Drive-through sukkah makes prayer easy

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PINECREST, Fla., Oct. 4 (UPI) -- A Florida Jewish congregation has found that providing a drive-through sukkah can help connect an ancient holiday ritual with modern life, clergymen said.

The holiday of Sukkoth, which began Friday night and requires the faithful to say certain prayers within the shelter of a temporary structure called a sukkah, is being celebrated by Bet Shira Congregation in Pinecrest, Fla., in such a non-traditional way, The Miami Herald reported Friday.

The congregation calls the drive-through structure "McBet Shira Sukkah," invoking the first part of the name of a world-famous fast-food restaurant chanins.

"This is a drive-through that will slow us down," Cantor Mark Kula, who conceived of the idea for the drive through, said.

Any member of the public who wishes can drive into the sukkah, park, lower the car window and say the special blessings for the harvest-oriented holiday -- which include shaking a collection of branches called a lulav and a citron, or etrog.

Congregant volunteers hand out snacks to motorists at the end of their visits.