The Roofed Letters ; Sukkah, Text as Architecture

Donna L. Cohen

University of Florida

School of Architecture

This paper will briefly introduce the Jewish holiday of Sukkot, then explore

the two dimensional space of the Hebrew letters "samech" "kaf" "hei", and

their relationship to the three dimensional architectural space of the

Sukkah. Images of Sukkahs designed and constructed by students at the

University of Florida School of Architecture, and a discussion of the design

intentions for these sukkahs will accompany the presentation.

The most common contemporary understanding of the Sukkah structure is the

primitive hut or "booth" which is inhabited during Sukkot, the Festival of

Booths. To dwell in the hut is both to turn attention to the beauty and

bounty of nature, and to reenact the forty years of wandering in the

desert.

A richer understanding of the festival may be held by those who are aware of

the deep connection between the text describing the festival, and the

architectural space of the sukkah. Though the actual form of the sukkah

appears simple, precise guidelines must be followed in order that the

completed structure be considered valid. The dimensioning tool for the

sukkah, a human scaled space, is the hand, and the measure for its

construction is in handbreadths. Just as a scribe is instructed to draw each

Hebrew letter of sacred text in a specific manner, with attention to

measure, material, and order, so too is the builder of the sukkah instructed

in the method, material, and timing of the construction of the sukkah.

There are three letters that form the word Sukkah: the Samech, the Kaf, and

the Hei. Like all letters in the Hebrew language these have literal,

numerical, and symbolic meanings. The name of the holiday and hence the

three letters themselves are derived from the Hebrew word for roof or cover,

the Shekinah, the clouds that protected the Israelites as they wandered in

the desert.

Each letter of Sukkah can be seen as a precise two dimensional drawing, and

as a potential plan for the sukkah structure. Samech, formed like a square

or a rounded square (meaning literally support or prop) Kaf, formed like a

sideways "U", (meaning the crown, the palm of the hand, the cover, the

cloud) and Hei (meaning window, lattice window, airhole) . The letters spell

out the elements of the sukkah: Support, Cover, Window. The significance of

the structure is "spelled out" by the architectonic elements; it is a

Support for the Crown, the Cover, the Cloud.

A sukkah does not need an architect to design it. Indeed, as we discovered,

contemporary interpretations of the primitive hut which celebrate the

elemental quality of the hut but ignore the importance of the text may not

look or feel like valid sukkahs. To dwell in the Sukkah is to dwell within,

and be protected by, the space of the word and image of G-d. The sukkah is

at once an intentionally fragile hut which sways in the wind, and an

immeasurably strong spatial embodiment of text.