By Rosemarie Driscoll
Staff Writer’14
St. Peter’s Campus Ministry, now for the second year, sponsored the building and blessing of a sukka, or booth, in the quad. The booth is an integral part of the Jewish harvest festival, Sukkot. Mary Sue Callan-Farley, director of Campus Ministry, says, “This year, we’re better together. As a Catholic and Christian school, this is part of who we are. The celebration underlines common values, dreams, and hopes, such as welcoming the stranger and thanksgiving to God.”
A booth set up for the Sukkot Festival --PHOTO BY SHAILESH KHADKA
The Sukkot booth represents the hastily assembled shelters the Israelites stayed in during their exodus in the desert. It is supposed to be quickly put up and taken down. The festival provides modern Jews with a chance to relive the drama of their ancestors’ stories, much like Passover or the Passion Play of Christian tradition. A team of six volunteers built the booth in the St. Peter’s campus in an hour and a half time the night before the Sukkot festival began.
The blessing of the Sukka was held at noon on October 12. Rabbi Debra Hachen of Temple Beth-El and the Hudson County Interfaith Council performed the service while students and members of the Campus Ministry office looked on, despite the rain. Rabbi Hachen informed all in attendance that “it’s supposed to rain on the feast of Sukkot,” the holiday having once been an occasion for the people in Israel to pray for rain for the winter harvest.
The ceremony consisted of a Hebrew prayer and the use of four plants, representing the harvest, to bless the booth. Rabbi Hachen first recited the prayer while shaking the lulav, made of an etrog, woven myrtle branches, palm branches, and willows, and then invited students to do the same. Rabbi Hachen provided background information on the festival, explaining how Isrealites used to sleep in the fields while harvesting their crops. “It reminds us that we’re not seperate from the earth.”
Modern Sukkot celebrations extend the ancient meaning of the harvest festival to include environmental considerations. “Our natural resources do not belong to us,” Rabbi Hachen explained, “but are lent to us by God.” The festival is also meant to inspire service in the community. “Even in these difficult times, God takes care of us spiritually even if we have to help each other physically.”
Looking at the festival from a modern perspective, Campus Ministry was eager to draw on causes important to many students. They adopted the booth as a sign of community, as well as a representation of welcome to strangers. Mary Sue Callan-Farley outlined the migration of the Isrealites and the suffering and hardship in their travels.
“We find these same themes in our Catholic dialogues with the freshmen,” she said, citing their work in the Common Reading program. While they study the DREAM Act and Title V, Campus Ministry hopes that students can remember that they are not the only ones who have faced these obstacles.
Mary Sue invited all students to use the booth for club meetings, meals, or simply as a gathering place. The Interfaith Council, among other groups, met in the sukka while it stood in the Quad. It was taken down at the end of Sukkot, October 19.
