Memorial sukkah

Simchat Torah this year will be observed with heavy hearts, the wounds from recent tragedy still raw. Yet, even in our grief, we are commanded by torah to rejoice, as it is written: "And you shall rejoice in your festival." Through this observance, we honor and eternally inscribe in our souls the memory of those lost in the Simchat Torah massacres. We remember the families who celebrated Sukkot only to be brutally murdered, leaving behind sukkahs that stand as poignant symbols of lives cut short—orphaned, torn, and abandoned.

The Memorial Sukkah (Sukkat Zikaron), crafted by artist Ilan Benaym, stands as a poignant symbol of remembrance and resilience. Constructed from oak wood painted black, it bears his handwritten inscription that reads, "And you shall rejoice in your festival and be altogether joyful." almost forcing itself to remind us that we are obligated to rejoice but not forget.

This verse, etched onto the somber structure, creates a poignant tension between obligatory joy and lingering grief. Mirroring the spontaneous memorials that have adorned public spaces since October, Benaym's installation invites visitors to affix memory stickers, transforming the installation into a collaborative testament to loss and remembrance, a memorial sukkah.