Sukkah in Canary Wharf, London

2016

Parshas Haazinu (האזינו – Listen!), Deuteronomy 32:1-52.
Moses exhorts the people to remember the blessings they have enjoyed. He encourages her to remain faithful to Gd and to give thanks to Him. In this parsha there are many allusions to the end times.
The haftarah is read in Samuel II 22:1-51

Samuel II – 22 – שְׁמוּאֵל ב
ד מהלל , אקרא יי {ס} ומאיבי, אושע {ר}
4 Glory I cried to the Lord, who delivers me of my enemies!

מְהֻלָּל (root הלל): let all glorify and praise Him, famous for good (שהכול מהללים ומשבחים אותו, מפורסם לטם). The Hallel (הלל – Praise [to God]) is a prayer consisting of Psalms 113 to 118. It is recited on most holidays, especially during the pilgrimage festival of Sukkot. There are two prescriptions specific to Sukkot: the obligation to take the four species1 and that of abiding in the sukkah (סכה or סוכה). According to the Halakha, the sukkah is a structure consisting of 4, 3, or 2 ½ walls2 and a roof of cut plants3. For a week, we swap our usual home to live in a sukkah that leaves us at the mercy of the elements, demonstrating our trust in divine protection.

Sukkah of 200m² designed in 2016, by KPF4, at Canary Wharf5, a district of business, of about forty hectares, developed on the banks of the Thames.


1 Etrog (citron), lulav (date palm), hadass (myrtle branch), and the arava (willow branch).
2 Haim Yossef David ben Isaac Zeharia Azoulay (חיים יוסף דוד אזולאי) abbreviated as H”ida ( חיד”א), rabbi, kabbalist, Talmudist and Sephardic ruler of the 18th century (Jerusalem, 1724 – Livorno, 1807). writes in the Devach Lefi Midbar Quedamot (דבש לפי מדבר קדמות – The honey of the ancient words) that the shape of each letter of the word Sukkah (סכה) alludes to the number of walls (four walls = ס , three walls = כ or two walls and ½ = ה ) for that a sukkah is kosher.
3 The Skhach (סכך) must be thick enough to provide more shade than light in the sukkah.
4 architecture office aiming to design buildings towards carbon neutrality.
5 District developed from the 1980s, which has become the most important business center in L waves after the City.

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