Sukkot Street Parties Bring Joyous Holiday Mitzvahs to Cities Around the World

by Karen Schwartz – chabad.org

Aliza Shabani, of Whitefish Bay, Wis., grew up celebrating Sukkot with her family in Los Angeles. When she moved to the Badger State in 2017, she was looking for a way to connect with the holiday. She called a local Chabad House and found out about the annual community-wide street party put on by Chabad-Lubavitch of Wisconsin. “I loved the vibe; you find the community together, you feel the positive energy,” she says. “I was able to get a little piece of home away from home.”

Street parties are all the rage, and Chabad centers are bringing both fun and festival mitzvahs to cities around the world this year, where Jewish people of all ages and backgrounds will showcase their unity, pride and love of G‑d, Torah and mitzvahs. Shabani will be joining Milwaukee’s Sukkot Street Party with her husband and three kids, ages 4 years, 2 years, and 5 months old. The celebration on Monday night, Oct. 3 is being co-hosted for the second time with the Milwaukee Jewish Federation.

“It’s really nice when they do these public events,” Shabani tells Chabad.org. “They bring everyone together and show the kids a sense of community, and that Sukkot is not just for adults but for kids, too. Chabad always does something fun and creative for everybody to look forward to.”

An Ancient Tradition

Sukkot begins this year before sundown on Friday, Sept. 29. The first two days are Yom Tov. The intermediate days (nightfall on Oct. 1 until sundown on Oct. 6) are quasi-holidays known as Chol Hamoed. Jews dwell in the sukkah and take the Four Kinds every day of Sukkot (except for Shabbat). The final two days (from sundown on Oct. 6 until nightfall on Oct. 8; only Oct. 7 in Israel) are a separate holiday: Shemini Atzeret / Simchat Torah.

One of the highlights of the holidays is the Simchat Beit Hashoevah celebrations that harken back to the Holy Temple in Jerusalem, when all-night dancing, singing and acrobatics would accompany the joyous drawing of water that was poured on the Altar each of the holiday’s seven days. In 1980, the Rebbe, Rabbi Menachem M. Schneerson, of righteous memory, called for the modern revival of the festivities of old, and ever since, the celebration has taken many forms, including sit-down farbrengen gatherings in sukkahs, as well as lively dancing in the streets.

Mushka Lein, co-director of Chabad of the East Side in Milwaukee, says what started out decades ago as a festive Sukkot dinner hosted by Rabbi Yisroel Shmotkin, founder and executive director of Lubavitch of Wisconsin, has morphed into a community-wide street party. They’re blocking off the streets for the high-energy event, which will feature cotton candy and popcorn, balloon artists, face-painting, strolling street shows, dance shows and an LED dance floor, she says.

The Friendship Circle of Wisconsin will also be on hand, offering a sensory-friendly sukkah and sensory-activity station to increase the event’s accessibility.

Planning started back in June, she says, with representatives of a number of Chabad Centers in the region coming together to make it happen. “It’s not a one-person project; it’s all of ours,” she says. “A lot of people give a lot of love to the program, people who care about it and want it to be great.”

Jews from all backgrounds and all parts of the community will join together to take part in the event, which is being offered free of charge. “The goal is for people to come away with a sense of unity and community, and the joy of being Jewish, the joy of celebrating our high holidays,” she says. “That’s really the main message of Sukkot—joy and inclusion.”

Dancing Through the Streets of London and San Francisco

Meanwhile, almost 4,000 miles away, Rabbi Gershon Overlander, director of Chabad House of Hendon in London, is also getting ready for his community to spill out into the streets to celebrate Sukkot. “It’s a very big high point for the entire community,” he says of the event, which features live music. “Once a year, we can show the whole world that we can be proud as Jews. We can really spread out and show the whole world the joy of what Judaism is all about,” he says.

They’ve been having Sukkot street parties since 2005, with the event bringing together thousands of Jews of all backgrounds from different synagogues and groups for dancing and children’s entertainment. “A lot of it is about kids—kids being happy and bringing joy,” he says.

It’s a draw for local shops and even catches the eye of passersby, he says. “People walking by see this whole street party and everybody having a nice time, so they like it, they join in,” he explains.

And in San Francisco, Rabbi Nosson and Chaya Potash, directors of Chabad of Cole Valley, are heading to the streets Tuesday, Oct. 3, with groups from 14 different communities and organizations to celebrate Sukkot. Started during Covid in 2021 when most events were being held outdoors, the street festival emerged as a way to bring people together and find community and connection, he says.

Today, it draws from 300 to 400 people, weaving smaller communities throughout the city together in celebration. “This is the one time a year most of them get together,” he says. “This is unique in the ways communities are coming together—they’re coming together to create something much greater than the sum of its parts.”

They’ll have a rock-climbing wall and activities for children, arts-and-crafts, kosher food including a barbecue and gourmet soups, plus an array of desserts, he says, as well as live music and a fire juggler. Of course, there will be a 40-foot sukkah set up for dining. “It’s a really fun time for people to participate,” he says, adding that post-Covid, they’re seeing people emerge from isolation to take part in holiday celebrations and Jewish traditions. “People are coming back to feel connection and community in a much more vibrant and committed way that is just inspiring to observe and be a part of.”

Even the process of organizing the event is special, adds Potash, as Chabad emissaries and community leaders put their heads together to make it a success. “It’s not just the joy of people coming together, it’s the joy of everyone putting on the event,” he says. “It’s a really powerful and energetic experience—that feeling of getting aligned and coming together for the benefit of the community as a whole.”

To find Sukkot celebrations near you, visit the Chabad Center locator here.