Sukkah-making is fun and can be creative

          When Rosh HaShanah and Yom Kippur pass, do you feel:

          • Fired up and ready for more Jewish holidays, sorry you missed the opportunity to try that new recipe or invite that guest you always wanted?

          • Jealous of your non-Jewish friends whose beautiful holiday decorations are already appearing in the stores?

          • Curious, given all the rote recitation of prescribed prayers, whether there’s any place at all in Judaism for individual initiative or creativity?

          • Ready to chuck it all and try a weeklong camping adventure in the woods?

          If you answered “yes” to any of these, we have just the mitzvah for you.

          During Sukkot, which begins with the full moon after Rosh HaShanah — the evening of Sept. 18 this year — odd structures begin to pop up in Jewish neighborhoods, people dine al fresco and every Jewish household has the opportunity to get creative.

          Sukkot or “The Feast of Tabernacles” receives far less press than many Jewish holidays. It doesn’t even appear on most general calendars. But as one of the three pilgrimage holidays mandated in the Torah, it was celebrated as a grand spectacle in ancient Jerusalem.

          Fortunately, the weeklong autumn holiday when we are commanded to “dwell in booths” has gained popularity in recent decades. Several vendors now make prefabricated sukkah kits, and several cities host annual sukkah design competitions.

          Jewish law has some detailed requirements regarding the roof of a sukkah. It must be open to the sky (so no building it under a tree or balcony) and the roofing materials must be natural and unprocessed (for more information, consult your friendly neighborhood rabbi).

          However, you can make the walls from essentially anything you want, be it straw or sticks or cinder blocks and polyvinylchloride. You can use any building materials available at your local hardware store or lumberyard, or you can use salvaged lumber or plastic sheeting you find around the house.

          Many people prefer wood or other natural materials, in keeping with tradition and environmental sustainability, but you can use something else if it better suits your needs.

          When it comes to decorating your sukkah, you have even more options. You can build an elegant tabernacle or a funky shack, conservative or whimsical. You can purchase traditional decorations at any synagogue gift shop or Jewish bookstore, or you can make your own.

          Classic ideas include children’s artwork, old Rosh HaShanah cards, hanging gourds, seasonal fruit or painted scenes of Israel. Electric “holiday” lights have become increasingly popular in recent years, especially if you avoid the red and green color combination.

          For a cozy countercultural period look, you could hang Indian bedspreads. Alternatively, you might want a “theme” sukkah. During an election year, you might use political cartoons and bumper stickers, if that doesn’t lead to too many arguments.

          In the 1980s, a peace group built a “Sukkat Shalom” on the grounds of Milwaukee’s old Jewish Community Center with topical bumper stickers, such as “There’s no shelter from a nuclear war.”

          Some factors to consider in designing a sukkah are:

          • Location: For the sake of convenience, try to build it as close to your kitchen as possible, so you can serve food more easily.

          If you have only a small space, like an uncovered porch or balcony, you may face size limitations, but you’ll have more leeway when it comes to budget and other considerations.

          If you can build your sukkah in a scenic spot, you may want to consider including some windows in your plan. If your surroundings are not so attractive or if you’re concerned about privacy, you will probably prefer walls that are more opaque.

          • Budget: A sukkah need not be as elegant as your house, because that would defeat the entire purpose of building it. As long as it stands up to the elements and you like the way it looks, don’t fret.

          • Storage: Unless you’re independently wealthy, you might not have both the time and money to build a new sukkah every year, so you’ll want a reusable one you have to disassemble and put away after the holiday ends.

          A sukkah made of wood might warp, grow mold or mildew, and disintegrate in a damp basement. If you don’t have a large dry place to keep it during the year, consider a sukkah made of PVC pipes and foldable tarp or canvas sheeting, as that will last longer and take up less space.

          • Labor: Assuming you’ll reuse the same sukkah in years to come, will you have a crew of strong skilled people who can take the time to help put it together? A single parent whose last child plans to go off to college in a year or two might not want to invest in a design that requires many hands.

          • Weather conditions: Nobody can predict the weather you’ll get during Sukkot from year to year. A good sukkah should stand up to strong winds and heavy rains.

          Although “The sukkah roof that fell on us during the soup” might be an entertaining story years from now, it’s also dangerous. And nobody wants a sukkah to turn into a giant kite and blow away.

          No single sukkah design is perfect for every household. You might want to experiment before you decide what’s best for you.

   Milwaukeean Susan Ellman, MLIS, has taught history and English composition at the high school level and is a freelance writer at work on a historical novel.