This is a postcard with a photograph of a street in Jerusalem’s ultra-Orthodox neighbourhood of Mea She’arim during the festival of Sukkot. The black and white photograph depicts homes, each with a sukkah built on the balcony. A sukkah is the temporary dwelling in which Jews traditionally live during the seven days of Sukkot. The sukkot in the photograph are made of wood and tarpaulin with branches used as schach, the special roof that characterizes a sukkah.
The specifications of a sukkah are detailed in the Mishnah and other codes of Jewish law and state that nothing may come between the schach and the sky. This is why sukkot are built on balconies and not on the street below, where they would be underneath the balconies.
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Sukkot and the Four Species - The Festival of Sukkot (Tabernacles) has two central commandments. The first is that Jews should live in a temporary abode (Sukkah) for seven days (eight days outside of Israel). The second is that on every day of the festival, Jews take the Four Species (Arba’at HaMinim) in hand and make a blessing over them.
Each of the Four Species has certain requirements for them to be fitting (Kosher) for the commandment (Mitzvah). According to tradition, the buyer should check that the requirements are present in each of the species. The Four Species consist of the Lulav (palm branch), the Etrog (citrus fruit), Hadass (myrtle branches) and Aravah (willow branches).
Mea She’arim – Mea She’arim is a Haredi or Hassidic (ultra-Orthodox) neighbourhood in Jerusalem. Founded in 1874, Mea She’arim is one of the oldest Jewish neighbourhoods built outside the walls of the Old City. The area was designed as a courtyard neighbourhood, surrounded by a wall with gates that could be locked at night. Several different Hassidic groups have formed communities in Mea She’arim, and they can be identified by their own style of clothing. Today the neighbourhood is inhabited mostly by the most extreme ultra-Orthodox communities, and many attempt to live as enclosed and insular a life as possible. At the entrance to the neighbourhood are posters demanding visitors and residents to adhere to strict “modesty” regulations. Many of the residents of this neighbourhood do not pay taxes, vote in the general elections, or even use the national electricity system. The residents of the neighbourhood mostly wear traditional Hassidic clothing. The children attend independent religious schools, and the common language is Yiddish, since the community opposes the use of the holy language, Hebrew, as a daily, secular language.
