A Fifth Avenue Sukkos

Photos: Alexa Drew Photography

Few thoroughfares are more famous than New York’s Fifth Avenue. Two Chabad Midtown sukkahs along this famed stretch of city street serve as reminder to tens of thousands of passersby that this is our “Time of Joy and Celebration”.

Countless tourists, business people and locals are delighted to find shelter in these sukkahs. Most Manhattan denizens live in homes without yards, so these sukkahs are often the only opportunity for locals to celebrate the holiday.

Chabad of Midtown’s flagship Bryant Park Sukkah graces the terrace of the New York Public Library – at the crossroads of Fifth Avenue and 42nd Street – across from The Chabad Midtown Center at 509 Fifth Avenue.

For 18 years this famous sukkah has welcomed tens and thousands of visitors. Some just come by to say the blessing on the Lulav and Esrog, others join for the elegantly catered communal meals served on the holiday.

On Chol Hamoed, the intermediate days, many business people enjoy a break from their workday, enjoying their own meals under the canopy of fragrant schach comprised of natural cedar branches, oak leaves, and hypericum berries. Holiday trippers also stop by for refreshments, pausing to take pictures of the beautiful plants and floral arrangements custom-designed to surround the sukkah.

Fashion designer Elie Tahari marveled at the beauty of the sukkah and the sizable lunch crowd. Rabbi Yehoshua and Brocha Chana Metzger – along with a bevy of bochurim – greeted visitors, inviting them to the upcoming Simchas Torah celebrations.

Further downtown, where Fifth Avenue intersects with Broadway, The Madison Square Park Sukkah greets hundreds crowds of daily visitors. Rabbi Levi and Perel Shmotkin of CYP -Chabad Young Professionals – host meals, kids’ parties, and yet more lulav and esrog blessings. Under the auspices of Chabad of Midtown – this sukkah is convenient to the hordes of young families and businesses which have flocked to the trendy area on the border of the newly-hip neighborhoods of Chelsea, NoMad, and Flatiron.

Fifth Avenue. Where Sukkos is celebrated and memories are made.