Fall Festivals

Sukkot Events

Join Temple Israel for Sukkot!

Help us build our sukkahs at Strawbery Banke and Temple Israel

Please join us to help build our sukkahs! The Strawbery Banke sukkah will be set up and decorated on Tuesday, September 26th at 3 pm (rain dates 9/27 or 9/28). A date for setting up the TI sukkah is still in progress.

<!–October 2, 9:00 am, Temple Israel, Register
October 9, 9:00 am, Strawbery Banke, Register
First we build, then we will decorate! Bring natural materials (flowers, branches, gourds, etc) to beautify our sukkah next to Shapiro House at Strawbery Banke.–>

Sukkot Potluck and Shabbes Tisch at Strawbery Banke
Friday, September 29, 6:30pm

Welcome the festival and Shabbat in a shared event with Havurah Piscataqua and TIP. Bring a dairy/pareve dish to share and a chair. In place of a Shabbat service, we will join voices in song and prayers from our tables as we welcome Shabbat and Sukkot.

Shabbat Sukkot Service at Temple Israel
Saturday, September 30, 10 am

Sukkot Service with Lulav & Etrog at Temple Israel
Sunday, October 1, 10 am

Sushi in the Sukkah for TIP Teens!
Sunday, October 1, 12pm

Celebrate the Feast of Booths with delicious sushi and then roll out sushi candy for dessert! Help decorate the sukkah, hang out with your friends, and enjoy a night in Portsmouth. Open to all Jewish teens, 13 and up! Location sent upon registration. Learn more and register.

Seniors in the Sukkah, sponsored by JFNH
Wednesday, October 4, 12pm
Strawbery Banke

Please join JFNH’s “Seniors Forever Young” in the Shapiro House sukkah at Strawbery Banke Museum in Portsmouth for a special Sukkot holiday luncheon! $18/person. Registration required by September 29. Call 603-627-7679 to pay by credit card or mail payment to JFNH, Attention: SFY, 273 South River Road Unit #5, Bedford, NH 03110.

Pizza in the Hut
Wednesday, October 4, 6:30pm

Join us for a special pizza and salad dinner in the sukkah after Hebrew school! Enjoy time with each other on a beautiful evening as we fulfil the mitzvah of eating in the sukkah. Open to the community, kindly pre-register so we have enough pizza for everyone! Location sent upon registration. Learn more and register.

Hoshana Rabbah

Hoshana Rabba Service with potluck lunch
Friday, October 6, 10am

Celebrate the final day of Sukkot with an outdoor service at a private sukkah, including waving of lulav and etrog. Address and directions will be provided in the registration confirmation email. Please bring a dairy / pareve / vegetarian dish to share! Register.

Visit the Sukkah at TIP or Strawbery Banke!

During the week of Sukkot (Friday evening, September 29, through Friday, October 6, before sunset), fulfill the mitzvah “to dwell” in the sukkah. Bring a snack, have a seat and recite this blessing:

Barukh Atah Adonai Eloheinu Melekh ha-olam asher kidshanu b’mitzvotav v’tzivanu lei’sheiv ba-sukkah. 
Blessed is Adonai our G-d who sanctifies us with mitzvot and with this mitzvah to sit in the sukkah.

• During Sukkot the TIP playground gates will be unlocked between 1:00 pm and 7:00 pm. (The Early Learning Center is in session weekdays until 1:00 pm.)
• Folding chairs will be available in the sukkah.
• Please do not leave any trash in the playground or in the sukkah.
• Playground equipment is reserved for use by children ages 5 and younger.
• No reservation is required; please be mindful about sharing the space with others.
• To visit the Strawbery Banke sukkah before 5pm, enter through the main admissions gate and let the staff know you are visiting the sukkah. After 5pm you may enter through side gates.

Shemini Atzeret / Simchat Torah events
Saturday, October 7

Shemini Atzeret/Shabbat Service with Yikzkor
Saturday, October 7, 10am
Sanctuary service and Zoom

Simchat Torah Celebration with Klezmer Band, Ice Cream
Saturday, October 7, 7-9:30pm
Sanctuary (with Zoom) and Levenson Social Hall

Complete our yearly cycle of Torah reading and begin a new cycle with a return to Genesis 1:1. Join in the joy of the moment as we dance with our Torahs to tunes by the Klezwoods klezmer band. After the service, enjoy ice cream and all the fixings in the Social Hall, with more live music.