“...a compelling integration of the study of vernacular architecture and vernacular belief.”
— Michael Ann Williams, author of Homeplace: The Social Use and Meaning of the Folk Dwelling in Southwestern North Carolina
“Berlinger's rich and nuanced ethnography sheds light on many sukkot from Bloomington to Tel Aviv, Jaffa, and Jerusalem, and back to Brooklyn; like the wandering in the Sinai desert, this journey is crucial, and although the Promised Land does not allow one to rest as it opens further questions, it is Berlinger's wandering that helps us in framing such wonderings. ”
— Journal of American Folklore
“The book is a clear and original contribution that considers Jewish folklore within wider sociopolitical contexts. It raises questions and offers insights previously unexplored in the field, within both Jewish Studies and vernacular architecture.”
— Western Folklore
“While providing fascinating and abundant ethnographic detail about sukkah builders, their families, and their daily lives, [Berlinger] raises important theoretical questions that merit additional attention.”
— Reading Religion
“This is an important and timely book: important because it contributes significantly to the expanding literature on Jewish history and culture; and timely due to its arrival just as many are questioning the relationship folklore as a discipline has to the field of vernacular architecture studies.”
— Journal of Folklore Research
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