Little Avidan and his Sukkah

by Jessica Simte

(October 8) Six-year-old Avidan Singson was looking forward to Sukkot this year as he has been doing every year of his short life. The day after Yom Kippur he watched his father, a seasonal rice farmer and stone quarrier, leave early in the morning with his friends to look for materials to build a sukkah with in Lhangkichoi township, a suburb of Churachandpur. By late morning, Avidan’s father was back with a load of fresh beeh, a local species of wild grass commonly used to thatch roofs. Normally, beeh is dried in the sun before use, but now, fresh and green, it was perfect for the holiday tabernacle commanded by the Bible.

As Avidan watched his father and his friends at work, he had an idea. He would build a sukkah too, one just the right size for him and his own friends! When his father cut the bamboo stalks that formed the sukkah’s frame, he asked him to set aside some shorter lengths and helphim build a frame the height of a child. He fetched the tools his father needed and handed them to him, and held the lengths of bamboo while his father tied them with thin bamboo strips. . The beeh thatch on the roof, though, he proudly laid all by himself. When all was done, he invited his friends to sit inside with him. “We wanted to sleep there,” he told our Newsletter, “but it’s too small to for so many mattresses. But when my mother cooks our meals, I’m going to take my food into my sukkah and invite all my friends to eat with me there.” We’ll wait to hear from him how it turned out.

Avidan in his sukkah.