The University of Calgary’s Environmental Design School has created a major Jewish ritual object for the observance of the holiday of Sukkot which celebrates the 40 years of wandering in the Sinai wilderness after the Exodus from slavery in Egypt.
Rabbi Shaul Osadchey, of the Beth Tzedec Congregation in Calgary, says non-Jewish professors and students embarked on a design project to create a sukkah or hut that is reminiscent of the Israelites’ temporary shelter in the desert.
“The sukkah is a structure with a minimum of three walls and a lightly-thatched roof that conveys the themes of life’s fragility, homelessness, and an appreciation for the Fall harvest,” he says.
The class assignment led to the commissioning of one of the students’ four sukkah designs by Beth Tzedec Congregation, Calgary’s largest synagogue. This is the second time that a University of Calgary School of Environmental Design class has designed a sukkah for the synagogue. Last year, Beth Tzedec commissioned the “Soupkah” sukkah which featured three eight-foot by eight-foot walls perforated to accommodate food cans that were later donated to a local food pantry.
This year’s winning design was created by students Michael Ting and Mahdiar Gaffarian under the direction of Professor Jason Johnson.
“Called the “The Sukkah Wall,” the sukkah expresses the harsh and rigid conditions of our surroundings, while the atmosphere of the interior space is intended to be soft and womblike; referencing the softness and spiritual aspect found within us,” says Osadchey.
Click here to read the full story by Mario Toneguzzi in the Calgary Herald.
Image by Stuart Gradon, Calgary Herald. From left, Jason Johnson, Assistant Professor of Architecture, University of Calgary and Rabbi Shaul Osadchey, with the newly-built Sukkah Wall at the Beth Tzadec Synagogue in Calgary.