 14th: Family Friendly Kabbalat Shabbat, Potluck Picnic, and Jam Session with Congregation Bet Haverim 6:30 PM
  
• Saturday, October 15th: Havdallah and Sukkot Sleepover with Adamah Adventures 7:30 PM
• Monday, October 17: Shake Your Lulav Dance Party! with Marcus Jewish Community Center, PJ Library, Shalom Baby and Pathways
  
• Tuesday, October 18: Sukkot Baking Competition with Dr. Sweets Cake Emporium 6:00 PM 

 

Temporary Booth : Temporary Life

I just watched G-d Cast's wonderful Sukkot video (below) and now have a new understanding of Sukkot.

The video is about King Solomon's Ecclesiastes, which is read during Sukkot. Starting with the downer of, "all is vanity," Solomon writes of all the things he's "had" in life: riches, knowledge, and achievement. He finds them useless and meaningless because he's gonna die, just like any fool, and leave it all behind to some shmo who outlives him.

In the end, Solomon finds meaning because he believes all is from G-d and tells us to "Fear G-d."

No matter his conclusion, it's his pathway that fascinates me. It's his understanding of mortality that motivates Solomon's struggle to find meaning. "The wise man has eyes in his head, while the fool walks in the darkness; but... the same fate overtakes them both."

All of us are challenged to find meaning in the face of mortality. 

Sometimes the losses we experience, which make us re-evaluate our lives and search for meaning, end up being blessings. Or let me say that differently: it is up to us to find the meaning in the losses we experience.

For Sukkot we build our hut, rejoice in it, and then tear it down. As is life.

ModernTribe: PunkTorah Friday!

Hey, this is Patrick. In addition to working with ModernTribe.com and singing in the Jewish punk rock band Can!!Can, I do PunkTorah, a website and activism project I founded last April. PunkTorah strives to provide meaningful Jewish spiritual connections to progressive people. The project includes weekly videos, outreach events, public speaking and blogging on several Jewish websites.

ModernTribe is a great supporter of PunkTorah (you can buy PunkTorah shirts on the website) and is letting PunkTorah take over the blog every Friday. Each week I'm looking forward to sharing with you the best of PunkTorah. For more PunkTorah visit PunkTorah.com. Shabbat Shalom and have a wonderful weekend!

Here is a short video about PunkTorah:



Parshat Bereishit (Shot Inside My Kitchen):



Sukkot Party Home Movie: