Kids Excited To Move Fights From House To Sukkah

The children, ages two through fifteen, did not break stride as they transitioned from fighting over the presence of unwanted siblings in their bedrooms to fighting over whose turn it is to use the red sleeping bag.

Jerusalem, October 18 – Two days into Sukkot, the feast of booths, the six children of the Livni family are still excited over eating, sleeping, and leisure time spent in the family sukkah, with the loud fighting that typically accompanies each of those activities now taking place in the novel environment of the makeshift structure.

The children, ages two through fifteen, did not break stride as they transitioned from fighting over the presence of unwanted siblings in their bedrooms to fighting over whose turn it is to use the red sleeping bag. Even the toddler, who is not sharing the temporary sleeping quarters with his brothers, sisters, and father, gets in on the action each Sukkot morning by clambering from the house into the sukkah and climbing on top of each sleeping body in turn, until all are annoyed enough to take out their frustrations on one another in violent physical terms.

“I’m enjoying the change,” admitted Yaakov, 15. “Usually, I have to find things to yell about that involve people coming into my room, touching the things I leave all over the house as if no one else lives here, and generally not meeting my selfish expectations. Living in the sukkah means I get to experience the novelty of yelling at everyone for stepping on the bed linens I’v spread out as wide as possible across the sukkah floor.”

“A lot of it is the same as last year, but it’s still new enough to be exciting,” added Yariv, who turns 12 tomorrow. “My favorite part is screaming at [seven-year-old brother] Udi for sitting in the wrong place around the table, and throwing things at him when he yells back or resists my efforts to beat him up.”

“He’s stupid and should shut up,” argued Udi. “He’s always sitting next to the baby when I want to. In the sukkah at least I can also wake the neighbors with my screaming early in the morning, instead of just getting my parents angry at us for all the fighting, throwing, and injuries that always happen.”

“My favorite part is wandering into the kitchen repeatedly and getting scolded by my parents,” gushed nine-year-old Eden. “Usually I have to make do with going from my room to the bathroom and back as I look for excuses not to stay in bed, but the sukkah is downstairs on the patio, and I can get to the kitchen so much more easily than from upstairs.” She especially enjoys spraying her sleeping siblings with the water left on her hands after she washes them.

Four-year-old Sigal pointed to the novelty of jumping directly onto her siblings from the cot she used last night. “In the house, my bed isn’t next to another one,” she explained. “We have to find other things to fight about.”

A reporter attempting to elicit comment from the father of the family at 6:12 in the morning was unable to gain useful input, but did emerge with several new swear words in his vocabulary.