A crowded sukka at the Jewish Community Center of Middlesex County symbolized the agency's growth since it began sharing a campus with the YMCA of Metuchen-Edison, JCC officials said.

Almost 100 people gathered Oct. 2 on an unusually warm sixth night of Sukkot in a large sukka erected on the front lawn of the Edison campus.

They joined in reciting blessings and singing folk songs in Hebrew and English and ate from an Italian buffet dinner prepared by the facility's kosher cafe.

"It's a sellout, " said Jennine Shpigel, the JCC's director of Jewish and family programming. Shpigel said that the JCC has expanded its sukka in recent years to handle the larger holiday crowds it had been attracting.

"It looks like we may have to put on another addition next year," she said.

JCC executive director Dorothy Rubenstein said the Sukkot festivities reflected the facility's goal of staging multigenerational activities.

She said the increasing turnout for the event reflects rising JCC membership, which has jumped in the years since December 2002, when the JCC partnered with the YMCA of Metuchen-Edison on the Community Campus. The two share mainly pool and athletic facilities.

The partnership, said Rubenstein, "brought us state-of-the-art facilities that attracted significant Jewish membership. More recently, we've had a lot of people join from Highland Park."

The YM-YWHA of Raritan Valley in Highland Park last year closed its dilapidated building.

"We are now the only JCC or Y in Middlesex County," said Rubenstein. "While we are never happy to gain at the expense of another Jewish facility, we are happy to serve the Jewish community."

Overall membership at the community campus is 8,000, several thousand of whom are Jewish, estimated Rubenstein. At the time of the YMCA collaboration, JCC officials estimated its membership at 1,000. All members pay for a campus membership, entitling them to use the pool, athletic facilities, and fitness center. An additional fee is charged for those who want to participate in either JCC or YMCA programming.

"We are now closing in on the fifth anniversary of the Community Campus, and it has exceeded our expectations," said Rubenstein. "We feel we bring high visibility to the Jewish community. We have increased understanding of the Jewish community among people who otherwise would have very little exposure to Jews. We celebrate all Jewish holidays very publicly. We always have displays in our lobby, and people stop in and ask us what we're doing. We have increased tolerance and we've been treated with respect. Likewise we've shown them respect."

The area in which the campus is located — north Edison and neighboring Iselin — has a large percentage of Asians, particularly Indian-Americans.

Those gathered in the sukka were entertained by Rutgers University student Judah Levinson of Morristown, who played guitar and led them in singing.

Jennifer Kovacs of Edison, who described herself as "a teacher on the Y side who grew up on the JCC side," said it wouldn't feel like Sukkot if she hadn't dined inside the JCC sukka at least once.

Added Pam Kammer of Edison, "Every time you can get Jews together as a community, it's a good thing."