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On Sukkot, partaking of good food, imbibing fine wine and beautifying the sukkah isn't just a good idea — it's a mitzvah.

Participants at "Sukkot in Sonoma" will have plenty of time to enjoy all of the above, both physically and metaphysically.

A UAHC program to be held at Santa Rosa's Camp Newman from Thursday, Oct. 4 to Sunday, Oct. 7, Sukkot-goers will analyze their cake and eat it too, according to Rabbi Michael Berk.

"To bring together the academic side of wine and food and Judaism along with the sensual side is a fabulous concept, and I think that's why [Sukkot in Sonoma] appeals to people," said Berk, regional director of the Reform movement's Union of American Hebrew Congregations.

"Sukkot is a holiday that takes you outside to appreciate nature. We'll be outside much of the time at a campsite, which brings more of a connection to the natural environment than if we met in downtown San Francisco, for example."

Sukkot in Sonoma is the brainchild of Rabbi Lawrence Raphael, the UAHC's New York-based director of the department of adult Jewish growth. He held the first Sukkot in Sonoma back in 1998, after realizing Camp Newman's location in the heart of the wine country made the program "a natural."

"It's a different kind of Sukkot celebration because it really focuses on food and wine, and how we traditionally relate to both Judaism in general and Sukkot in particular," said Raphael. "It's a different kind of Sukkot celebration. We approach the whole event as a total experience in terms of storytelling, eating, drinking, study of traditional texts, worship and music."

This year, the food contingent will be led by three well-known Jewish chefs, cookbook authors Mollie Katzen and Lisa Rauchwerger and Peninsula organic food maven Jesse Cool. Ernie Weir, owner of kosher Hagafen Cellars, will head up the wine department.

Jewish storyteller Marilyn Price will be one of the leaders of what she calls a "four-day kallot," or study session.

"My part is to discuss how food, and stories centered around food and the table, influences religion and life. Every Jewish holiday, every Jewish event has a food attached to it, a food that might have special meaning," said Price, a resident of Evanston, Ill. "This is one of the most beautiful areas of the country; we create a sukkah under an old vine."

Food — especially holiday-themed food — can trigger powerful memories, according to Price. She recalls an incident from her own life, in which a dying aunt passed her a recipe. Price met her future husband while sitting shiva for her aunt and the recipe soon took on added meaning for the couple.

"We still make that recipe," said Price. "She would have been happy."

On the academic side, Rabbi Shelton Donnell of Santa Ana and Rabbi Reuven Firestone, a professor of medieval studies at the Los Angeles campus of Hebrew Union College, will lead the text study.

"On Shabbat during Sukkot it is customary to study Kohelet, the book of Ecclesiastes," said Raphael. "It's really a serious reflection of how to live life."

Raphael said almost 40 people have already signed up for the program, and he hopes as many as 50 might join him in Sonoma.

"I think we've got an absolutely unique program here. I've never heard of anything else like this. [It's about] eating good food and drinking nice wine with the academic perspectives of food and wine in Judaism," said Berk.

"And it's all taking place with leading chefs as well as leading Jewish scholars. There are many congregations that have programs around food, like cooking classes around Pesach where people share recipes. But this is a total immersion program and that makes it very unique."