Building the Sukkah
From Halachipedia
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Number of walls of the Sukkah
- 3 walls one being a tefach
- walls must be 7 x7
- height at least 10 tefachim
- If the walls are made of polls or strings only in the horizontal direction or only in the vertical direction then one must have 4 wall complete walls, however, if there are 3 walls and a Tefach for the fourth wall it's a doubt whether it's acceptable. [1]
- The walls must be built within 3 Tefachim of the ground. [2]
Arrangment of the walls
- If one has two walls facing one another and the third is four tefachim it must be within 3 tefachim of one side and within 3 of the other or at least have a tzurat hapetach to the second side. [3]
Building a Sukkah in the street
- If there's no room on private property to build a Sukkah and the city leaders (mayor) give permission, it's permissible to build it in the public street however one should make sure that the Sukkah doesn't to block walkers (traffic). [4]
Materials for walls of Sukkah
- metal, wood…
- what about canvas or plastic tarp? What about tying strings for lavud?
- Many authorities hold that plastic curtains (tarp, canvas) are unfit for walls of a Sukkah, while others permit. [5]
S'chach of Sukkah
(siman 629)
- attached to ground
- mekabel tumah
- bamboo mats
- putting Sachach on top of metal walls
- very thick sachach (siman 631)
- very thin sachach
- One must ensure that one's Sukkah is under the open sky and not beneath a tree, roof of a house, or a porch. (For details about after the fact see the footnote.) [6]
When should one build the Sukkah?
- Mitzvah to build Sukkah after yom kippur
- If a Sukkah was set up before 30 days before sukkot, then what do you have to do?(siman 636)
- If you forgot can you do it on chol hamoed
==Decorations of the Sukkah==(siman 667)
- Mitzvah to decorate and beatify the sukkah
- If they fell on yom tov are they Muktzeh
- If they fell on chol hamoed are they Muktzeh?
Covering the Sukkah in case of rain
- It's permissible to cover the Sukkah with a plastic tarp to prevent it from getting wet if one places the tarp directly above the Shach and not a tefach above the Shach and one has in mind to remove the tarp when one next uses the Sukkah for the mitzvah. [7]
References
- ↑ Halichot Shlomo (7:2 , pg 98)
- ↑ Halichot Shlomo (7:5, pg 100)
- ↑ S"A 630:3
- ↑ Halichot Shlomo (7:11, pg 109)
- ↑ Rav Ovadyah Yosef in Chazon Ovadyah (pg 1-5) and Rav Shlomo Zalman Aurerbach in Halichot Shlomo (Sukkah 7:1 pg 97) hold that plastic curtains that sway in the wind even slightly are unfit for walls of a Sukkah. However, Rav Moshe Feinstein in Sh”t Igrot Moshe 5:40 permits if the curtains are thick and there’s poles.
- ↑ Rama 626:1 writes that in all cases one should avoid building one's sukkah under a tree or roof. Mishna Brurah 626:1 and Aruch HaShulchan 626:1 explain that it's best to build the Sukkah under the open sky. So rules Chazon Ovadyah (Sukkot pg 11). However, after the fact, Aruch HaShulchan 626:1 writes if it's built under a roofed area it's unfit, but if it's built under a tree there is a discussion about when it is fit. S"A 626:1 (according to Biur Halacha D"H VeYesh, Mishna Brurah 626:10 and 11) rules that a sukkah under branches of a tree is fit only if it fits three requirements (See S"A with Mishna Brurah 626:10 and 11). (1) Among the branches of the tree there is majority of sun and minority shade (2) the there is less than four tefachim of tree branches over the sachach, and (3) there is a majority of shade from the kosher sachach and a minority of shade even without the tree branches (and even so the sachach under the tree branches itself is unfit but the rest of the sukkah is fit).
- ↑ Sh"t Igrot Moshe 5:39(4) writes that it's permissible to cover the Sukkah with a plastic sheet on Shabbat and Yom Tov without an issue of Boneh by making an Ohel nor the issue of muktzah.
