Detail from the site-specific installation Sky Light // Small Hands created by Jessica Thalmann for the windows and facade of the FENTSTER Pop Up at PIX FILM Gallery. The installation continues in the outdoor sukkah.
Sukkah Fest
Come Early, Stay Late!
In honour of the Jewish Festival of Sukkot and the launch of the FENTSTER exhibition Like a Bird’s Nest, we’re extending our hours — you’re invited to bring your lunch and / or dinner to enjoy a meal in our outdoor sukkah and to visit the exhibition. Come once or come every day! Each weekday, FENTSTER presents a special event in conjunction with the exhibition both in-person and online. Details below
Special Sukkot Hours: September 26 - October 4 /// Open Daily Noon to 7 pm
*Regular hours outside of Sukkot are posted here
SINGING IN THE SUKKAH with ha’sadeh
Monday, September 28 | 7 - 8:30 PM
Join Reb Aaron and friends from the Ha'Sadeh Jewish Renewal community for singing, chanting and sharing teachings related to Sukkot: finding hope and living with impermanence. Everyone is welcome!
Come early for a guided tour of the exhibition with the Sala-Manca Group, gather for singing at 7:30 pm.
Presented by FENTSTER & Ha’Sadeh
Ha'Sadeh is a Jewish Renewal community for those seeking spiritual, playful, and expansive connection. Translating to “The Field”, Ha’Sadeh is a gathering space for growth and nourishment, blooming in (bio)diversity and tended by the collective. Grounded in the living tradition of Jewish Renewal, we reclaim and reimagine Jewish practice through songful prayer and chanting, embodied expression, and emergent ritual. Our diasporically rooted and nature-centred gatherings offer energetic resourcing and nourishment for all who join us that extends and grows through our communities.
Sukkot Celebration for Families with Author Sidura Ludwig
Tuesday, September 29
5 - 7 PM | $15 for adults, $8 for children
Families are invited to share a meal in one of three sukkot in the new FENTSTER exhibition, Like a Bird’s Nest from the artist collective the Sala-Manca Group together with local artists. Following dinner, we’ll come together in our outdoor sukkah (weather permitting) with award-winning writer Sidura Ludwig reading from her latest picture book, Our Spectacular Sukkah (Candlewick Press, 2026) that explores community and connection in preparation for the holiday.
And, the wonderful folks from Shoresh will be leading hands-on activities for kids celebrating the joys of the Jewish fall harvest festival.
Our Spectacular Sukkah is geared at children ages 3 to 7. All are welcome to register and join in the fun!
Presented by FENTSTER and Shoresh: Jewish Environmental Programs
Registration required by Monday, September 28 at 10 am to ensure there is dinner for everyone.
USHPIZIN: Sukkot Potluck for Artists & Arts Workers & FRIENDS
Wednesday, September 30 | 6 PM onwards
Join another in our ongoing series of warm and wonderful gatherings for creatives and community! Over the last three years, FENTSTER has been hosting gatherings for Jewish folks who work in the arts. In the spirit of Sukkot, we're growing this tradition and bringing you USHPIZIN - an evening of community and connection. Bring a vegetarian dish to share and bring a buddy who is or isn't in the arts, who is or isn't Jewish. We'll gather in one of three sukkot in the new FENTSTER exhibition, Like a Bird’s Nest from the artist collective the Sala-Manca Group together with local artists. Meet the artists who helped create the outdoor sukkah commissioned by FENTSTER: Rochelle Rubinstein and Jessica Thalmann. (Maxine Lee Ewaschuk, who also contributed to this exciting project, will be out of town.) Together we will mark the National Day for Truth and Reconciliation.
Learn more about the tradition of ushpizin here
ONLINE Conversation with Abu Suleiman of the Jahalin Bedouin Tribe
Thursday, October 1 | Noon (EDT)
Abu Suleiman meeting with artist Lea Mauas and the Sala-Manca Group in Khan al-Ahmar
Mohammed (Abu Suleiman) al-Korshan - is the public representative of the al-Korshan family, members of the Jahalin Bedouin tribe that currently reside in Khan al Akhmar area between Jerusalem and Jericho in the West Bank. In 2014, the Sala-Manca Group, the artists behind the new FENTSTER exhibition Like a Bird’s Nest, connected with Abu Suleiman and together they collaborated on a project to transform one of the community’s shelters into a sukkah, which was later acquired by the Israel Museum in Jerusalem as a work of art. This collaboration is explored in the Toronto exhibition alongside additional projects connected to the displacement and impermanence of the sukkah. Artist Diego Rotman will be in conversation with Abu Suleiman about this project and how he approached it as a creative avenue to bring public awareness to the circumstances of the Bedouin who live in precarious conditions, displaced from their traditional herding lands. He will share updates on their circumstances in recent years and on the eco-tourism business that expanded as a result of the al-Korshan’s collaboration with Sala-Manca.
Register for the Zoom link, please note that a different date was previously posted
Exhibition Tours with the Artists
Thursday, October 1
5 PM >>> in Spanish /// 7 PM >>> in English
Friday, October 2
2 PM >>> in English