Jewish Mystery Machine Comes to Auraria

Auraria, CO — If you were on campus Oct. 12 between 12:30 p.m. and 3 p.m. you may have passed by the sukkah van parked near the P.E. building and thought, “What’s a sukkah van?”

The Chabad of Auraria, a campus Jewish student organization affiliated with the Chabad of Colorado, set up the van in celebration of the Jewish holiday of Sukkot, which means “booths” in Hebrew.

Sukkot celebrates the beginning of fall and the Biblical wandering of the Jews during the Exodus. The holiday started Friday night.

Rabbi Yisrael-Moshe Ort, who is a member of the Chabad of Colorado, said it is a mitzvah, or Jewish commandment, to live in a sukkah for a week.

Rabbi Ort and his family observe the holiday by eating, drinking and spending time in the sukkah, but do not sleep in it.

The sukkah van is a mobile, kosher sukkah, Ort said.

The Chabad of Auraria brought the sukkah van to the college in order to provide Jewish services and activities to students, to get the word out about the group, and to answer questions about Judaism that students might have.

“I’m here to give them the kosher information,” he said.

In addition to the sukkah, Jewish students were able to participate in another mitzvah called “shaking the lulav and esrog.” Lulav is Hebrew for the date palm branch, which is bound together with myrtle and willow, and the esrog is the citron fruit. The four plants are shaken three times in six different directions to make a blessing.

“They represent four personality types of Jews and emphasize the idea of Jewish unity,” Ort said. “If any of the types is missing, you can’t make a blessing.”

Regarding making a blessing, Ort said the idea is best described as revealing the “sanctity of the infinite in the physical world.”

Ort said students who aren’t Jewish and who may have questions about Judaism were welcome to participate as well, although only Jews could make blessings.

“Judaism says that a person doesn’t have to be Jewish to serve God,” he said.

Charles Hoskinson, a student of theoretical mathematics at UCD and former Metro student, made a blessing at the sukkah. He said he usually doesn’t participate in mitzvahs but decided to today. Hoskinson said he was Jewish on his maternal grandmother’s side.

“These people put so much effort into representing the faith,” he said. “Also, they gave me candy. These gentlemen are very kind.”

The group served kosher cakes, pastries, candies and drinks in the sukkah and played Hasidic music. They also dressed in traditional Hasidic dress, including hats and kapotas, which are long jackets.

Jessica Meksin, a Metro student and member of the Chabad of Auraria, helped to organize the sukkah event. She said the group has been around for about a year, although they are still working toward becoming an official campus organization.

Meksin said that other than the Jews for Jesus, they are the only Jewish organization on campus.

“Unlike the Jews for Jesus, we aren’t trying to convert people,” she said.

The group is organizing several events in the next few months, including a Simchas Torah and events for Purim and Hanukkah. According to Aura Ort, Yisrael-Moshe’s wife, UCD is organizing several speakers of different religions to give a talk on campus.

Meksin said the Orts are doing outreach work to Jewish students. “Because of them I’m becoming more Jewish,” she said. “They’ve opened my eyes to a lot of things.”