With Yom Kippur come and gone, Jewish students on campus are now reflecting on and looking to the year ahead.

Every year, the Hillel Foundation at OU celebrates Sukkot, a Jewish holiday that immediately follows Yom Kippur. Typically a celebration of the harvest, Sukkot is a time for thanks and consideration, celebrated in a sukkah, or a three-walled, handmade hut.

OU Hillel President Megan Godwin is responsible for many of the events that occur during Sukkot.

“The last day of Sukkot is the 29th and we’re having pizza. We’re calling it ‘Pizza in the Hut,’” Godwin said.

Though traditional Jews live inside their sukkahs during Sukkot, the OU Hillel doesn’t.

“We don’t actually stay in them,” Godwin said. “For example we are doing services in it and it’ll be really nice. We just hang out there it’s just a socializing thing, though not that every group does that. The Jewish group I grew up with would eat dinner in it.”

Jewish Life chair Zachary Moorhead is also participating in Sukkot.

“Basically it’s a Jewish festival of the harvest,” Moorhead said. “We build the three walled structure and that’s where we have our services like Shabbat, which is this friday.”

Moorhead helped with the construction of the Sukkah and elaborated on its building process.

“Theres kind of a formula of building it, which is [that it has] pretty much straight walls, and everything that composes the roof has to be organic so you cant use any metal or synthetic materials,” Moorhead said. “Usually the roof is made out of a hatch or wood planks. And it can’t be a complete roof - you have to be able to see through it.”

The weeklong celebration ends on Sept. 29, and OU Hillel is planning celebratory events, even if its members aren’t living in the sukkah. During Sukkot, the sukkah becomes something of a social hub for Hillel members.

“The last day of Sukkot is the 29th and we’re having pizza. We’re calling it ‘Pizza in the Hut,’” Godwin said.

The OU Hillel Foundation, and its sukkah is located at the corner of Elm and Boyd, at 494 Elm Ave. For its hours of operation and more information about OU Hillel.

“You don’t stay inside it, you just go in and out whenever you want. I mean we’re kind of a reformed Judaism congregation, so we’ll have social events there,” Moorhead said. “Last year we had something called Hookah in the Sukkah.”

Links:

Check out general information about Hillel here.