If you build it

During a time of year when most people add unpacking down comforters and making fireplace s’mores to their to-do lists, Deborah Hamilton, Jim Rosenberg and their three girls start planning outdoor dinner parties and backyard sleepovers. The Evanston clan is one of a growing number of families who literally and figuratively step outside every fall to celebrate the ancient Jewish harvest festival of Sukkot—a holiday that’s gaining appeal in secular society for its celebration of eco- and DIY-values.

Families build a pretty little hut-like structure called a “sukkah,” which they then use for seven days of al fresco eating and entertaining. The idea is for the sukkah to become their living and dining space, and to spend the nights there if it’s comfortable. “Our kids always have the idea of sleeping in the sukkah,” says Hamilton. “Last year [they] were out there in their sleeping bags. I think they made it about an hour.”

Dinner in a friend’s sukkah inspired the Hamilton-Rosenberg clan to get their hands dirty and build their first one about five years ago. The family uses a basic do-it-yourself kit from The Sukkah Project. Advertised as “klutz-proof,” the kits start at around $60 (plus the cost of the wood) and include the hardware, building plans, detailed instruction booklet and shopping list to take to the lumberyard.

“Our sukkah is something the kids feel very proud of,” Hamilton says. “They see family and friends enjoying the decorations they made in the sukkah they built. It really gives them a sense of ownership and a sense of being the hosts.”

A sukkah or booth is a non-permanent structure meant to resemble the Israelites’ temporary housing during their 40-year-long post-Egypt stint in the desert. Its roof, known in Hebrew as s’chach, is made of organic materials such as pine branches. Tradition says that you should be able to see the stars through the s’chach.

Along with the ease of the kits, Sukkot’s green vibe has increased the holiday’s popularity among the all faiths, according to Judith Henry, who along with her husband cofounded The Sukkah Project 16 years ago in North Carolina. “Building and dwelling in the sukkah is a real teachable moment for kids about how fragile our world is and how we are all vulnerable to changes—good and bad—in our environment,” she says. “An ideal time to talk about these issues is lying on your back in a sleeping bag and looking at the sky through the s’chach.”

Sukkot begins at sundown on September 22.