Word: sukkahs
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Dates: during 1990-1999
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Last week's protests against the erection of a sukkah in the courtyard of Dunster House highlight the controversial nature and uncertain future of religion in the houses. The sukkah, which functions as an outdoor house used by Jews to celebrate their harvest holiday, was put up by Dunster's Allston Burr Senior Tutor Suzi Naiburg and numerous interested students. Dissent emerged on two separate fronts: one, the refusal of Dunster Superintendent Joseph O'Connor to allow residents to play volleyball on the lawn, and two, the use of the Sukkah to celebrate a Harvest Moon Festival combining the Jewish...
That said, the Dunster sukkah has some problems. If you missed Sunday's festival (as I did), you would be hard pressed to know what in God's name that booth is doing in the middle of the courtyard. No signs hang on the makeshift walls, and I found no obvious notices around the house explaining the object and its purpose. Unless such displays are informative and accessible, they are of little worth, and possibly even offensive...
Second, religious diversity must mean that we explore different traditions on their own terms, in their own settings. Common threads are always fascinating, but cannot be the basis for learning about a tradition. A sukkah is fine as an authentically Jewish symbol; as a multicultural harvest hut, it is questionable at best...
Third, for religious values and traditions to serve their proper function in the College, namely, to help us learn more about one another, students, not faculty and staff, must spearhead projects like the Dunster sukkah. Besides, Harvard is blessed with many students that are knowledgeable and deeply committed to religious life. Not to involve them in planning house projects is to squander a tremendous resource...
...towers bound up the stairs to nip disaster in the bud? I doubt it. But if Lewis is serious about the rule, then the houses will experience their first full-blown public religious celebration this December. Will that be met with the same concerns as surrounded the Dunster House sukkah? Will house committees and masters help pay for those celebrations, or are such expenditures inappropriate...