San Francisco, CA – Following a sudden, unexpected light breeze, a search party has been formed to locate Congregation Beth Messiah’s brand new aluminum sukkah, which was last seen tumbling across the synagogue’s parking lot just after the wind began to blow.

“I was walking into the building this morning when this gentle wind picked up,” said Rabbi Michael Cohen. “At first I thought it was rather pleasant, but next thing I knew, I saw our sukkah tumbling end over end across the lot. It was halfway to the street before I even realized what was happening. I tried to run after it, but then the breeze picked up slightly and it blew down the hill and out of sight. I searched a block or so in every direction, but once it became clear that I wasn’t going to find it that way, I started calling our members to assist in the search.”

Within the hour, eight people had shown up to assist in the search, but the first foray turned up no results. “This kind of thing can be really tricky,” said longtime member Jacob Roth. “I’ve got one of those aluminum sukkahs myself. First year I used it, two days in, the wind picked up and the thing just lifted into the air like a box kite. I ended up having to get the ladder to pull it out of a tree. That’s when I learned: if you’re going to use one of these things, you need a good yard and lots of tent pegs. Otherwise, I doubt it’s even worth it.”

According to Rabbi Cohen, Mr. Roth had voiced these concerns to him at the start of the search. “I agree tent pegs would be a great idea if we had anything to drive them into, but we’ve got nothing but a cement parking lot here. Frankly, I’m mostly concerned with finding it right now. Once we’ve got it back here, we’ll worry about how to keep this from happening again.”

At press time, the search radius had been expanded and the search party had been sent out again.

Note: This is a developing story, and will be updated as new information becomes available.

UPDATE 10:23 AM: The sukkah was successfully located half a mile away, upside down and floating in the bay. It has been fished out, dried off and returned to the synagogue. Following a brief debate, it has been tied to their fence to prevent future incidents. 

UPDATE 10:25 AM: Another breeze picked up, and the sukkah was blown over onto its side but otherwise remained in place.

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