A Few Missing Pieces – 9.20.10

One of the truly fascinating things about living in Israel is being a part of a country that really revolves around The Jewish Calendar. Places completely shut down before the chagim (following the major pre-chag rush) and Shabbat, even in areas that are not completely religious, is Shabbat.

I've never been one to erect our sukkah immediately after breaking the fast following Yom Kippur; I guess I'm just too wiped out at that point to begin such a task. However, there were clearly several of our neighbors who did in fact jump right into their sukkah construction as soon as Yom Kippur had come to a close. Kol Hakavod to them.

But today it was my turn. Naturally, the "Sukkot Box" and the schach, wooden beams, etc. all ended up on the multi-purpose balcony. I carefully carried these items from the balcony to the courtyard at the entrance of our house, navigating my way through the boxes that remained in the playroom and the entrance to the kitchen. Metal Poles – check, wooden beams – check, schach – check, tarp for the walls – check, decorations – check, connector pieces – uh oh! I looked through some boxes that might have been mislabeled, but to no avail.

Plan B – Replace the connectors. I went to a nearby hardware store and explained exactly what I was looking for. I was informed that "Maimon" in the center of town sells these types of sukkot and could help me with the connectors. OK – time to find "Maimon". It took a little bit of searching, but eventually I discovered Maimon's Sukkah Depot (garage, hole in wall, etc.) "Maimon" did sell similar sukkot, but did not have connectors that were compatible with our succah.

Plan C – Our Landlord, Rafi, is not only a great guy, but also a long-time resident of Teverya. He's a great resource. (He also knew about "Maimon".) Rafi told us about a guy in Haifa who would certainly have the pieces we needed. He made a few phone calls and sure enough, we could have the pieces delivered from Haifa – for several hundred shekel…

Plan D – Rafi pointed out the courtyard was actually a built in sukkah (that he had used in the past). He offered to provide the curtains that would serve as the walls and to help put up the schach. Rafi got his ladder(which appeared to have been passed down through several generations) and the curtains, trimmed the bushes on the side and spent about an hour helping us transform the courtyard into a sukkah.

I returned the poles and the tarp to the multi-purpose balcony. Sometimes you have to go with Plan D.