Who are these strapping young men and what are they standing in front of?

It’s a sukkah, Charlie Brown and these are the lads who designed it for Park Slope’s Congregation Beth Elohim.

I love the idea that a sukkah or tabernacle, the ritual shack built for the Jewish harvest holiday of Sukkot, could be an architectural experiment. Last year Congregation Beth Elohim commissioned architect Babak Bryan to create their 8th Avenue sukkah. And this year they’ve tapped another firm to give it a go.

Studio Tack, a Gowanus-based firm captured here in a photograph by Patch’s Will Yakowicz, designed and built the structure in three weeks. Sukkahs are often built with branches and leaves. This one consists of natural elements like bamboo from Borough Park and pine from Upstate, New York . A joyous holiday, Jews are expected to eat and pray in sukkah.

In Leviticus, the shelter is described as a “wilderness shelter,” symbolizing the time God protected the Jews, who were thrust into the wilderness after they were freed from Egyptian slavery.

I haven’t been over there yet but from the pictures it looks kind of cool. Sukkot began on Sunday, September 30th and ends on October 7th.