Step Into These 5 Crazy Sukkahs

Image by http://www.sukkahcity.com/

By Rachel X. Landes September 25, 2015

Ah, Sukkot — the time of year you hope it’s still warm enough to be able to eat outside, lest you freeze mid-Challah bite. And what better way to reflect on the holiday then by ranking our favorite Sukkahs? We’ve got our top 5 ranked.

Both #5 and #4 come from the Sukkah City contest in Union Square in 2010. Artists submitted their most inventive sukkahs for consideration, and the results were stunning.

No.5 is called Shim Sukkah, and was created by tinder,tinker. It is made from hundreds of tiny wooden shims.

Image by http://www.sukkahcity.com/

No.4 is called Gathering, and was created by Dale Suttle, So Sugita, and Ginna Nguyen. This one is also made from wood, but has a very unusual shape from the standard Sukkah.

Image by http://www.sukkahcity.com/

No.3 comes from The Jewish Monkland Centre in Montreal. It is made from 24,000 staples, 290 cardboard boxes, 19 languages, and tons of recycled material.

Image by jewishmonkland.com

No.2 comes from Instagram (we had to have at least one!) from ’s account, aka Jamey Oxley. It’s more of a classic Sukkah, building off a rectangular space with an open roof.

Image by Instagram

No.1 comes from Danielle Durchslag and Ryan Frank. The pair started planning their sukkah project, called the Wandering Sukkah, in November 2014. Now, their will travel around all 5 boroughs of New York City during Sukkot 2015 on a truck they bought earlier this year with their brightly colored sukkah nestled safely in the truck bed.

I originally spoke to Danielle and Ryan when their $7,000 kickstarter met its goal in late June. They had gotten the idea for a mobile Sukkah from Lubavitch Mitzvah tanks, and, like the Lubavitch, hope to “get a lot of different kinds of people experiencing the sky through the installation [and] improve the energy of New York city for that week.”

Now that their launch time is upon them, they plan to go visit a “really dynamic mix of local museums, religious spaces and secular spaces,” according to Danielle.

The final design is based on New York itself. It uses a bright color palette, and the form is inspired by skyscrapers. The base on the truck bed is green, just like a city block.

It’s a “single serving of urban respite three feet above the ground,” Danielle summed up.

See if the Wandering Sukkah stops near you!

Image by Danielle Durchslag and Ryan Frank

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