Throngs of people from all walks of life have visited the “international succah” by the Isaiah Wall across the street from the United Nations, and the succah at Herald Square
across from Macy’s department store, built by the Lubavitch Youth Organization.
“The visitors varied,” said Rabbi Shmuel Butman, director of the Lubavitch Youth Organization, “from a stock broker eating his lunch to a foreign ministry attache ‘benching esrog,’ to a curious spectator.”
Concerning the international succah across from the United Nations headquarters, Butman said, “From this ‘Succas Sholom’ — this Tabernacle of Peace — we will take the Jewish strength to overcome the forces of hatred from across the avenue.”
The succah at Herald Square also did a “thriving business,” with Jews from local stores and offices bringing their lunches so that they could fulfill the Mitzvah of eating in the Succah, Butman reported.
In addition to the stationary succahs, the Lubavitch Youth Organization sponsored a fleet of mobile succahs built on flatbed trucks. The “succahs on wheels” visited hospitals, nursing homes, colleges, youth groups, shopping centers and street corners. The Lubavitch Youth Organization also built stationary succahs at the maximum-security prison at Green Haven and at the Otisville State Prison.
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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.
