Mobile Sukkah Tour Offers Holiday Celebrations During Pandemic Era

October 2, 2020 Staff Report

From Oct. 5-8, the JCC will offer a Mobile Sukkah Tour for individuals and families throughout the local Jewish community as a socially distant way to fulfill the commandment of spending time in a sukkah during Sukkot. (File photo)

Looking for a festive yet socially distant way to celebrate Sukkot, the Festival of Booths that will be observed this year from Friday night, Oct. 2, to Friday evening, Oct. 9?

The Jewish Community Center of Greater Baltimore has got you well covered (pun intended!).

From Oct. 5-8, the JCC will offer a Mobile Sukkah Tour for individuals and families throughout the local Jewish community as a safe and smart way to fulfill the commandment of spending time in a sukkah during Sukkot, which commemorates the sheltering of the Israelites in the wilderness after the Exodus from Egypt.

The Mobile Sukkah Tour will pop up in different communities through the holiday season, offering a chance to participate in a mitzvah activity (courtesy of the folks at Jewish Volunteer Connection) and enjoy entertainment from a variety of community partners and performers.

The locations for the Mobile Sukkah Tour will include the Baltimore Museum of Industry at 1415 Key Hwy. in Federal Hill; the Owings Mills JCC, 3506 Gwynnbrook Ave.; Hunt Valley Town Centre at 118 Shawan Rd. (with PJ Library, in the parking lot of Dick’s Sporting Goods); and the Eldersburg Jewish Congregation, at 1438 Liberty Rd.

The interior view of a sukkah. (Photo courtesy of Eliyahu Alpern)

The Mobile Sukkah Tour is presented in partnership with The Associated: Jewish Federation of Baltimore, Jewish Community Services, PJ Library, JVC, B’nai Israel Congregation, the Baltimore Jewish Abilities Alliance and The Meyerhoff Foundation.

Pre-registration for the tour is required, with a limit of 12 families per time slot. Register at jcc.org/mobile-sukkah-tour. For any accommodations, including an oral or ASL interpreter, contact Rachel Turniansky, coordinator of special needs programs at the Center for Jewish Education, at rturniansky@cjebaltimore.org.