Laws of Sukkah (Siman 134)
00:03 - Intro (Announcement)
You're listening to Rabbi Aryeh Wolbe of Torch in Houston, Texas. This is the Everyday Judaism Podcast.
00:12 - Rabbi Aryeh Wolbe (Host)
All right, welcome back everybody. Welcome to the Everyday Judaism Podcast. Today we're going to study the laws of Sukkah, the laws of the Sukkah. It's an amazing opportunity that we have now. The days between Yom Kippur and Sukkot are considered like free days. Free days, our sages tell us. It's an amazing thing.
00:31
If you look in the Torah, it says that Sukkot is called Yom HaRishon, the first day, the first day of what? What do you mean? The first day after Yom Kippur? Well, the four days between Yom Kippur and Sukkot are days of preparation. So we're too busy to do any sins. We're too busy building our Sukkah and selecting our four species. So we're busy. We're busy doing things and cooking food, of course, but then we have Sukkot.
00:59
Sukkot is the first day, our sages tell us it's the first day that we really have time to do sin. So day, our sages tell us it's the first day that we really have time to do sin. So it's a really special time to prepare ourselves to not do sin, to get into the mode of being busy. And, of course, our sages teach us that one who is busy averts sin. It says that a person who's bored brings upon himself sin. A bored person, boredom brings upon a person sin, hashiam mevi l'de'avera. So our great opportunity that we have to be aware of this, as our sages teach us to be aware of keeping ourselves busy. What greater way to keep ourselves busy than to study Torah and to be busy with the mitzvahs, with the commandments that Hashem guides us with in his beautiful Torah of exactly how we conduct our lives. So one of the great mitzvahs that are taught to us in Leviticus is building a sukkah, living in our sukkah.
02:02
Unique to the festival of Sukkot are the mitzvahs of dwelling in the Sukkah, the festival hut, and the taking of the four species. The laws of dwelling in the Sukkah are set forth in Simeon 135, followed by two simanim focusing on the laws of the four species. In this siman, however, kitzer discusses the laws of building the sukkah. The Torah commands in sukkahs you shall dwell for a seven day period, and the sukkah is this hut that we live outside of our home, as we have here in our magnificent torch center. Right outside we have already a sukkah built. We have the shach on top. It's really magnificent.
02:45
As Kitzer will elaborate below, one must dwell in the sukkah during the festival, just as he would dwell in his house. The sukkah must be constructed following halachic guidelines. There are two basic components of the sukkah the shha, which is the covering, which gives the sukkah its name, as Rashi says in sukkah al-shema shakha, that serves as the roof of the sukkah, and the walls. These halakhic guidelines form the basis of this simon. So there's two components the shakha, which is the roof, so to speak, of the sukkah, which has to be something that grows from the ground and something that's not attached to the ground. Number two is that it needs to have two and a half walls minimum. It can have four walls, it's fine. It needs to have at least two and a half. Our sages tell us, because Hashem, after Yom Kippur, is hugging us Just like a hug. You see, a hug. You have one wall, two wall and a half. This is Hashem's hug. Hashem is saying come, I want to hug you, let's get close, let's get close to one another. This is Hashem's hug. Hashem hugs us in the Sukkah. So here we begin.
04:03
Halacha number one in Simeon 134, in the Kitzah Shulchan Aruch Mitzvah livnos ha-sukkah miyad Bi-yom shel achar yom ha-kippurim. It is a mitzvah to build one sukkah immediately on the day following Yom Kippur. V'afilu hu-erav Shabbos. Even like this year, where Yom Kippur ended on Thursday night and Friday is the day after Yom Kippur, even Erev Shabbos on Friday. It's a mitzvah to prepare to build the sukkah right after Yom Kippur.
04:34
And we know the famous rule in the Talmud when a mitzvah comes to your hand, don't let it sour, don't let it delay in its performance. And it is proper to choose a clean place. Don't let it sour, don't let it delay in its performance. V'yivcha makom nokila amida sham. And it is proper to choose a clean place to set up the sukkah in it. Umitzvah, clean place, meaning if you have like a nice clean area of your driveway, but it shouldn't be on mud, it shouldn't be in a grassy area, that's going to be not pleasant for you to be in during the holiday of Sukkot. Um, not pleasant for you to be in during the holiday of Sukkot.
05:09
It is a mitzvah for every person to personally engage in constructing the sukkah and laying down the sukkah, the covering, and even if a person is a very dignified, honorable person me, I should stand up on the ladder and build my sukkah. Yes, it's a mitzvah to personally be engaged in the construction of the sukkah. In fact, in principle, it would be proper to recite the beautiful prayer of Shehechiyanu, the beautiful blessing of Shehechiyanu on the act of building the Sukkah, since building the Sukkah itself is a mitzvah requirement, but we rely on the Shehechiyanu that we recite at the Kiddush on the first night of Sukkot, and one should strive to beautify the Sukkah that we recite at the Kiddush on the first night of Sukkot. Ve'yihadar li'apasasa sukkah. And one should strive to beautify the sukkah Ve'lahana'osa bekelim no'im umatzos no'os kefi koche, and adorn it with beautiful furnishings and beautiful linens commensurate to one's ability. So, if a person has the ability to really, I remember I had a neighbor when I grew up in Muncie. The woman of the house was an artist and she had these massive canvas walls that she painted herself, and the entire Sukkot was one beautiful art gallery that each canvas was one like one sheet of the wall. It was absolutely stunning. This is the way to honor Sukkot.
07:00
Sukkot is a way to really make it like your home. Teshvu ke ke ein to do it says you should dwell in your sukkah. How do you dwell? Just like you dwell in your home, you make sure that you have your picture frames and you have everything so nice. So too, in your sukkah, you should make sure to adorn the sukkah, to make sure you have the beautiful tablecloth, make sure you have everything it's clean, it's neat, just like you would in your home, and make sure that it is a place that is welcoming, because guests who are beautiful, magnificent, holy, dignified guests are in the Sukkah Abraham, isaac, jacob, moses, aaron, joseph, david. It's a really special. Each of the seven nights there's a special guest that comes to join us in our sukkah. The first night is Abraham, the second night is Isaac, the third night is Jacob. These are our patriarchs and matriarchs that come to join us in our sukkah. It's a really, really powerful, powerful time for us to elevate our Jewish experience, to elevate our connection with Hashem.
08:11
Regarding the walls of the Sukkah, there are many detailed laws and many are not familiar with them Al-Kain. Therefore, to ensure that one has a validokot, a person must construct walls that are complete and strong, rather than walls that are incomplete in some manner, stable enough that the wind does not move them, and also it shouldn't be weak or porous, that a wind blows and it'll blow out your candles, it'll extinguish your candles that are burning in the sukkah at night, and one who does not have enough material for all four walls. It is preferable that he do three complete walls Rather than have four walls that are incomplete and one who has the financial means. It is proper for him to have a built-in sukkah. If a person is able to have a slide-away roof means he's in the home, his actual home, and he can just slide away the roof and that way he has the shakach there and that would be a built-in sukkah. So it is possible to close them during the rain. When the rain stops, you just open the, reopen the, the roof and the Sukkah will remain dry and he can fulfill the mitzvah of Sukkot properly.
10:02
I remember my friend. I was so jealous that he had a built-in Sukkot, so his dining room had a removable roof that they built in and when Sukkot came, all they needed to do was lay the nushach and they would pull the roof off and they had a Sukkot. And if it rained they just pulled the roof back and it was covered and it was on top of the shak and that way they did not have any rain and their house, they were sitting in their house at the regular dining room table, the regular dining room table. They were able to remove the roof, um and and and have a beautiful indoor sukkah and it's fully. It's. The greatest way of performing the mitzvah is that you're actually in a sukkah, but also in your home.
10:56
Now, if a person cannot do that, like most of us, particularly in Houston, we don't have the ability to have such removable roofs, so we build our sukkahs completely outside. We build it on the driveway. You can build it on your back porch. There's many, many places in my old house we had a patio in the back. We had to lay down concrete so that it wouldn't be on the grass. The first year we were there, we still didn't have concrete. We had grass and we had to put plywood on the grass. It wasn't really special, particularly special to have our sukkah there. But after that, the next year because we moved right before Sukkot and then after that, we had a beautiful, beautiful patio and all we really needed to do was put up one, two walls, because part of the house was the other two walls, and it was really magnificent sukkah. Then we moved to our new house and we don't have a deck like that, so we built a brand-new sukkah on our driveway and that part of the driveway is leveled and we can have a very, very big sukkah that can host all of our guests and it could be a special celebration of the holiday of Sukkot.
12:08
That is respectful and it's not, you know, a sukkah that's falling apart. It's not a sukkah that's, you know, just cutting corners. It's a sukkah that's appropriate and I also make sure corners it's a sukkah that's appropriate and I also make sure, by the way, decorations that people have in their sukkah I want it to have real, proper decorations for my sukkah. So I got all of my artwork that I wanted in my sukkah put onto vinyl banners so that even if it rains it doesn't get ruined, and they have grommets and they're just stuck onto the sukkah and it's really a very nice and special. For me at least, it's something that's important to me that it not be a mess. I don't want my sukkah to look like a mess and that way it looks nice. It really, hopefully it looks very nice. All right, so now halacha number three Gam b'schach yesh kamad dinim.
13:12
Also, in the laws of schach, there are many important factors Ve'kevan she'anu no'agim l'sakich ba'an fe'ilonos. Since we customarily cover our sukkahs with tree branches or with reeds, the possible issues are avoided, being that they're fulfilling the following conditions. Number one they grow from the ground. They're detached from the ground, so they have to grow from the ground. They have to be detached from the ground. They're not susceptible to ritual impurity and they're not tied together in bundles. There's no concern. So, technically speaking, you can cut some branches off of a tree and place them on your sukkah and you fulfill the mitzvah perfectly. I have a few palm trees in front of my house and I like to put them on top of the reeds that I have that are very of my house and I like to put them on top of the reeds that I have that are very, very nice. I like to also have some fresh palm trees on top of that for a number of reasons. Number one because it's greenery and it's nice. But second reason is because sometimes it gets windy and it can blow the reeds off. So if you have the heavier branches on top, it sort of serves as weights and it holds them down. So that's also, but there were times that there's a concern. Now I just want to bring out something important Today.
14:40
If someone wants to build a sukkah, it's not difficult to build a sukkah. You know you need walls. It's very easy to build. You know four 2x4s and attach them and you get some lattice, some plastic lattice, really nice lattice that they sell in Home Depot, and you can connect them. You can have a 4x8 or an 8x8, sukkah, it can take you an hour and you have it built. Then, on top on top, you have two beams going across and you can just roll out these and they sell them at at home depot as well. Uh, they sell these. Uh, it, it's bamboo, uh, bamboo rolls that are made for shades, but you can remove the shade part of it, meaning the pulleys, and it becomes just like a beautiful mat that serves. It's all bamboo and that can suffice as shach.
15:40
Okay, as covering Halacha, number four Kitzer addresses whether one may use items that are susceptible to Tumah, and thus disqualified from being used as Chach, in order to hold the Chach in place. So we spoke about ritual impurity. What does that mean? Halacha says as follows the halachas of which items can become Tame are complex. One of these halachas is that an item that can be considered a utensil is susceptible to Tumah, to ritual impurity. An item that is not a utensil, such as branches and reeds, is not susceptible to ritual impurity.
16:19
It is prohibited to use a wooden shade made of slats of wood, even thin rods of wood, for shach, as these are susceptible to tumah, according to Rebbe Moshe Feinstein. In general, when using mats, wood or bamboo for shach, halachic guidance must be obtained. According to Rebbe Moshe Feinstein, the custom is not to use achach, pre-cut wood slats or planks that can be used for flooring or roofing. So there's these, like using like two by fours, and slicing them in half is not. That's building material. That's not considered wood. That would be appropriate for shakha. Now again, if someone is in a situation someone's out in New Mexico, for example, or someone is out in the middle of no place and they aren't able to find the proper shakha for the covering of their sukkah, so then it is appropriate to consult with the rabbi to figure out what is suitable and what one can use for s'chach Halacha. Number four Kitzer addresses whether one may use okay, so now he's talking about over here the items that are susceptible to Tumah.
17:36
Initially, it is proper to be stringent Roi l'chatchila l'hachmir sh'lo l'haniach ala sukkah, to not place upon the Sukkah any item that is susceptible to ritual impurity, to use as a support, even Upon which to place the shach kegon, such as sulomos shiesh behen beis kibol ha-shlevos, wooden ladders that have a receptacle for the rungs, so things that are utensils. It's an actual tool. So, even though wood can be used, but a wooden ladder is already an object, it's something so that shouldn't be used, and then on top of that to place the reeds, that wouldn't be appropriate. V'kol shekein she'ar kelem. Any other utensils as well should not be used K'gon, moro, magrefa, or a spade or a shovel. Again, these are utensils. They're already made into utensils. V'afilu lit in osan, ala shchach lachziku. Even to place the on top of them, it is proper to be stringent and not to use those. However, after the fact, if he has nothing else that he could use, then placing it on any type of wood would be okay, For we have as an established ruling that one may support the. Would be okay the kaim alon, for we have as an established ruling the mutter l'hamid al-sashach bedovra makabal tumah, that one may support the shachach with something that is susceptible to tumah, something that is susceptible to ritual impurity. So there are people who have, like the chazon ish or the great halachic, the sizer, who had a stringency that no metal was involved in the sukkah. Metal is already an object that is susceptible, because it's already a utensil. It is susceptible to ritual impurity and there are many people who don't have any metal whatsoever in their sukkah. Okay, so it's just wood. My neighbor had that and they would have these wooden pegs that they would attach the walls. One had that and they would have these wooden pegs that they would attach the walls one to the other. They would have these wooden pegs, not screws, not bolts. They would have why Because, again, this was a special stringency we want it to be completely objects that are not utensils that are able to be ritually susceptible to impurity.
20:03
Halacha number five Tzoruch laniach sach. One must put on enough shach. Ad sheteheit zilosa merubim v'chamosa. Until this is a mistake that people make, so it's important to know this Until the shade provided by the shach is greater than the amount of sunlight that comes through. There should be more shades. When you look at the floor, there should be more shade than sunlight. She'im hayach ha'mas ha'marubah v'tzilas ha'psulam ha'torah, if there's more sun coming through than shade, it is invalid by biblical law. Okay, l'chein tzrichim li'zorah. Therefore, one must be very careful, l'hani, that even if the got wet or is freshly cut branches that when they dry out they should and they shrivel up, they should still be enough shade, more shade than sunlight, okay, so it's very easy to really tell. If you roll out those reeds or whatever it is that you put as your shakha and you look on a sunny day, you look at the floor of the sukkah and you see more sun than shade, you need to put more shakha. Okay, that's the general rule.
21:19
Now people talk all the time you have to be able to see the moon. You don't have to be able to see the moon, you don't have to be able to see the moon. Now, what the idea is is that you don't, you shouldn't have such a thick layer that you can't. Okay, listen to me here.
21:40
A person has to be very careful that there should not be in one location avir gimot tfachim. Shelo yeh b'mokam echad. Avir gimot tfachim. There shouldn't be ear space of three tfachim, which is three hands breadth, where there's no schach there. V'lachat chila. Initially, when putting down the schach, tzor. Initially, when putting down the schach, there should be air space between the schach enough that you can see the stars. Nevertheless, if the schach was thick, if you're not able to see the sun, the stars. If you're not able to see the moon, it's still kosher. Avol im hoisim uve kol kach. If it was so thick, sha'afilu im yordim k'shamim harbe einim yordim l'socha. If it was so thick that if it rained it won't be able to get through, then it's not kosher.
22:38
In such a case, the sukkah is like a roofed house and it's invalid. It has to be temporary. It can't be like you have a full roof on your right so you're like inside A sukkah. Halacha number six a sukkah must have at least three walls. If there is a strip of invalid tzchach, such as something that did not grow from the ground there, if there is a strip of invalid tzchach, such as something that did not grow from the ground, if there is invalid tzchach for a four tfachim space. Four tfachim is about, let's say, about 16 inches. Okay, about 16 inches wide. On the sukkah that has three walls, it can split the sukkah into two. Okay, about 16 inches wide. On the sukkah that has three walls, it can split the sukkah into two and cause it to be half the sukkah. So a person has to be careful about that and this if we learn that if that strip of Invalid Tzchach is located at the edge of the sukkah, near the wall. It does not form a separation between the wall and the sukkah, as long as the strip of in Val Yitzchak is not for Amos.
23:43
So let me explain to you what's going on here. There is something called an invisible wall or an invisible Okay. So let me give you an example. In the laws of Erev, erev means that we make a community into one connected neighborhood. Okay, make a community to one connected uh domain, so to speak. So, for example, if you have um in a campground, so you want to make, make an arof. What would an arof do? It make the entire campground into one domain, the entire campground into one domain. And now you can carry inside that domain on Shabbat, because the Torah says you cannot carry from one domain to another domain on Shabbat. So what do you do? Make it into one domain, and then you're not carrying from domain to domain. So now what happens if you put the string around the entire place, except for the gate, the entrance, which is about eight feet? Okay, so that is considered as if there's an invisible fence that connects it. Okay, it's as if there's an invisible fence Now with, regarding to the roof of the sukkah, the shakach of the sukkah. So if you have the separation of space in between two halves of the sukkah, so now it becomes two halves of a sukkah, but if you have it at the end of the sukkah, it's as if it's one. The wall extends over to that area. Okay, it's important to just understand this concept.
25:19
Sukkah habnuyah lef'amim, b'sukkahs habnuyah lef'amim. It occurs at times in built-in sukkahs. B'ultim dapim l'mal ala koslim v'ala dapim elu munochim klunso'os sha'alem ha'sukkah u'ma'achar she'en hadaf rochav dalen amos eino. So imagine if someone has a built-in sukkah, does the sukkah go to the ends of the wall? No, so there's like a little. You have like a little bit of a space so that you can have a beam to hold up the sukkah or something like that, right. So now the sukkah doesn't go to the end of the wall, so it's fine. You just don't sit underneath that part, right, but you sit underneath the actual shakha. You don't want the shakha to fall right, so it needs to be a support for it. And as long as the width is not four amas Four amas is about eight feet from the wall Eina posol asasoka mishum shach posol ki alach l'moshim usina.
26:27
This is a law, an oral law that was given to Moses at Mount Sinai that the amount of space that makes it into a separate domain or a separate housing is four Amos, which is about eight feet. We say that it's a bent wall and it is considered as if the wall bent in and up to eight feet would be okay. More than eight feet is already not a kosher sukkah. Do you understand what I'm saying? So if you have the space where the sukkah is which is more than eight feet away from the wall, meaning it doesn't have its independent walls, it's relying on the walls of the house or the walls of another structure. If it's more than eight feet away, it becomes a separate domain.
27:26
Ki yodofen nisakim sham l'mala elo she'en yoshvin ve'en yeshenin sham tachas hadaf ki sham ein lo din suka. Okay, so in that side area it's not considered a suka. V'afilo ein o rochav elad alad tfachim. If it's a smaller space, avol yeser ha-sukkah k'sherah Ach im munachim etzach ha-dofen dapim b'rochav dalad ha-masu yoser Ze nikro schach posol. That area is considered invalid. Schach V'posol is called a sukkah and invalidates the rest of the sukkah. However, I'm going to explain everything in a second. Es hakelem tekef ve'azcholas k'shamim ze'enomazik ve'kevon she'enom elamitzat echod.
28:27
So, if you want to just summarize this very simply, if a person has a regular sukkah that has four walls, they have nothing to worry about, like the hangover of the roof, for example, which would invalidate that part of the sukkah. You don't have anything to worry about. You have three other walls, that's fine. But what happens if you only have two and a half, and one of those two and a half are covered by the roof? So you're invalidating one of your walls. That's a problem. But if that space is not four feet away from the wall, then it's considered as one of the walls, but you don't sit or sleep under that portion which is covered by the roof. That's it.
29:18
Not so difficult. Okay, we're good, everyone. Good, marilyn, you're the one I'm concerned about. Not so difficult. Okay, we're good, everyone. Good, marilyn, you're the one I'm concerned about. You're good, yeah, okay, good, good, I'm thinking about the sook outside.
29:27
Okay, the sook outside is perfect. It's perfect because that has three full walls and that's it you need. Now I'll give you a great example, one sec, one sec. Let me share with you. It's a great example Because if you go outside, you'll notice that there is a roof, a little roof that covers. So if you leave the Torch Center you don't get rained on if it's raining. So you have that roof and then you have about two feet until the Sukkah roof begins, Maybe three feet Right. So technically speaking, the wall is considered like a curved wall or a bent wall all the way till the sukkah. So if they only had two walls there, it serves as the third wall. Perfectly Halachically this would be, but you don't sit under that part A square space of seven on seven, which would be about three, four feet, and don't sit under that part. That a solid roof or solid covering. Okay, halacha, number seven.
30:48
As we have seen previously, one of the criteria necessary for shach to be invalid is that it be detached from the ground. Thus, branches that are connected to a tree may not serve as chach. So this is something to be cautious of. If you have your neighbor's trees covering your driveway, those branches now become a problem because they're attached to the ground. If you have a tree that's covering your sukkah, that's attached to the ground, that's problematic. A person has to be careful that there's nothing on top of the shach all the way up to the heavens to ensure that it is clear. Thus, branches that are connected to a tree may not serve as shach. In fact, even if one builds a sukkah beneath a tree and covers the sukkah with valid shach, the branches of the tree may. One builds a sukkah beneath a tree and covers the sukkah with valid tzchach, the branches of the tree may invalidate the sukkah, as the Kitzer explains in this Seif, seif number 7.
31:48
Ha'os ha'sukah sotachas anfei. One who builds a sukkah under the branches of a tree, ha'rez upzula. It's invalid. Ve'afilu imachmas ha'anofim bilvad. With the tree branches alone, the sunlight in the sukkah would be more than the shade, and thus Now the shade that comes from that and the sukkah now a majority covered from the sun. Still, you cannot use that shade because it's from a tree that's attached to the ground. It has to be something that's not attached to the ground. With the shakht that he placed upon the walls that he made, the sukkah have the requisite shade. Mekomah kamsulah, nevertheless would be invalid. V'afilu im yiktsot acharkach anfei ilon. Even if, after putting the the shach, he would cut off the tree branches hanging over the shach, nevertheless the sukkah is invalid.
33:02
The festival of sukkahs you shall make for yourselves. We learn, we expound from this verse that you shall make for yourself a sukkah. The festival of sukkahs means you shall make it, not that it is already made. And because those branches are already made, they're already standing there, it is considered that it is pre-made. You have to put it there onto your sukkah L'chein. Therefore, la'achashu k'otat zanaf, after a person cut off the branches hanging over his sukkah, tzarchu lagbiya kol anaf min ha-sukkah v'yachzu v'in eche'o l'shem sukkah. You have to lift up the branch and put it back down on the sukkah to to make it that you placed it there. So I'll give you a better example.
33:51
A sukkah what's if I decide that I'm going to keep my sukkah up the whole year? I like to have a nice little canopy, a place to park my car, so I'm going to leave the reeds there. I don't mind if my car gets a little wet, and I'm going to move the walls and I'll park my car under it. It's going to be my nice little canopy Next year. Is that a valid sukkah? No, because it has to be built for Sukkot. So what do you do? You got to lift up the shach, put it back down. Now it becomes a sukkah, meaning. I now replaced it for the sake of the sukkah. Okay, so if you have the branches of the tree that were hanging over, they're sitting there on top of your sukkah and then I say you know what? Let me just cut off the branch and just leave it there. No, no, no. You have to now lift it and place it back. It's not enough that you disconnected it from the ground and then you severed it from its roots. You have to actually replace it on top of the sukkah.
34:46
And this is a verse from the Torah that teaches us Chag HaSukkot Ta'aseh L'cha, the verse in Deuteronomy 16, verse 13,. That says you shall make a sukkah. Not, it should be made for you already. Okay, la'acha shukat tz'anofim. No.
35:07
So we actually, for many years we did a workshop at Home Depot teaching people how to build a sukkah and you'd be able to come and maybe we should do it again, but it was a very nice. You know, they had one of the old phrases. The trademarks of Home Depot was you can do it, we can help right. That was their thing and that was our tagline for building the sukkah you can build the sukkah, we will help right. And that's the idea. But it's not a difficult thing.
35:41
If anybody wants a sukkah built, there's someone in our community, a very righteous, special man, who loves the mitzvah of sukkah, and he will come to your house and he'll build your sukkah, won't charge you a dime. He wants to partake in the mitzvah of sukkah, of sukkah that you will observe, and he will build it for free for you. So if you, if you let me know after class, I will happily give you his phone number. You tell him I would love to have a little sukkah built for me, and he will come to your house with great joy, with the biggest smile on his face that he has the opportunity to partake in your sukkah. So take me up on it after class. Please reach out to me and I will happily share that information with you.
36:19
Okay, a person therefore has to first build the walls and then put the, not have the and then build the walls, because you have to make it into a. Why did we say it's called a? Because of the, the same root word. You put the. That makes it a. You first have to have the valid walls to place the and not vice versa.
36:47
Halacha number eight, v'chein sukkah Ha'asuyi be'gagos, ha'niftachos tzorach, le'ftachos, ha'gagos, kodim sh'min yachas ha'zchach. You have to place the shakha on the. If you have the removable roofs, you first have to remove the roof, then place the shakha V'achak. So if a person has a removable roof, you have to open it up so it's open to the heavens, place your shach down, then you can close it again and you can open it if it rains, or something like that. A person has to ensure that at the entrance, the beginning of the holiday, that a person has the roof wide open. Okay, so when holiday comes in, you have your sukkah is ready to go, so a person has to be careful not to sit in the area beneath where the roof is leaning over the schach.
38:11
So if you have so, for example, when we were kids, one of the things that we would do is build something called a shlak. A shlak is like a tarp. It's a tarp because we grew up in Brooklyn. For many years we lived in Brooklyn and it would always rain in the middle of Sukkot and it would be very unpleasant. You have to move the tables in and the chairs in and everything in, and it would be a big mess. So what would we do? We'd build this tarp that could be placed right over the sukkah when it would rain. Usually it didn't work anyway, but it was something that kept us busy Because the water weighs a lot more and it would just like seep right through the tarp. But imagine you have the tarp hanging over the side of the sukkah, so that area that it's hanging over don't sit underneath it, because that's not part of the sukkah, it's covered by a roof. You got to be careful about that.
39:04
Okay, so that's what the halachia here says. One needs to be careful, he says. He says he says, even though the sukkah made for the festival of Sukkot is exempt from mezuzah since since. So if someone has a permanent sukkah meaning they just remove the roof they have to have a mezuzah to go into that because it's part of their permanent house. But to a temporary dwelling like our sukkah that we build outside. Most people do that today. You don't need to have a mezuzah installed on that sukkah that we build outside. Most people do that today. You don't need to have a mezuzah installed on that sukkah.
39:54
Yotzen b'sukka she'ula, yotzen b'sukka she'ula ava lo b'sukka gzula. One fulfills a mitzvah of sukkah by a borrowed sukkah. So you go to the synagogue sukkah, you go to a neighbor's sukkah, that's fine. To the synagogue sukkah, you go to a neighbor's sukkah. That's fine, but you cannot steal a sukkah. You do not fulfill the mitzvah by stealing your neighbor's sukkah. That would not be appropriate and the halacha here makes it very clear that you do not fulfill your mitzvah by stealing your neighbor's sukkah.
40:20
L'chein asolas ha-sukkah b'reh shasarabim. Therefore, a person has construct a sukkah in a public domain because you're stealing from people's walkway, you're stealing from people's domain. It's the public domain. However, in a case of pressing need, where there is no other sukkah available for a person under any circumstances, he may sit in a sukkah that is built in a public domain and recite a blessing upon it because he has no other choice. A person can do that. Now. Most restaurants, most kosher restaurants you'll go there today you'll see that they have a sukkah built already. In front of the sukkah they put nice drapes out so that it's private. If you go to order food in that restaurant, you can sit in the sukkah and eat your food and you have privacy as well. Very, very romantic way to have dinner in a sukkah. Halacha number nine. Okay, halacha, sorry. Halacha number 10.
41:36
He says a person needs to be cautious and careful not to cut down the shakha for his sukkah by himself. Rather, he should purchase it from another person. In cases of pressing need, one may cut the shakha for the shach for himself. I don't exactly know why. Probably because jews didn't own that much property. We weren't uh, we weren't uh owners of. Jews were not known to be owners of real estate.
42:02
Today it's different to the united states. It's a. It's a different uh culture, but it used to be the jews were. So you can't just go over to someone's tree and start chopping off branches for your sukkah. You gotta buy it, you gotta pay for it, and you can't just go to someone and say, oh, I need it for my sukkah, I'm just cutting off a few branches. No, you have to buy it or get permission to do so. El ish yitol rishus mebalakak. You have to ask permission from the land.
42:26
It is permitted to construct a sukkah during Chol HaMoed, during the intermediate days of the festival, which is the days between the first two holiday days, the last two holidays, in the intermediary days. It is permitted for one to build a sukkah on those days. Halacha number 12, the Torah states the holiday, the Chag of Sukkot, you shall make for yourself seven days for Hashem. The term Chag is explained in the Talmud as being a reference to the Chagigah offering that was brought on the festival in the time of the Temple. This indicates that just as the animal designated for the Chagigah offering becomes prohibited for Medin use, so too the Sukkah has the name of Hashem attached to it and is designated for the mitzvah of the seven days, and therefore it can't be used for other things.
43:24
The pieces of wood used for the construction of the Sukkah. You cannot benefit from the walls or the shakha till after Simchas Torah, till after the end of the holiday, because they're designated for a mitzvah. So you can't now use that wall for something else during the holiday, because they're already designated. V'arfil lito, mehem, kesam, lechatzot shinov. Even to take a toothpick out of a splinter of the wood from your wall to use it as a toothpick, you can't do that. Why? Because the wall already is designated for a mitzvah for the mitzvah of Sukkah. So, till after the holiday of Sukkot, you cannot use it for any other purpose, even if they fell down. There was a strong wind and it knocked down the walls. Oh, let me just use it, repurpose my two by fours to build myself a shed. No, you can't do that till after the holiday. It doesn't help stipulating no, you can't do that until after the holiday. V'lo mehani behu tanayin. It doesn't help stipulating a condition before the holiday. Well, if I want to use it for another purpose, I can use it. No, it's already designated for a mitzvah and therefore it needs to fulfill its full run, its full course of the mitzvah, which is just seven days.
44:47
V'imchal simchastor, be'erav shabbos. If simchastor falls on Friday, asurim gamish shabbos, then also on shabbos, it would be forbidden to use any of the walls or shach for any other purpose. L'chein v'chein. Likewise, no'i sukkah, asurim ba'ano.
45:03
The ornaments, the things, the decorations that are hung in a sukkah are forbidden for benefit. Even if they fell down, they are forbidden for benefit. You can't sell them during the holiday, you can't touch them, even during the intermediary days, even though they're weekdays, so to speak. But they're considered intermediary days and you're not supposed to mess with them. It's something which is designated and you're not supposed to mess with them. L'chein b'shabas. V'yomtum asur metiltum. You're not allowed to move them.
45:33
M'shum muktze. It's something which is designated for the holiday and therefore it's holy. You don't touch the shach, you don't touch the decorations during the entire seven days of the holiday U'makamukam. Nevertheless, esrog atoli b'sukah l'noyi.
45:50
If someone hangs and many people do this, they hang a beautiful esrog in the sukkah as part of the decorations. Mutul hariyach bo d'lo hukta m'irech? You are allowed to smell it, since it is not set apart from use with regard to smelling it. So you can't now take it off and say, oh, I want to use this for shaking my lulav and esrog. I'm going to use this citron, this esrog that I hung as a decoration. I want to use it now for a different purpose. You can't, because once it's designated for decoration, it needs to stay as such during the entire holiday. This is a challenge.
46:32
Sometimes people hang things as decorations and they fall and they want to fix it during the intermediary days. According to the halacha, it is prohibited to do so because it's already. It is what it is. Leave it Just like on Shabbos. We wouldn't repair it. We don't repair it during the holiday of Sukkot. Yeah, you can. Well, I don't know. I have to see, I have to look into that. If you can pick it up from the floor, even If it's a desecration of it, then maybe.
46:57
But regarding the ornaments that are hanging in the, it is accepted custom that even an express stipulation is not effective to permit benefiting from it. However, with regard to the ornaments that are hanging on the walls, a stipulation is effective. Regarding embroidered linen that are hung in the sukkah as ornaments. It is customary to move them, to remove them, that they not get damaged from the rain, even if one did not explicitly stipulate before the holiday that he wants to set them aside for mitzvah, for the holiday. That I'm putting up these decorations and I'm allowing myself in the holiday, not during the two days but during the intermediary days, to adjust them, to move them, to change them, to get rid of them. So in that case you would be able, if they fell down during the intermediary days, but during the actual days of the holiday, because again, there's two days in the beginning, four days in between and then two days at the end that block off the whole holiday of Sukkot, during the intermediary days one would be able to move them. If he makes that precondition. V'tzorach li'zor benay Sukkot. Regarding the ornaments, the decorations of the Sukkot, a person needs to be cautious Asher bedatol litlo b'soch yomtov that he intends to remove them on yomtov Shalol l'kash shalot bekesher, to make sure not to have them knotted, because it's forbidden to untie a knot, elaba aniva, but rather you can make them into a bow that with one pull you can untie them, and that would be sufficient. Okay, and we finally conclude. Two more halachas, three more halachas, but very short ones. Halacha number 13. Gam la'achar achag. Also after the festival, kish sh'sasar es ha'sukah.
49:27
When a person disassembles the sukkah, a person shouldn't step on the boards, because these boards are used for a mitzvah. A person shouldn't use them for degrading purposes, because anything that is used for a mitzvah needs to be preserved with dignity, just like tzitzis Imagine tzitzis, right. So tzitzis are used on all four-cornered garments. A person has these fringes, but let's say now they become invalid For whatever reason, they get torn. You're not allowed to throw them in the garbage. You wrap them up, you bury them because they were used for a mitzvah, the garment as well. Gamlach haachachag.
50:09
So also after the holiday, something that is used for the sukkah shouldn't just be discarded, you know, with disrespect and without a dignified, proper way. Ossor l'achakok posuk b'sukkos teishvu o'shar posuk adlas v'kayotzebo. It is forbidden to engrave the verse in Sukkot you shall dwell or any other verse, upon a gourd or the like, on an ornament for decoration in the Sukkah Because it's food. Food shouldn't be used as decorations to carve out a verse, because then what's going to happen? That food is going to become disgusting and it's going to get repugnant. It's going to smell, it's not going to look nice and it's going to rot and be discarded. The Oud it is forbidden to, also lichtav, posok, sholot, zorch, and also it's forbidden to write a verse of the Torah unnecessarily. And finally, allah an number. That's just a general rule A person shouldn't make.
51:25
One of the things that I'm very, very, very cautious about, with my children as well, is not to throw food. Food is a gift from Hashem for us to satiate our hunger and to feed our bodies and our soul. It's not something that should be thrown around. Food fights I am like it's something very intolerant about. I hate when people throw food. Right, it's one thing. Okay, you're not finishing the food, discarding it in a dignified way. A person has to be careful about throwing out bread altogether. It's something which a person has to be very, very careful about, but not to waste food and definitely not to degrade food by throwing it or having it around with disrespect. Halacha number 15, then the final halacha in Simeon 134.
52:18
Erev Sukkos l'achah hatzos on Erev Sukkos, the day before Sukkos, which this year will be on Monday tomorrow After midday lo yoh hapas, a person should not eat bread. Why K'dei sheyoh hapas, a person should not eat bread? Why K'dei shi yoh ha besukol ete oven. So a person, when they come into the sukkah to eat tomorrow night, they should eat with a great appetite. If you ate in the late afternoon, you come in. You're like, okay, I'm not so hungry, I'm not going to eat. No, you want to come in a little hungry. So you eat in the Sukkot with a great appetite.
52:51
And it is a special mitzvah to increase in the distribution of charity before the holiday of Sukkot. To increase in charity, you can go to torchweborg and make a donation. It is always appreciated. But a person should find a way before the holiday to give charity. This is part of the halachas that we learn of preparing before the holiday to give charity. This is part of the halachas that we learn of preparing for the holiday of Sukkot.
53:14
My dear friend, I know it's a little bit lengthy, but we covered a whole chapter of halacha. Thank you, have a magnificent holiday of Sukkot. Have a beautiful time bonding in the relationship with Hashem. We're getting out of our homes, we're getting out of our comforts. We're getting out of our homes, we're getting out of our comforts, we're getting out of our routine and we're starting a new path forward for our relationship with Hashem. We're saying to Hashem you know what? We're going to have a union with you in our sukkah, and then we'll bring that into our home, A bond of closeness.
53:46
The Jewish people traveled through the desert and it says they stopped. They camped in Sukkot. What happened in their traveling in the desert? An amazing miracle. They had protection from all six directions On their north, the south, the east, the west, above and beneath, above from the sun. You know how it is in the desert, do you? The west, above and beneath, above from the sun. You know how it is in the desert. Do you know the snakes and scorpions that hang around, all the wild animals, all protected. It says that they walked around on the sand. Their feet didn't burn in the desert. It was like they were walking on plush Persian rugs. All right, that's the way. They had clouds. That's what we demonstrate when we sit in the Sukkot. We're sitting in the clouds of glory, being protected by the Almighty. My dear friends, have a beautiful Yom Tov Chag Sameach. And now we're going to open the floor to our Ask Away series. Ask Away number 20.
54:49 - Intro (Announcement)
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