For Jewish Families, Sukkah Keeps Traditions Alive

Construction Brings Members Together

Family friend Louis Marmon, above center, talks about building the sukkah with Evan Krame as Evan's son, Zach, 17, works on the structure at the Krames' home in Potomac. Below, Sarah Krame, 13, decorates it. The family tradition began with Evan's late father, Joe Krame, shown below right in a 2001 photo with his wife, Marilyn, Zach and Sarah. (Photos Ryan Anson For The Washington Post)

Joe Krame would have been mighty proud.

As the wooden frame of a hut took shape Sunday in the back yard of his son Evan's Potomac home, Krame would have seen that the years he spent in charge of the annual Jewish ritual would not have been in vain.

For 21 years, Joe Krame had been the one to build the sukkah, a temporary structure meant to represent the huts that Moses and the Israelites lived in as they wandered the desert for 40 years before they reached the Promised Land.

Jewish tradition requires that the sukkah be built as soon as possible after Yom Kippur, the Day of Atonement, which ended Saturday night. The sukkah is necessary to celebrate the eight-day holiday of Sukkot, which began yesterday. For seven nights, Jews are expected to live in the sukkah, or at least eat their meals there, and to invite family members and neighbors into the shelter.

Over the years, Joe and his wife, Marilyn, had always traveled from their Long Island home to build the shelter that Joe had designed. Every year they used the same collection of materials. Evan and his wife, Jodi, say Joe usually would have the sukkah half built by the time they got out of bed.

But not this year.

Krame died in December, shortly before his 74th birthday, leaving his son's family and friends to build the sukkah with just memories to guide them.

Wielding an electric drill, Evan Krame, 46, recalled how his father had built him his first sukkah when he came home from Hebrew school at age 14 and said he wanted one. Joe Krame, who was not as religious as his son, didn't know what a sukkah was.

"He was that rare person who could put things together," Evan Krame said.

"Even though he didn't have the same faith I had, he honored me by saying, 'If you believe, I'll help you.' "

Like hundreds of other sukkahs that rose this weekend in yards and driveways across the county, the Krames' sukkah was to be a simple structure: Mauve cloth would cover three sides of the wood frame, and a bamboo window shade would stretch across the top.

As usual, Evan's daughter, Sarah, 13, was in charge of decorating the interior, and she planned to hang clusters of plastic grapes, Indian corn and gourds, and decorative lights.

While some people construct sukkahs from scratch, prefabricated models that pop together quickly also can be purchased. The interior design depends on people's tastes and needs for comfort; some will add a heater and lighting, while others prefer a more rustic look.

Tradition also requires that the roof be unattached and somewhat open to the sky, so simple materials such as pine branches are often used.