(8 Oct 2020) FOR CLEAN VERSION SEE STORY NUMBER: 4291896
The weeklong fall harvest holiday known as Sukkot in the Jewish faith looked different for many this year. The most vulnerable people in New York remain isolated at home due to the coronavirus, unable to share the holiday traditions with family.
Eager to bring the joy and tradition to them, Rabbi Eli Blokh of Chabad of Rego Park Jewish and Russian Community Center in New York's Queens borough, mounted a structure of white fencing with a thatched roof in the bed of a bright red pickup truck. Then he, his two young sons and two rabbinical students drove the mobile sukkah through the community, making house calls to those who could not attend, small in-person gatherings or construct a sukkah of their own.
"In celebration of the holiday of Sukkot we are reaching out to members of the Jewish community who otherwise might not have the opportunity to make the blessing on their own," said Blokh. "Especially those that are homebound."
People like Holocaust survivor, Leon Sherman of Queens, who has been homebound since March. "We really want to include as many people as possible," said Blokh. "So Leon is a dear friend. He's a Holocaust survivor who's really suffered through a lot, but has an incredibly strong sense of faith and he really cherishes the opportunity of being part of a Jewish observance and tradition."
Sherman could not physically climb into the temporary sukkah made in the bed of the truck, so the rabbi stood with him as he took the lulav, a collection of palm, myrtle and willow branches and the etrog, a citron fruit, reciting the Sukkot blessings together.
"He was really excited that we came and remembered him and that he counts," Blokh said.
Blokh's goal is to reach out to as many people as possible during the weeklong holiday ending Friday. After visiting Sherman, they hit two more homes that same day.
"I think it's really important to really explore as many ways as possible, within the context of precautions and safety, to make sure that we continue reaching out to people," said Blokh as he stood on the sidewalk beside their mobile sukkah. "Now more than ever because people are often feeling a sense of being isolated and maybe somewhat forgotten and there's something very visceral about being able to hold a lulav and etrog, not Zoom. It's real, it's a physical connection. Which I think we're emphasizing the idea that the physical bond between us still exists. It hasn't gone offline, it hasn't gone into Zoom."
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