Favorite Sukkot of Sukkot

The Sukkot holiday is over and as the tourists are heading home,

 I would like share a few favorite Sukkot from this year.

In some neighborhoods there were so many visitors

that warning signs were posted asking for quiet.

In the Nachlaot neighborhood, 

I found this tiny sukkah down a narrow lane

and another one almost hidden up on a roof top.

At the Kotel, the Western Wall Plaza, where there was a large sukkah 

as well as smaller ones for the huge crowds of visitors.

The public was invited one morning to visit the sukkah at Beit Hanasi,

the official residence of Israeli President Shimon Peres.

Arriving inside the building after a long wait outside,

 many stopped to peak in 

to the President’s Official State receiving room,

before passing through to the sukkah.

As usual the President’s sukkah was not designed for eating,

but rather for showcasing the fruit and agricultural wonders of Israel. 

Many hotels had large sukkot, where thousands of visitors ate.

The large sukkah at Kikar Safra, Safra Square,

looked the same as in recent years, but

inside it was decorated with unique decorations using recycled plastic.

Sukkot ranged from the most simple,

to a ‘political’ sukkah on poles,

to this colorful beer bottle decorated bar sukkah.

Perhaps the biggest difference from last year was Jaffa Road.

Jaffa Road was lined with sukkot and crowded.

The Jerusalem light rail trains were running and filled with people,

last year they were going, but filled with sand bags on trial runs.

The city center was busy day and night.

Our sukkah was a busy place too, I just wish it hadn’t rained

so hard during the main course at dinner the first night. 

It was indeed a very happy Sukkot holiday in Jerusalem, Israel.

If you missed it perhaps, next year in Jerusalem?