Just prior to the harvest festival of Sukkot at the end of September, every student at Hillel Academy received a gift to shake things up at home.

Dr. Dan and Teri German made certain that each child had his or her own lulav and etrog for the holiday.

During Sukkot, Jews traditionally build huts outside their homes to commemorate the Israelites’ temporary dwellings during their 40 years in the desert.

In the Torah, God tells the people that on Sukkot they should “take on the first day the fruit of goodly trees, branches of palm trees, and boughs of thin trees and willows of the brook and you shall rejoice before your God seven days (Lev. 23:40).”

To fulfill this command during the holiday, Jews take up the etrog (citron fruit) and lulav (palm, willow and myrtle), bless and then shake them together in the sukkah and in synagogue.

“I don’t know of any other Jewish day school in the country that gives a lulav and etrog to all of its students,” said Hillel Director of Judaics Josh Zwelling.

Dan German said the new project came about when he asked Zwelling to suggest a way the Germans might further support the Jewish day school.

“When Josh mentioned this possibility, I just said yes,” German explained.

On the day the students received their lulavim and etrogim, Rabbi Nochum Mangel, director of Chabad of Dayton, led a hands-on workshop at the school, teaching the students about the lulav and etrog. Chabad’s Rabbi Levi Simon, who teaches Judaics at Hillel, also helped present the workshop.