LYRIC
A SUKKALEH- English Version
My Sukkaleh is small, not fancy at all
but is especially dear to me.
Schach I put on a bit, hoping to cover it,
there I’d sit and think.
(2x)
The wind was a cold one,
the cracked walls were old ones,
the candles were flickering low.
At times as if dying, but suddenly rising,
as if they did not want to go.
(2x)
My sweet little daughter
sensing the danger,
got scared and started to cry.
“Father,” she cried,
“Don’t stay there outside
the Sukkah is going to fall!”
(2x)
Fear not my child, it’s been quite a while
the Sukkaleh still stands strong.
The wind has been worse my dear,
but its almost two thousand years
Yet the Sukkaleh still stands strong!
(2x)
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ANOTHER VERSION (By Rabbi Avi Shafran):
A Sukkaleh, quite small,
Wooden planks for each wall;
Lovingly I stood them upright.
I laid thatch as a ceiling
And now, filled with deep feeling,
I sit in my Sukkaleh at night.
A chill wind attacks,
Blowing through the cracks;
The candles, they flicker and yearn.
It’s so strange a thing
That as the Kiddush I sing,
The flames, calmed, now quietly burn.
In comes my daughter,
Bearing hot food and water;
Worry on her face like a pall.
She just stands there shaking
And, her voice nearly breaking,
Says “Tattenyu, the Sukkah’s going to fall!”
Dear daughter, don’t fret;
It hasn’t fallen yet.
The Sukkah will be fine, understand.
There have been many such fears,
For nigh two thousand years;
Yet the Sukkaleh continues to stand.