By Richard C. Dujardin
Journal Religion Writer
PROVIDENCE — It is early afternoon in the city’s financial district. Two young men sporting beards stand next to a temporary hut they’ve thrown together beside the Amica Building on Weybosset Street, hoping to attract passersby.
“Are any of you Jewish?” a white-shirted Rabbi Yossi Laufer calls to pedestrians. Knowing that barely 1.5 percent of Rhode Island’s population is Jewish, Laufer, the rabbi who leads the Lubavitch movement’s Chabad CHAI Center in Warwick, and Levi Potash, a Lubavitcher from New York, know that the probable reply will be “no” — to which they reply, “Have a great day.”
There are the handful of Jews studying, working or visiting downtown who, depending on their knowledge of Judaism, might not know that this week marks the Jewish festival of Sukkot, or feast of the tabernacles, recalling the time when the Israelites lived in temporary huts or booths, sukkot, during their 40 years in the wilderness before arriving in the Promised Land.
The festival, which began at 5:59 p.m. Friday and continues until 5:48 p.m. Friday, recalls the way Jewish farmers set up temporary shelters in the fields during the harvest season. To commemorate those moments, many Jews adhere to the custom of building their own huts in empty lots and backyards.
With a hut made of string and a blue plastic tarp, Laufer and Potash were at the ready yesterday to give out Hebrew calendars and cakes and drinks for Jewish passersby. And they were armed with four of the symbols of holiday: the lulav, or palm branch, the citron, or etrog, some willows and myrtle.
For those who said they were Jewish, Laufer gave them an opportunity to shake the lulav and to partake of a prayer of blessing.
“Blessed are you, O God, sovereign of the universe, for sanctifying us with our commandments and commanding us to shake the lulav.”
Laufer, one of the sons of the Chabad House of Rhode Island’s Rabbi Yehoshua Laufer, explains that because the myrtle has a smell, the willow has no smell, the palm branch with its dates has taste, and the citron has a moth smell and taste, the four together are seen as a symbol of Jewish unity.
“These species require a lot of rain to grow, so we are telling God, ‘Please, for the coming year, give us a lot of rain.’ Today, of course, it is more symbolic of prosperity. No matter what business we are in, we’re asking God to bring us showers of blessings and abundance, from all sides of the world.”
In the five years that the Lubavitcher movement has set up a hut downtown, “this has been the best ever,” Laufer said yesterday. “Everyone has been positive. I think it’s because it’s such a beautiful day and everyone is in a good mood.”
About 50 people identifying themselves as Jewish, including Johnson & Wales University student Adrienne Kaplan, stopped by the hut yesterday and got a chance to shake the lulav. Rossi’s brother, Rabbi Mendel Laufer, was on the campus of Brown University with a similar hut, offering the same opportunity to students there.
Laufer said there is really only one purpose for the unusual outreach.
“It’s to help and encourage the Jewish people to celebrate the holiday. People’s schedules are hectic we know, so the goal of the Chabad is to try to see if we can bring Judaism to them in an easy and convenient way. Tell, me, what could be more convenient than to bring the lulav and the sukkah right here downtown?
“People have said to me, ‘we wanted to celebrate Sukkot. Now we can do it, because of you.’ ”
Journal Religion Writer
PROVIDENCE — It is early afternoon in the city’s financial district. Two young men sporting beards stand next to a temporary hut they’ve thrown together beside the Amica Building on Weybosset Street, hoping to attract passersby.
“Are any of you Jewish?” a white-shirted Rabbi Yossi Laufer calls to pedestrians. Knowing that barely 1.5 percent of Rhode Island’s population is Jewish, Laufer, the rabbi who leads the Lubavitch movement’s Chabad CHAI Center in Warwick, and Levi Potash, a Lubavitcher from New York, know that the probable reply will be “no” — to which they reply, “Have a great day.”
There are the handful of Jews studying, working or visiting downtown who, depending on their knowledge of Judaism, might not know that this week marks the Jewish festival of Sukkot, or feast of the tabernacles, recalling the time when the Israelites lived in temporary huts or booths, sukkot, during their 40 years in the wilderness before arriving in the Promised Land.
The festival, which began at 5:59 p.m. Friday and continues until 5:48 p.m. Friday, recalls the way Jewish farmers set up temporary shelters in the fields during the harvest season. To commemorate those moments, many Jews adhere to the custom of building their own huts in empty lots and backyards.
With a hut made of string and a blue plastic tarp, Laufer and Potash were at the ready yesterday to give out Hebrew calendars and cakes and drinks for Jewish passersby. And they were armed with four of the symbols of holiday: the lulav, or palm branch, the citron, or etrog, some willows and myrtle.
For those who said they were Jewish, Laufer gave them an opportunity to shake the lulav and to partake of a prayer of blessing.
“Blessed are you, O God, sovereign of the universe, for sanctifying us with our commandments and commanding us to shake the lulav.”
Laufer, one of the sons of the Chabad House of Rhode Island’s Rabbi Yehoshua Laufer, explains that because the myrtle has a smell, the willow has no smell, the palm branch with its dates has taste, and the citron has a moth smell and taste, the four together are seen as a symbol of Jewish unity.
“These species require a lot of rain to grow, so we are telling God, ‘Please, for the coming year, give us a lot of rain.’ Today, of course, it is more symbolic of prosperity. No matter what business we are in, we’re asking God to bring us showers of blessings and abundance, from all sides of the world.”
In the five years that the Lubavitcher movement has set up a hut downtown, “this has been the best ever,” Laufer said yesterday. “Everyone has been positive. I think it’s because it’s such a beautiful day and everyone is in a good mood.”
About 50 people identifying themselves as Jewish, including Johnson & Wales University student Adrienne Kaplan, stopped by the hut yesterday and got a chance to shake the lulav. Rossi’s brother, Rabbi Mendel Laufer, was on the campus of Brown University with a similar hut, offering the same opportunity to students there.
Laufer said there is really only one purpose for the unusual outreach.
“It’s to help and encourage the Jewish people to celebrate the holiday. People’s schedules are hectic we know, so the goal of the Chabad is to try to see if we can bring Judaism to them in an easy and convenient way. Tell, me, what could be more convenient than to bring the lulav and the sukkah right here downtown?
“People have said to me, ‘we wanted to celebrate Sukkot. Now we can do it, because of you.’ ”
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