Here in our lovely new home, we have a small porch.  The only time that’s really a limitation is when it’s Sukkos, when it’s customary to build a temporary hut, where meals are eaten and family members often sleep.

We accepted that our sukka would have to be very small, and there would only be room for about three or four of our family members under the part that isn’t covered by the roof overhang.  Those who weren’t in the sukka itself would be very close by, at a connecting table inside the apartment. But it was disappointing to think of holiday meals without having guests (didn’t want to invite people and not have room for them to sit in the sukka!), or even all being able to sit in the sukka together.

Last week, a neighbor a couple of houses away who has a synagogue in his home offered to let us use their ‘shul’ sukkah.  I almost rejected this idea out of hand as being too much work, but then saw the kids liked the idea.  Their sukkah is nice and large, and we were so happy that we are able to invite guests!  The family has their own sukkah on the other side of the house, so we’ll each have privacy.  We also built a small sukka on our porch to use during the week, when we aren’t having holiday meals.

Here in Israel, instead of two days of holidays at the beginning of Sukkos, there is only one.  So my menu plan below is just for Wednesday night and Thursday lunch.  We’ll be having 23 people tonight, and then 18 for lunch.

Sukkos menu – dinner:

• challah
• chicken
• potato bourekas
• coleslaw
• fresh salad
• matbucha
• roast sweet potatoes
• squash kugel
• crunchy salad
• fudgy brownie cake
• snickerdoodles
• peach compote