There are 3 things (maybe a 4th below) that I’d consider “Albany Sukkah Originals” – customs and traditions that started here in Albany NY, that my father, Rabbi Israel Rubin, innovated or implemented locally and has since spread elsewhere, some of these quite far and wide.
We shared these on the first days of Sukkos – in the week before my father passed away on Shemini Atzeret night.
THE SUKKAHLEH SONG
The Yiddish version is a much older song, it goes back to the Old Country. My wife’s family (the Galperins) have a history with this song, too. But until my father came along it wasn’t well translated and certainly wasn’t popular with non Yiddish speakers. He retranslated the song in a way that conveys the original but also rhymes and flows well in the English translation – see his Sukkahleh Song lyrics here – and when we came to Shabbos House in the late 1990’s he insisted that we try to sing it with the students. I thought it would never fly, it’s too old-school, but students loved it! It became a tradition, we sing it most nights in the Sukkah, year after year! And now many others campuses and Chabad Houses sing it, too, and each year alumni write us how they sang in the Sukkahleh Song in their Sukkahs at home!
Postscript: At the closing of the Kashani-Leffak Shul dedication on Hoshana Rabba 5787, one night before his passing! my father was present at the ceremony when we played the Sukkahleh Song on violin and the whole crowd joined in singing this song. It seemed to be a sweet Nachas for him. He passed away the next night on Shemini Atzeret, after dancing the Hakafot at Cong. Shomray Torah (aka The Shteeble) among the people he loved and who loved him.
THE “OPEN SUKKAH” SIGN
My father was one of the original Shluchim (Rebbe’s emissaries, and directors of local Chabad organizations), and had an especially close relationship with the Rebbe’s Chief of Staff and Head of Secretariat, Rabbi Hodakov. The Shluchim of that era were in direct communication with Rabbi Hodakov, who usually shared directives from the Rebbe without disclosing that they were from the Rebbe. That generation of Shluchim would usually assume whatever Hodakov told them to be from the Rebbe himself.
One day on Sukkot Rabbi Hodakov called my father and asked him whether his Sukkah was in front of his home or on the side of it. My parents Sukkah was always on the side of their home, right outside the kitchen door. I have many memories in the Sukkah, perhaps for another time. So Rabbi Hodakov told him to put a lawn sign, the way realtors do, on the front lawn, with the words “Open Sukkah” so that passersbys can see and feel welcome to the Sukkah.
My father made these signs and used them each year. I do not know of any other Shliach that received the same directive, but word spread and now quite a few other Shluchim do the same. But it seemed to have started right here in Albany!
HOT CIDER IN THE SUKKAH
This is an upstate treat, a fall tradition, usually with some cinnamon sticks, some add spice, some add rum or bourbon – we keep it simple, usually with boiled with a few cinnamon sticks. We live surrounded by Apple country, there are apple farms in every direction. Hot Cider matches the mood, the weather, the locale. But my father made it a Sukkah tradition!
There’s more to this than just a nice hot drink in a brisk chilly Sukkah. My father felt strongly that his Shlichus was to this locale and therefore his efforts here should have local flavor. Not everything local can sync with his Shlichus mission, but those things that could, he engaged with and utilized in a variety of creative ways. If Hot Cider is a local Fall tradition, then it very much belongs in an Albany Sukkah!
and one more… not an Albany original, but also a Sukkah tradition of my father:
WOODEN SUKKAH BOARDS
This is not a halachic requirement. There are many good Kosher Sukkahs built with pipe and tarp or canvas and the like. One can be quite innovative with Sukkah wall materials. (My grandfather Reb Michel Piekarski made his Sukkah first of old doors and then formica tops…) But for some reason my father was very into wooden Sukkah boards.
Not only for himself, but for the many communal and personal Sukkahs he built and put up around town (there were many over the years!) always the same style: Each wood board had a 2×4 wooden frame and a particle board wall. They were almost all 4×8 and the particle board came in that size. I remember building and transporting these boards with my father.
These are heavier boards, more difficult to store, it wasn’t an efficient way to build and store many Sukkahs. But somehow he felt it was the way to go. Perhaps this is why I feel most at home in a sturdy rustic wooden Sukkah. Though, don’t get me wrong, Kosher Sukkahs can indeed be made out of a great many diverse materials!
Looking back, I never asked my father about this. It might just have been an upstate weather kind of thing, where you want to keep out the cold and wind. It might have been the way he knew best (the 4×8 sheets came in that size). Or maybe it was a Sukkahleh Song message that he deeply internalized. It might be fragile, it might feel iffy, but it’s solid, dependable and strong. A wood Sukkah is unwavering (most of the time).
I know he felt that way about his Shlichus in Albany. It wasn’t easy, there was minimal financial support, there were many obstacles and challenges, it was uphill a lot of the way. But he never second-guessed it, he never contemplated leaving for a different place, job or lifestyle. He just kept at it. He felt secure and confident in his mission. They might have been rickety boards, basic materials, bare-bones and nothing fancy, but they were sturdy, solid, unwavering and strong.