Northern Riverview Celebrates Sukkot

[PHOTO: Rabbi Friedman educating Northern Riverview residents about the holiday of Sukkot]

On Thursday, October 5th, at Northern Riverview Healthcare Center in Haverstraw, the 180-bed skilled nursing facility celebrated the Jewish holiday of Sukkot with a warm visit from Rabbi Friedman and his two sons from the Chabad of Pomona. The holiday that began on Friday evening September 29 and ended on October 6, is all about the idea of having a home and the importance of having a roof over our heads. Equally, it also reminds everyone about slowing down and reconnecting with the natural world. Every Sukkot, many Jewish families build a temporary structure called a "sukkah", to demonstrate the huts the Israelites built when wandering in the desert for 40 years. Also, shaking a lulav and etrog, and saying a blessing, are customary for Sukkot as they represent the pairing of study and good deeds. A lulav is a cluster of plants including a palm branch, two boughs of willow, and three boughs of myrtle and the etrog is a citron fruit, basically an overgrown lemon.

As seen on News 12 Westchester