Help Decorate Chi’s Sukkah

Have you ever noticed that Sukkot is just like Camp?

During Sukkot you build a Sukkah– a temporary home, that you are supposed to eat and live in for the duration of the holiday. Just like during the summer when you live and eat at camp and your cabin becomes your home for the time you are here.

You decorate your temporary home with art and photos to make it feel cozier and to bring your families into the cabin just like we decorate a sukkah.

There is a mitzvah to invite and welcome others into your sukkah during the holiday, just like at camp we welcome everyone and help camp feel like home to all first-time campers.

On Sukkot, we bring together 4 unique species, the Willow, Myrtle, Date Palm and Etrog. Commonly referred to as the Lulav and Etrog, these 4 species or Arba Miniim, are held together and shaken in the sukkah.  Many people wonder why we do this mitzvah. Well, let us tell you Chi’s take.

This mitzvah is done at the beginning of the holiday, upon entering your temporary home for the first time.  One cannot call the sukkah or the cabin home, until each person or species is there together. It is said that each of the 4 species represent different types of people we encounter, all different from one another. The whole idea is that real community is found when all types of people are brought together and come under one roof. At camp, this is exactly what we believe. Each member of our cabin and our camp is unique and brings something of themselves to complete the whole camp family. We accept all types of people since we all make up the community of the world.

So as we build a Camp Chi sukkah, we invite all families to be a part of the joyful process to fill our temporary home with the Camp Chi family! And while we can’t all physically be in our sukkah at camp, we are going to rely on you to help us decorate it!

So what do you need to do? There are 3 simple steps:

1. Keeping in mind how sukkot and camp are similar, find your favorite camp photo.
2. Write a few sentences to answer one of the following questions:

• What is something you accomplished as a cabin that you couldn’t accomplish alone?
• When was a time someone included you at camp or you went out of your way to include someone else? And how did it make you feel
• What makes camp feel like your forever summer home?
• What is something you discovered or learned at camp that you have taken to your home life?

3. Send your photo and response to us at jcccampchi@gmail.com and put your name in the subject line.

We will print out the photos with your answers on the back and hang through in the Sukkah, so everyone can be in the Camp Chi Sukkah this year.

We look forward to your help in making our sukkah as homey as it can be!