For the first time ever, a succah was erected at the White House

Last week, White House staffers could be seen adjusting their glasses as they approached the blue hut with the bamboo roof on the White House grounds.

Well, not exactly, but they did witness an unusual occurrence. In fact, for the first time ever, a succah was erected at the White House, the work of American Friends for Lubavitch and its local representative, Rabbi Levi Shemtov.

Rabbi Shemtov told Mishpacha that the idea for a succah was first raised by the president’s daughter, Ivanka Trump, during last year’s Succos event at the White House. For many years, Rabbi Shemtov said, he has brought arba minim to the White House for government employees who want to fulfill the mitzvah. Last year, Rabbi Shemtov recalled, Ivanka said that “hopefully, by next year, we will have a succah.”

“And this year we got it done,” he said. “We built it on a lane that runs between the White House and the Treasury Department called East Executive Avenue.”

Rabbi Shemtov said that the succah had to be cleared by the Secret Service before they could start building. “We also had to make sure that it was a little out in the open. If Marine One has to land or take off, we don’t want it to blow away the succah. It already happened to us near the Capitol a couple of years ago.”

And who exactly visited the succah? Among the visitors were presidential advisor Avi Berkowitz, Assistant Secretary of the Treasury David Eisner, and Assistant Secretary of the Treasury Moishe Silk, who was previously featured in Mishpacha.

“It was there for Chol Hamoed so people who are staffers at the White House or the Treasury could have lunch there and spend some time.”

Chabad also built a succah on Capitol Hill, Rabbi Shemtov adds. “Members from both sides of the aisle came to visit,” he said. “The succah is the last bipartisan issue. Everyone should sit in the succah.”

(Originally featured in Mishpacha, Issue 783)