NATION

Israel Embassy celebrates Sukkot with message of hospitality, friendship

DT · Sep 29, 2026, 10:52 PM

ISRAELI Ambassador Dana Kursh discusses the traditions and significance of Sukkot during a community gathering. Highlighting the Jewish holiday’s central themes of hospitality, friendship and cross-cultural unity, Kursh stressed the importance of fostering stronger bilateral ties and community partnerships. — Photograph courtesy of embassy of israel

The Embassy of Israel in the Philippines celebrated the Jewish holiday of Sukkot in Bonifacio Global City on Thursday evening, highlighting shared cultural values and historical ties between the two nations.

Israeli Ambassador to the Philippines Dana Kursh welcomed diplomats, government officials, and community leaders inside a traditional sukkah — a temporary hut commemorating the shelters used by Israelites during their journey through the desert.

Kursh noted the physical and symbolic similarities between the sukkah and the Filipino bahay kubo, both serving as icons of hospitality, community and openness.

The event commemorated a historic milestone in bilateral relations: President Manuel L. Quezon’s “Open Door” policy in the late 1930s, which saved approximately 1,300 Jewish refugees fleeing the Holocaust by offering them asylum in the Philippines.

Former Philippine Ambassador Maria Zeneida Angara Collinson reflected on Quezon’s humanitarian legacy during the program, while Papal Nuncio Archbishop Charles Brown spoke on the shared Judeo-Christian tradition of welcoming strangers.