Behind the Headlines “sukkah in the Sky”

The Feast of the Tabernacles, Succoth, which was celebrated last week by Jews all over the world, had a unique addition to the thousands of sukkot in private homes, in synagogues and on terraces of apartment houses in this city. The hundreds of representatives of major Jewish organization, lay and religious leaders, city and state officials and Israeli dignitaries who visited one of these tabernacles referred to it as the “sukkah in the sky.” Jack D. Weiler, the distinguished philanthropist and realtor, and his son and son-in-law, Alan G. Weiler, and Robert H. Arnow, built a traditional sukkah on the roof of the 50-story Monsanto Building at 43 West 42nd Street in the Times Square area of Manhattan, one of the newest and most elegant office buildings in the city.

According to many who participated in the week-long festivities in the sukkah, it was the only tabernacle on the roof of any commercial building in this city and possibly the entire country. It took eight construction workers one week to build the handsome, sturdy tabernacle which was profusely decorated with grapes, lulavs, esrogs and other fruits of the field, vineyard and orchards in a manner traditional since Biblical days.

Weiler, who together with Arnow and Benjamin Swig own the Monsanto Building, explained why he decided to have a sukkah on top of the wind-swept roof. “During non-Jewish holidays like Christmas, one finds offices and office buildings bedecked with the earmarks of those holidays,” he said. “Why shouldn’t Jews also have the opportunity to celebrate their holidays where they work?”

His eyes sparkling as he watched guests arrive, Weiler swung his arm in a wide are to take in the entire sukkah and said: “Many of those who came here during the week hadn’t been in a sukkah for maybe thirty, forty years. Some hadn’t been in a sukkah at all. For many, it was a reaffirmation of their Jewish faith, a re-dedication of the spirit of Jewishness. For some, it was the first time that they felt like Jews.”

Rabbi Emanuel Rackman of the Fifth Avenue Synagogue, who together with Rabbi Harold H. Gordon, executive vice-president of the New York Board of Rabbis, and Judge Harold S. Silver, comprised the committee supervising the sukkah, put it this way: “This magnificent idea of building a sukkah in the sky was Mr. Weiler’s way of saying to New Yorkers, ‘Come and enjoy a breath of tradition in the very heart of New York’s commercial and industrial enterprise.'” Furthermore, Rabbi Rackman observed, “It is also a way of saying that the Jewish traditions we cherish don’t have to be kept in the gutter. How much higher can we go to pay our devotion to God and to reaffirm our faith and our eternity as a people?”

To get to the sukkah from the main lobby of the building required taking an elevator in the rear of the building up to the 49th floor and then walking up two flights to the roof. The men who constructed the sukkah, large enough to hold up to 100 persons, had to lug the beams and posts on their shoulders up the two flights. In the vestibule, between the landing of the roof and the entrance to the sukkah, there was a large banner reading, “Celebrate Israel’s 25th Anniversary With Israel Bonds.”

In the sukkah itself, one wall was bedecked with various posters dealing with Soviet Jewry, the United Jewish Appeal campaign and the Israel Bond Organization drive. The sukkah, approximately 32 feet by 50 feet, was protected from rain and wind by a heavy piece of tarpaulin hoisted onto the roof of the sukkah and removed when the weather was clement by six burly construction workers.

During the week that the sukkah was in use, several Jewish organizations held their meetings there. One day there was a meeting of about 75 leading New York rabbis and public figures. On another day there was a meeting of the UJA board of directors. Last Wednesday, Israel Bond Organization leaders met there to pay tribute to Israel’s Minister of Finance Pinhas Sapir and sold $1 million in Israel Bonds. A Jewish leader who participated in one of those meetings, said laughingly, “We’ve never had a full house like this before at any of our meetings. Everyone felt good.”

On Friday, the last day the sukkah was used, some 75 people gathered to honor Weiler and to share the joys of the Feast of the Tabernacles with Mayor John V. Lindsay as the special guest of honor. The Mayor, arriving with an entourage of City Hall officials, was immediately introduced to the spirit of Succoth. Weiler handed him a goblet of wine and had Lindsay repeat in Hebrew the blessing for wine. The Mayor, without any hesitation, repeated the blessing in almost flawless Hebrew. At one point, as Weiler stopped briefly to make sure that Lindsay wasn’t being left too far behind in repeating the Hebrew words, the Mayor looked at Weiler, smiled, and said, “Go right ahead, Jack. I’m with you.”

Sitting at one table were the eight construction workers who had been invited to partake in the festive occasion, wearing their hard hats, enjoying the light banter and Weiler’s exposition explaining the meaning of Succoth and the sukkah and his translation of the prayer for wine. As Lindsay finished drinking the wine, he raised the goblet and said, “L’chaim.” The hard hats joined in the toast.