The Sukkahs of TikTok
For almost as long as there has been TikTok, there have been people posting videos of their sukkah on it. Of course, there had to have been a first Sukkah Influencer: a person or organization who put the pieces together of how the most joyful of Jewish holidays could benefit from the social media platform. That first influencer was Chabad.
Chabad was the first organization to really crack the code in the early days of social media. They knew they wanted to reach more college kids and saw the stunning migration to the likes of Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and ultimately TikTok. Chabad, as an early influencer on the platform, posted in a simplistic way, compared to today’s standards. A video clip of a white-draped sukkah with a lulav being shaken within, and the dates of the holiday, the location of the sukkah, and an open invitation for students to share a meal within it. The tactic, while somewhat successful, was quite boring. Ultimately, Chabad found that the more impactful way to engage students wasn’t with the sukkah itself, but rather the promise of Etrog Schnaps for all who attended.
This doesn’t mean that once Chabad stopped sukkah posting, the temporary hut’s presence on TikTok faded from view; quite the contrary. As the platform evolved and how people used and monetized it changed, today’s Sukkah Influencer emerged. Sukkah Influencers take sukkah building to the next, and often extreme, levels. They have found that the wilder, more dangerous, and more outright insane their Sukkah posts are, the more views and likes they get. With that in mind, I wish to share with you some of my favorite “Sukkahs of TikTok” accounts.
The Sukkah Prankster:
A common thread across all of TikTok is prankster accounts. These are people who mostly confuse being a public nuisance with humor, but there are some accounts who thread the needle just right, and you are left with something you can’t help but like, share, and subscribe to. @ThatchRoofJoker613 is one of those special accounts. @ThatchRoofJoker613, whose real name is Michael Rambinowitz, spends every Sukkot scouting neighborhoods for the perfect sukkahs to prank. His prank is quite simple. Find an easily accessible sukkah of decent size, but not too large, that is on a plot of land with enough space around it, and then build a larger sukkah that completely encapsulates the original. He and his crew, known as “The Shack Pack,” sneak into the yards housing the target sukkahs and, through the use of drones and time-lapse cameras, film the entire process, down to the use of construction paper chains. They then set up GoPro cameras around the property to capture the homeowner’s moment of confusion and laughter. These “shell sukkahs” can be quite large, depending on the size of the backyard. To finish off the prank, @ThatchRoofJoker613 then sends a catered meal from Moishe’s Deli to the homeowner, and all involved share a meal together in either the larger or original sukkah. The only known instance of someone not enjoying the joke was the time they misinterpreted a half-built “She-Shed” in the backyard of a nearby Presbyterian, though it was nothing a few chocolate rugalach couldn’t smooth over.
Sukkah Extremists:
Everyone knows that the more crazy the account, the more likely it is to get views on TikTok, from extreme eaters to poorly thought-out stunts; chances are, if you have ever been on TikTok, you have seen a feed like this. Rachel Greenberg is a skilled architect, an avid mountain climber, and a practicing Jew. During Sukkot of 2022, she decided to put all these components of her life together and start the @SukkotAnywhere account. Rachel has since created a name for herself as being able to build elaborate sukkahs anywhere, and I do mean anywhere. The first year she decided to become a Sukkah Influencer, she kept it simple, yet no less jaw-dropping. She travelled to Yemassee, South Carolina, to the location of the tree featured in films such as Forest Gump, climbed to its apex, and built a simple white, four-walled sukkah amidst its branches, so that the canopy of the tree itself served as a living roof through which one could see the stars. It struck awe and confusion in all who saw it. It eventually went viral and led to her now-famous interview with Anderson Cooper. The two dangled from the branches within its walls, with Anderson nearly falling off as he shook the lulav with a bit too much verve. Rachel’s later extreme sukkahing included one that emerged from the Gardening section of a Home Depot in Canarsie, using only materials found within the store; a sukkah in the back of an El Al flight; and perhaps her most famous build, a giant, 75-foot-tall sukkah in Rockefeller Center.
The Sukkah as Art:
Not all Sukkah Influencers are hobbyists or those looking for some easy online clout. The conceptual artist known only as @HekSure uses their TikTok account to open the world to their unique artistic eye. While no one knows the true identity of @HekSure, they dedicate every Sukkot to sukkah installations around the world. Their 2024 sukkah, entitled “The Famine of Man,” featured decorations made only of rotting fruits and vegetables and was placed outside of a Whole Foods Market in Glenside, California. This piece sold at auction last year for $1.5 million. @HekSure approaches sukkah building with the fervor of an artist who sees the degradation of the world around them and wishes to open the eyes of all to it. Last year, their installation, titled “The Rat Trap,” featured a sukkah with four external walls and a series of complex interweaving internal walls, creating a maze for those who ventured in. At the center of the sukkah maze lay a lulav, an etrog, and a stamp to validate parking for all who made it that far.
The world of the Sukkahs of TikTok is a fascinating one. This Sukkot, as you share the mitzvah of dining with your friends and family, take a moment to look through the Sukkahs of TikTok, but be careful: you may find yourself so drawn into the rabbit hole that by the time you turn off your phone, it’ll already be Shmini Atzeret
