A new way to spread ancient message

Livonia, MI – It’s a new Dodge pick-up with an ancient message — and those on the road this week in Southfield, the Bloomfields, Livonia and most points between have probably seen it.

But most passing motorists probably don’t understand the message, which reads: “Happy Sukkot.” They probably don’t know what to make of the roofed shelter which sits in the truck bed or the symbols of a lemon-like fruit and willow branch which are painted on its side.

That’s the point, says the truck’s driver who wishes to raise understanding of the Jewish holiday and its meaning.

“Sukkot is one of our more joyous holidays,” said Levi Stein, the Oak Park man who built the shelter as well as several others on display throughout Michigan.

Beginning five days after Yom Kippur, Sukkot is a seven-day festival of rejoicing for many of the world’s Jews.

The wooden booth represents the temporary structure in which ancient Jews lived during their years in the wilderness.

As for the symbols:

“The etrog (fruit) and the lulav (willow branches) are shaken together to symbolize the unity of the Jewish people,” Stein said during a stop Monday outside a Southfield office building to display the mobile shelter.

An Orthodox Jew and member of the Lubavitch movement, Stein said he hopes the trucks serve as a reminder to American Jews of the significance of the sometimes-ignored holiday.

“The message is primarily directed at Jewish people, but the concept of unity is something that should have meaning for everyone,” Stein said. That is especially true, he noted, in these war-torn times.

Also known as the Feast of Tabernacles, Sukkot dates back at least as far as the Biblical book of Leviticus, written some 3,500 years ago. The phrase Sukkot refers to the shelters and is considered a more accurate translation by some Jewish scholars of the holiday’s ancient name.

As a harvest festival, Sukkot has been compared with Thanksgiving and some scholars believe it may even have inspired the Pilgrims.

Like pilgrims, Stein and others will be traveling this week.

“We’ll be in northern Michigan, Toledo and in Ontario as well,” he said.

Though the trip ends today, Stein hopes the holiday’s message will live on.