We can see a family in a sukkah. We can also see fruit dangling from the ceiling of the sukkah.

Look closely, what can you see?

This is a picture of a family celebrating the Festival of Sukkot. The Festival  is a week-long Jewish holiday, during the Jewish month of Tishrei, that comes five days after Yom Kippur. Sukkot commemorates the journey which the children of Israel made across the desert after G-d brought them out of slavery in Egypt. Whilst they were in the desert, the Jews dwelt in booths (sukkot) which they built for shelter and a sukkah, which was a reminder of God’s protection during their years of wandering in the wilderness.

For seven days and night, Jewish people aim to spend as much time as possible in the sukkah. Often, meals are eaten in the Sukkah – especially the festive meals of the first two nights of the Festival.

The sukkah must be positioned under the ope sky and made up of at least three walls and covered by things that grow in the soil such as bamboo or palm branches. It also must be open so that families can experience how the children of Israel felt as they wandered through the desert and looked at the stars.

We might wonder which fruits are hanging from the ceiling. We might also wonder what the woman by the entrance is bringing into the sukkah.

What do you wonder?

Object Name: Unterhaltburg in der Laubhutte/ Entertaining in a Sukkah

Date: 1900

Catalogue Number: C 2001.25.30

Material: Postcard

Artist: Hermann Junker

This card was one of a set of 49 postcards showing scenes of Jewish life in Frankfurt, Germany created by Hermann Junker. The other postcards included scenes of celebrations of Sukkot in synagogue with etrog and lulav (see below) as well as other festivals such as Purim, Passover and Rosh Hashanah.