What: The Jewish holiday of Sukkot - a fall harvest festival lasting seven days- begins on Thursday, September 23 and ends at sunset on Wednesday, September 29. Sukkot is a time of rejoicing, a time to strengthen one's resolve, to help those who are in need and to remind people of the fragility of life. Sukkot is traditionally celebrated by eating in (and for some religious Jews, even sleeping in) a sukkah (hut).

Where: Fairfield University campus. Beginning around sundown on September 22, student members of KADIMA - the university's Jewish cultural group - and Professor Ellen Umansky's "Introduction to Judaism" class built and decorated a new sukkah in the plaza between Canisius and Donnarumma Halls.

When: The Bennett Center welcomes all members of the University community to use the sukkah as a place for meditation, meetings, a lunch spot or to visit with colleagues. There are a table and chairs set up. Please bring your lunch and join Dr. Umansky, director of the Carl and Dorothy Bennett Center for Judaic Studies, and staff of the Center for lunch during one of the following days:

Thursday, September 23, noon to 1:30 p.m.
Friday, September 24, noon to 1:30 p.m.
Monday, September 27, noon to 1:30 p.m.
Wednesday, September 29, noon to 1:30 p.m.

Background: This fall event dates back to biblical times and is the holiday on which the American holiday of Thanksgiving is based. It begins five days after Yom Kippur. The festival of Sukkot has both historic and agricultural significance in that it commemorates the forty years that Jews wandered the desert, living in temporary dwellings.

Posted On: 09-23-2010 10:09 AM

Volume: 43 Number: 53