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As the Festival of Sukkot was celebrated by Jews the world over, the Chabad House at Rutgers University co-sponsored Sukkot with all area hospitals in the central and south New Jersey area. Many hospitals including Robert Wood Johnson University Hospital, S. Peter's University Medical Center, JFK Medical Center, Jersey Shore University Medical Center, Monmouth Medical Center decided to sponsor and build large Sukkot to accommodate any Jewish patient, visitor, and their families.
Many hundreds of people took advantage of the beautiful Sukkot weather to have their meals in one of the Sukkot that were located in convenient areas, and advertised by each medical facility. In addition, Chabad House sponsored "Lulav and Etrog" sets that were readily available in each Sukkah for the general public to perform this annual Biblical Mitzvah-Precept.
Several of the hospitals elected to have a gathering during the days of Sukkot, and these parties were attended by hospital personnel from administration and medical divisions. The hospitals catered "Kosher Lunches" free-of-charge in the Sukkah and many hundreds of interested people participated in the festivities. The rabbis of Chabad were present and spoke on the beauty and meaning of this beautiful holiday - Sukkot.
Rabbi Yosef Carlebach, director and founder of Chabad House, stated, "Once again, we see how our Judaism is so meaningful to so many of our brethren. People just passing by, came over to be part of the Sukkot Celebration. An older woman crying, told me how she has not been in a Sukkah for 65 years, and now being alone in a hospital, was reminded of her youth in pre-World War II Europe. She asked to be brought into the Sukkah in her wheelchair, and after blessing the Lulav and Etrog, she reminisced the days of her parents and "Shtetl". The poignant moment came when she grasped the Etrog and cried the words of the prayers of "Hallel-Psalms" that flooded her mind at that instant. She said that since her childhood, she had forgotten the prayers, but the Sukkah caused her memories to return."
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