Daniel Libeskind was thinking about a sukkah when he designed the Glass Courtyard.
A sukkah is an improvised hut, built for Sukkot, the Feast of Tabernacles or the Festival of Ingathering. Every autumn, Jews commemorate the 40 years the Israelites spent wandering the desert, during which they lived in huts. In remembrance of this time spent in Egypt before reaching the Promised Land, some Jews eat in a sukkah. Some also sleep there, weather permitting. A sukkah has to have at least three stable walls …
… just like this Glass Courtyard.
Its roof must be covered in such a way that the sky and stars can be seen through it …
… as is the case here.
The sukkah is also a sociable place for eating together.
Just as you can spend time in the Glass Courtyard – meet friends and eat and drink together. The Jewish Museum also uses the space for concerts, conferences and discussions. This social dimension is important to Daniel Libeskind. He associates the structure not just with the Feast of Tabernacles but also with Jewish wedding ceremonies, which are conducted under a canopy known as a chuppah.
Daniel Libeskind: “A sukkah is a kind of chuppah. It’s a cover, a celebratory structure that even has the dynamics woven into it. And I thought, not to construct just a roof and glass barks and just seal the building, but something that was permeable, something that had also reference to nature in its own way, something that reminded us of other traditions that are part of the Jewish Museum.”
