Sukkat Shalom: Tabernacle of Peace

Date2012

MediumBody of the sculpture from various sizes of round, flat and solid stock mild steel, painted with extra white acrylic latex/high gloss paint

Dimensions7.5 height x 9-10' wide x 7'-8' feet deep (10 individual parts to be connected at the "roof")

Credit LineDC Commission on the Arts and Humanities Public Art Building Communities Grant (PABC)

Object numberDCCAH2013.065

ClassificationsSculpture

Locations

Edlavitch Jewish Community Center (1529 16th St NW)

DescriptionEvery year during the holiday of Sukkot, for one week, Jewish families all over the world eat, pray and, weather-allowing, sleep in temporary huts (Sukkot in Hebrew) to re-live the experience of their ancestors of thousands of years ago, who dwelled in huts while wandering in the desert for forty years before reaching the Promised Land. We can assume that the original Sukkah (plural Sukkot) was made of fronds of the palm trees that are widespread in the Middle East and have long been used for this purpose. A palm frond, Lulav, is present in each Sukkah and is waved along with willow and myrtle branches and a citron (Etrog) in six directions in a daily ritual during the holiday. Therefore, Luttwak decided to concentrate her interpretation of the Sukkah on images of the palm tree. Using steel as her medium, she created the walls mimicking roots of palm, while palm fronds form the roof of Luttwak’s “Sukkah.”