"You shall dwell in booths for seven days," Leviticus 23:42 says, but many Israelis were left without their sukkot after high winds and storms wreaked havoc nationwide on Tuesday. While many sukkot failed to withstand the gusts, no injuries were reported.
Shimon and Hadas Metzger of Nof Hagalil (previously, Nazareth Illit) said, "This is the second year in a row we've 'raised up the booth of David that is fallen [Amos 9:11].'"
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"It's definitely disappointing to put time and energy into building a sukkah with the kids and then see it wrecked, but it really underscores the sukkah's temporary nature. Thank God, friends from the community immediately came together to help us rebuild the sukkah," they said.
Sometimes, a collapsed sukkah reveals a touching personal story, as happened in the case of a young rabbi and teacher who came across the remains of an elderly couple's sukkah as he was walking the rainy streets of Jerusalem.
"They wanted to rebuild their sukkah, which was falling apart from the heavy rain," he said.
As a neighbor passed by, she pointed out that they were wasting their time. The woman was deeply hurt and went inside, in tears. Her husband explained to the rabbi that their son had been killed in the First Lebanon War and every year, his wife lit a candle in his memory in their sukkah.
"This is how deeply the Jewish people love their mitzvot, and how deeply the pain of bereaved parents runs," the man told him.
In Pekiin in the Western Galilee, no fewer than 21 sukkot were ruined by the storms.
Nirel Maman, a resident of the settlement Avnei Hefetz in Samaria, took the collapse of his own sukkah with good humor. He invited friends whose sukkot had met similar fates to send him pictures of the damage for a "ruined sukkah competition."
"Do you think your sukkah was damaged the worst? That the decorations your kids made are the most torn? Photograph your sukkah, tag it #ruinedsukka or #fallingsukka and you can win valuable prizes! Send your pictures and your contact details and we will publish them, with credit, of course," Maman wrote.
