Rael . San Fratello

Sukkah of the Signs . Sukkah City competition . NYC

source: sukkahcity . Ronald Rael . Virginia San Fratello

Just as the sukkah commemorates shelter provided during the forty desert-wandering years of Exodus, the design for our sukkah brings attention to the contemporary state of homelessness and wandering within the United States and is clad with signs made by the homeless and destitute. By purchasing homeless signs from the individuals who made them, we are also contributing to a meal for someone who might not otherwise be able to eat today in honor of the primary and traditional role of sukkah, which is a feast of bounty, of hospitality, and of welcoming strangers. Additionally the corrugated board shingles are made of the fibers of hardwood trees. Therefore, one could equate them to the historical use of branches on the sukkah roofs. The frame of our sukkah tapers as it moves up toward the sky to draw the eye up and also to provide a smaller framework for the shingles that are less than 4 handbreadths—relating directly to the presence and scale of the hand in each of the handmade signs. This sukkah, if built for Sukkah City, will be auctioned and the funds donated to a homeless shelter in New York City.