A sukkah roof. Meant to be temporary structure
Photo: Shai Rosenzweig
Kabbalah Center ordered to destroy sukkah
Tel Aviv Municipality orders sukkah erected in honor of holiday to be dismantled. 'Never have we heard of a court order to destroy a sukkah during Sukkot in our country,' say Kabbalah Center officials. Municipality: Court order will be carried out within 30 days
The Tel Aviv Municipality announced Tuesday to the members of the Kabbalah Center in the city that they must dismantle the giant sukkah they erected on the roof of their building within 24 hours.
The story started about a month ago when municipal building inspectors noticed the sukkah, then in its beginning stages of building, on the roof of the Kabbalah Center in the heart of the city. The inspectors viewed the sukkah as building without a permit and filled out a detailed report on the subject. The municipality then turned to the court for local affairs in Tel Aviv which issue a court order to halt the building.
Despite this, on the eve of Sukkot, the Kabbalah Center finished preparing the sukkah for the holiday. Tuesday, an inspector left them a court order to destroy the sukkah within 24 hours.
"For 12 years we have erected a large sukkah on our building's roof," said Meir Yeshurun, head of the Israeli branch of the Kabbalah Center. "All of a sudden, one morning, we found a note on the door from the municipality – a court order to destroy the sukkah.
"For a moment I felt as though I am in a country that persecutes Jews. You can see that it is a sukkah made from straw. Indeed, immediately after the holiday the sukkah will be taken down in any case. I have never heard that in our country a court order was issued to destroy a sukkah during Sukkot. It sounds like a joke."
The center turned to attorneys Amikam Hadar and Hedva Shapira who are expected to issue a request for an injunction to the court Wednesday morning.
"The Kabbalah Center erected without permit a structure combining poles and wooden rafters, and therefore a court order for its destruction was issued," the Tel Aviv Municipality reported Tuesday. "The court order to destroy it will be carried out within 30 days."
