White House Jewish Liaison Shelley Greenspan has officially announced the opening of a presidential sukkah at the entrance to President Joe Biden's White House residence.
The announcement was made on Saturday, the first day of the Jewish holiday of Sukkot.
Chag Sukkot Sameach!A special shoutout out to all the kids who came to decorate the official @WhiteHouse sukkah today.The sukkah will be the first thing visitors see on public White House tours during the week of Sukkot pic.twitter.com/eNFGPYmDpD
— Shelley Greenspan (@ShelleyGspan) September 29, 2023
Greenspan took to X (formerly Twitter) to share the news, expressing her gratitude to all the children who came to decorate the official White House sukkah.
"A special shoutout to all the kids who came to decorate the official White House sukkah today," she tweeted.
She went on to mention that the sukkah would be the first thing visitors see on public White House tours during the week of Sukkot, which runs until October 8 in America.
The White House sukkah is adorned with colorful paper chains, each carrying different wishes for the new Jewish year. On the table inside the sukkah, there is an assortment of vegetables and fruits, including pumpkins and apples, symbolizing the autumn American holidays and Rosh Hashanah.
Sukkot is a seven-day holiday that began on the 15th of the Hebrew month of Tishrei, known for its agricultural and spiritual significance.
Historically, it was one of the three pilgrimage festivals, when the Israelites were commanded to visit the Temple in Jerusalem. During Sukkot, people construct temporary booths called sukkahs, harkening back to the Israelites' desert wanderings, and share meals within them.
The holiday also includes rituals like waving the fours species and sitting in the sukkah.
Not the first sukkah at the White House
While this isn't the first time that a sukkah has been built at the White House, it is believed to be the first sukkah constructed at the White House's initiative and sponsored by the presidential residence.
The first known sukkah built on the White House grounds was in 2019, during Donald Trump's presidency, by American Friends of Lubavitch. In addition, in 2013, the then-vice president Biden and his wife, Dr. Jill Biden, hosted a fall Jewish Community reception at the vice president's residence, which featured the first-ever vice presidential sukkah. The sukkah was constructed by sukkah builders from American Friends of Lubavitch.
The White House sukkah is expected to be open to visitors in the upcoming week.