Building the Sukkah: Difference between revisions

#If the walls of the sukkah are 10 tefachim tall, but they do not reach up to the sechach, the sukkah is kosher as long as the walls are lined up with the roof or within 3 tefachim, based on the principle of gud asik mechitzta.<ref>Mishna Brurah 630:43, Chazon Ovadia Sukkot pg. 12.

*The Gemara (Sukkah 6b) mentions that gud asik is a halacha limoshe misinai. The main discussion of it is in the Gemara (Sukkah 4b), where the gemara records a dispute as to whether one can build a sukkah without walls on the top of a flat roof. Rambam (Hilchot Sukkah 4:11) rules like R’ Yaakov who holds that if the schach is aligned with the walls of the house, the sukkah is valid because we view it as if the walls of the building extend upward. If the schach is not aligned with the walls of the house, the sukkah is invalid. Rosh (Sukkah 1:6) disagrees and rules like the Chachamim that in either case the sukkah built without walls on a roof is invalid. Shulchan Aruch 630:6 quotes both opinions, but Mishna Brurah 630:30 is machmir for the Rosh.

*So if we do not accept the application of gud asik to sukkah in that case, then why is a sukkah valid even if the walls do not reach the schach? The Steipler (Kehilot Yaakov Siman 4) suggests that perhaps there is no requirement for the walls of the sukkah to reach the schach. Rav Nissim Karelitz (Chut Shani Sukkot p. 228) explains that even though the Mishna Brurah was machmir for the Rosh, that was where the sukkah itself had no walls and we wanted to extend the walls of the building beyond the roof. However, in this case, the sukkah itself has defined walls and we are extending those.

*Rabbi Akiva Eiger (responsa 12) questions the psak of the Shulchan Aruch based on a Ran (Sukkah 9a) who says that one cannot use lavud with another leniency. Therefore, in this case one cannot extend the walls horizontally using lavud since the walls are not lined up perfectly, and also extend them vertically using gud asik. The answer of the Steipler resolves this issue, as he claims that allowing a ten tefach wall that does not reach the roof is not based on gud asik and therefore, lavud may be used. See also Chazon Ish 77:7 for another resolution of Rabbi Akiva Eiger’s question.</ref>

#Even if a sukkah is very thin such as if it is 7x7 tefachim but is very tall such as if it is 20 Amot or less it is valid.<ref>Tashbetz 1:126 writes that even though according to Rabbi Zeira any sukkah in which one doesn't sit in the shade of the schach but in the shade of the walls it is invalid. He extends the idea of the gemara that if it is 4x4 amot wide and more than 20 amot tall to a sukkah that is 2x2 wide and more than 10 amot tall. In conclusion he rules that we don't follow the opinion of Rabbi Zeira.</ref>

#The walls must be built within 3 [[Tefachim]] of the ground.<ref>Shulchan Aruch 630:9, Rav Shlomo Zalman Auerbach in Halichot Shlomo (7:5, p. 100), Chazon Ovadia Sukkot pg. 12 </ref>