"They left the sukkah standing when they fled."

October 28, 2021 8:59 AM

Two speculative stories in which girls and women disagree about how to cope with change, both published this year. "A Stone’s Throw from You" by Jenn Reese in Mermaids Monthly: "And then I told you I was leaving. That I’d been called to the sea." "For Future Generations" by Rachel Gutin in khōréō ("a quarterly magazine of speculative fiction and migration"): "Of all the Jewish holidays, Sukkot was the hardest to celebrate in space."
posted by brainwane (7 comments total)

Thanks so much for sharing these stories! Short fiction does not get enough attention and I would never have found these myself.
posted by rpfields at 9:00 AM on October 28, 2021 [1 favorite]

I am delighted that Mermaids Monthly exists.
posted by star gentle uterus at 9:55 AM on October 28, 2021

I'm not Jewish, but I can totally see feeling the way Laura feels about the holiday, under the circumstances, especially if it's not relevant to her and prevents her from doing something that is.
posted by jenfullmoon at 11:21 AM on October 28, 2021

No mention of whether the rabbi could just let them go to the competition?
posted by bashing rocks together at 4:39 PM on October 28, 2021

Doubt it, Laura's parents said no. Can't overrule parents.
posted by jenfullmoon at 4:46 PM on October 28, 2021

Thank you! Sukkot is my favorite holiday - I've mentioned it in my own fiction, actually (along with a sukkah!). I remember the time I had bent poles of my own to deal with, when I left the sukkah out in a windstorm. I had to buy new material and cut my own poles after that. The smell of the bamboo and canvas gets me every time I open the box each year to rebuild the sukkah, instantly bringing me back to all my Sukkots that have come before.

One paragraph in the story really hit home: "If Judaism was going to survive, it couldn't remain stuck in the past, trying to recreate what Laura's ancestors had destroyed so willfully and completely. Jewish practice needed to account for how they lived now, and for the series of choices that had led them here."

Kol Hakavod, Rachel Gutin. Well done with this story.
posted by Flight Hardware, do not touch at 4:40 PM on October 29, 2021 [1 favorite]

Sukkot is my favorite holiday

On that note, did you know how Sukkot is observed in New Zealand?

The country has extremely tough biosecurity laws to prevent invasive species from devastating the local ecosystem. The Jewish communities have had to adapt their practices, since etrogs and lulavim are highly controlled.
posted by cheshyre at 7:28 AM on October 31, 2021