In the course of planning social activities for the Jewish Disabilities Network (JDN), we were trying to include celebrations for the JFS Group Home. We put together a calendar of events for each holiday and soon learned that the Group Home did not have a sukkah (a temporary dwelling) to celebrate Sukkot. In the past, the residents went to someone’s home in the evening of the holiday to celebrate. It was not easy to transport everyone over there and many times the weather did not cooperate.
We decided that it was very important for the residents to have a sukkah of their own. We contacted Rabbi Gruenwald at Congregation HEA, who is a JFS board member, and he put the word out that we were in need of a sukkah.
Almost immediately we were offered pieces of different sukkahs as well as offers to make donations in order for us to buy one. It was getting closer to the holiday and we were not able to purchase a new sukkah. We ended up using one from the Ginsburg family, which came with the sukkah wall, the metal posts, and a bamboo top. We are so thankful to Rabbi Gruenwald and all the people who responded to our plea.
The story continues as we picked up the sukkah (no easy chore and a struggle to fit into my car). Then it was time to build it at the Group Home. The house manager, Mike, and I figured out how to build it after he went online to find the directions from the company. It actually fit very nicely together. For decorations, we used paper chains. I designed a silk painted panel for our sukkah as well as one for the Allied Jewish Apartments (AJA) and with the help of our staff, volunteers, and the JDN and AJA clients, we painted the panels and finished making the chains.
Last Sunday, September 30, my husband, Rabbi Steven Rubenstein, volunteered his time to go with me to the Group Home to help the residents celebrate. He explained the holiday’s significance, said the blessings, and then gave each participant an opportunity to shake the lulav (a palm branch, three myrtle twigs and two willow branches) and etrog (a citron).
Thank you to other staff members that were valuable to the success of this event: Arnie Kover, JFS director of disability and employment services, the Group Home manager, Mike Lobato, Travis Wilson, JDN activities assistant, and Debbie Lang, Group Home staff member. We finished the celebration with blessings over grape juice, challah, apples, and honey. The warm thanks we received from the residents and the staff made the day so special and very meaningful.
-Lynn Rubenstein, Jewish Disabilities Network program assistant
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