An estimated 190,000 Jewish men, women and children in almost all parts of the world took part in the blessings over the lulav and esrog during the recent Succos holiday in both stationary and mobile Succah provided by the Lubavitcher movement, according to Rabbi Shmuel Butman, director of the Lubavitch Youth Organization.
“Succah-mobiles” mounted on flatbed trucks and manned by Lubavitcher yeshiva students, visited hospitals, nursing homes, colleges, youth centers, street corners, shopping centers, army bases, and jails, including maximum-security Green Haven in New York State.
Among the new “community Succahs” at stationary locations was one at Herald Square, opposite Macy’s, in Manhattan, which did a thriving “business” in serving Jews in the area who came to eat their lunch in the Succah. Its sister Succah, opposite the UN headquarters, was also visited by a guest from Israel: Foreign Minister Yitzhak Shamir “benched” lulav there before going to address the UN General Assembly.
Another new Succah was erected in Daley Square in the center of Chicago. Over 1000 people, including major civic and political leaders, came to the opening ceremony.
A new concept, a “Succah-ville,” was featured in Minneapolis, Minn, where the Lubavitch local organization got permission to close off an entire street, Hennipen Avenue, one of the main thoroughfares in the Twin Cities. They built 10 “family Succahs” and had a band to play music. Jewish families brought their food or bought it from the kosher bakery across the street and ate in the Succahs, family style.
A MAJOR EFFORT IN ISRAEL
In Israel, a major effort by the Lubavitch organization resulted in 50 stationary Succahs, and 50 mobile units. Some of the outstanding locations of the stationary Succahs were: Tachona Merkazit (central bus station), Yaffo Gate and Liberty Bell Park, all in Jerusalem; the city center in Eilat; the main bus station in Haifa, and on the main street in Safed.
The 50 mobile units included 10 on army trucks provided by the Israeli army to visit all army installations and one which covered the entire area from Eilat to Sharm el Sheik; and one in Safed that covered the Golan Heights and Upper Nazareth to the Kineret. In addition, a community Succah was built at the Kastina intersection, the largest highway intersection in Israel.
In addition to the 100 Lubavitch Succahs in Israel and the 64 stationary and 76 mobile Succahs in the U.S., Lubavitchers manned 78 mobile or stationary Succahs in other lands, making a total of 318 Succahs provided around the world. Succahs were located in major cities around the world including, Montreal, Toronto, London, Manchester, Paris, Milan, Johannesburg, Sao Paulo, Rio de Janeiro, Buenos Aires, Caracas, Sydney and Melboyrne.
The Archive of the Jewish Telegraphic Agency includes articles published from 1923 to 2008. Archive stories reflect the journalistic standards and practices of the time they were published.
