Editor,

Regarding “Sukkot makes joyful noise,” although I was pleased to see on the front page of the Oct. 12 issue of the Daily Lobo an article about the Jewish holiday of Sukkot, it struck this Jew as quite odd that your story focused on Messianic Jews, who are considered Jews by only themselves. There were a number of inaccuracies from a Jewish point of view: The date of Jesus’ birth is unknowable, since it was not decided upon until long after his death, so their assertion that Sukkot was the time of his birth could be true or not. Who knows? Pilgrimage festivals ended with the destruction of the second temple 1,943 years ago (that was recorded). Further, the religious symbol of the holiday then and now is not the ram’s horn as displayed in your photo. Please see the Hebrew Bible for an accurate description of the pilgrimage and then speak with Jewish folks at Hillel for information about how it is celebrated now. To trivialize this religious holiday through analogy to the balloon fiesta or the State Fair is offensive.

Milton Strauss
UNM faculty