Last year, we built our own succah for the first time since we moved into our own apartment.
My father, an engineer, and my brother, an industrial designer, oversaw the construction, with Moshe and MD as extra hands. The kids and I were in charge of decorations.
The men-folk built the succah out of two partial metal frames, two mesh walls, wooden beams, and s'chach la'netzach (re-usable s'chach).We have extremely strong winds here, so the most challenging element of construction was securing the s'chach.
This year, my brother is not here, and my dad got sick. So Moshe and MD were on their own.
MD jumped at the chance to help his Abba (father) build the succah!
They started on Friday, the day after Yom Kippur.
That first morning, they brought out all the pieces from storage (a major schlep job) and built half the frame.
Saturday night, after Shabbat, They completed the frame and attached the sides.
Then Sunday night, after Moshe got home from work, they tackled the main job: attaching the s'chah. My dad was a handy consultant, but Moshe and MD did the work. Laying down the wooden support beams and covering them with the s'chach was a time-consuming, though relatively straightforward job. But securing the s'chah with support beams on top of them was a real challenge. My dad really helped with that.
MD really rose to the occasion, and helped good-naturedly, until almost 2:30, when he announced that he had to go to bed. He was really tired. What a trooper!
As Moshe was securing the final few pieces, he wiped his brow and exclaimed: "this is like building a house!"
That gave us all a laugh.
Moshe and my dad finished the job, around 3:00 in the morning!
We have one serious succah!
Now we are waiting to see if, this year, the s'chach stays in place....
Chag Sameach!! (Happy Holiday!)
Please daven (or send happy, healing thoughts) for RivkA bat Teirtzel.
With love and optimism,
RivkA
Monday, October 13, 2008
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
Posts
3 comments:
The people who have brought you multi-cultural studies, women's studies, white man studies, gender studies, queer studies, middle-eastern studies, i.e. how to hate Israel, the list of nonsensical studies is endless, well, now they've hit the film departments, and you'll never guess what they think is important in cinema? If you have a child in film school, I strongly suggest that you check out what courses are being offered.
--------------------
Cgayle
Reputation
How about a picture?
Chag samayah. We got ours done in stages - it was also a family affair. My two younger boys built the frame; sons and husband did the canvas walls, middle son and son-in-law did the first layer of s'chach. Husband and younger son cut the second layer. I decorated with youngest son and daughter; husband and middle son continued decorating it too. Wind has already taken down some of the decorations, but so far it's holding. Hope you enjoy the chag!
Paula
Post a Comment