The Halachot of Building a Sukkah Introduction to Halakhah - Class III

(13) And on the second day were gathered together the heads of fathers’houses of all the people, the priests, and the Levites, unto Ezra the scribe, even to give attention to the words of the Law. (14) And they found written in the Law, how that the LORD had commanded by Moses, that the children of Israel should dwell in booths in the feast of the seventh month; (15) and that they should publish and proclaim in all their cities, and in Jerusalem, saying: ‘Go forth unto the mount, and fetch olive branches, and branches of wild olive, and myrtle branches, and palm branches, and branches of thick trees, to make booths, as it is written.’

And the Saducees (Karaites?) said "..from these (four species) you shall make your Sukkot.." And they bring proof from the book of Ezra (Nehemiah 8:14-16 - PLEASE SEE THE CITATION IN THE TANAKH!)("Goforth unto the mount, and fetch olive branches, and branches of wild olive, and myrtle branches, and palm branches, and branches of thick trees, to make booths...") Can those thick hearted people not see!?! For in Ezra there are no willows in the verse, just five kinds of leaves! Nor is the mention of both "myrtles" and "leafy trees" any argument against our old tradition...

(1) A sukkah taller than twenty cubits is invalid. Rabbi Yehudah validates it. And one which is not ten hand-breadths tall, or does not contain three walls, or whose whose [area of] sun is greater than its shade is invalid. Regarding an old sukkah, Beit Shammai invalidate it, and Beit Hillel validate it. What is an old sukkah? Any [sukkah] which one made it thirty days before the festival. But if one made it for the sake of the festival, even [if he made it] from the beginning of the year, it is valid.

(2) One who makes his sukkah beneath a tree, it is as though he made it inside a house [and is thus invalid]. Regarding a sukkah on top of a sukkah, the top one is valid, and the bottom one invalid. Rabbi Yehudah says: if there is no lodging in the top one, the bottom one is valid.

(4) If one raised a grapevine, a gourd, or and ivy upon it, and placed the sekhakh [the leafy roof covering of a sukkah] on top of it, it is invalid. But if there was a greater amount of sekhakh than them, or if one trimmed them [the plants, such that they were not longer attached], it is valid. This is the rule: anything that can be rendered impure or does not grow from the ground cannot be used for sekhakh; and anything that cannot be rendered impure and that grows from the ground can be used for sekhakh.

(5) Bundles of straw, bundles of wood, or bundles of shoots may not be used for sekhakh. And all of them, if they are untied [from their bundles], are valid. And they are all valid for use as walls [of a sukkah].

(9) If [in constructing one's sukkah] one lowers the walls from the top down, if it [the wall] remains three hand-breaths above the ground, it is invalid. If [one raises the walls] from the bottom up, if it rises ten hand-breadths above the ground, it is valid [regardless of any gap between it and the sekhakh]. Rabbi Yose says: just as [a wall built] from the bottom up is [valid provided it has a height of] ten hand-breadths, so too [a wall built] from the top down is [valid provided it has a height of] ten hand-breadths. If one distanced the sekhakh material three hand-breadths from the wall [leaving a gap of at least that size], it is invalid.

This is how one should fulfil the mitzvah of abiding in the sukkah. He should eat, drink, [sleep, lounge](See Mishnah Berurah) and reside in the sukkah for all seven days of Sukkot, both by day and by night in the manner that he resides in his house on other days of the year.

All seven days a person should make his house serve as a provisional residence and his sukkah for a settled residence. This is done as follows: The beautiful utensils and the beautiful bedding should be in the sukkah. The drinking vessels, such as goblets and tumblers, should be in the sukkah. However, the eating utensils [after one has eaten] such as pots and dishes, should be outside the sukkah. The lamp should be in the sukkah. If it is a small sukkah, one may place the lamp outside the sukkah. One should not make any disrespectful use of the the sukkah, so as not to regard mitzvot with disrespect.

One should eat and drink and sleep in the sukkah on all seven days of the sukkoth, both day and night.

One may not sleep outside the sukkah, even a momentary sleep.

On the other hand, one may eat a snack outside the sukkah. The amount that is regarded as a snack, is an egg's volume of bread. One is also permitted to drink water and to eat fruit (even if one settles to eat them) outside the sukkah.

One who is stringent with himself, and does not drink even water outside the sukkah, is worthy of praise.

As for a cooked dish made out of any of the five species of grain, if one sets down to eat it, this is considered "settled eating" and it is therefore necessary for the eating to be done in a sukkah

The practice to be lenient now as regards sleep, so that only those who are meticulous over the observance of mitzvot sleep in the sukkah requires explanation.

​There are authorities who say that it is because of the cold, as sleeping in the sukkah in cold locations can be a path of suffering. It appears to me, that it is because the mitzvah of such requires a man to reside there with his household, meaning a man should reside there with his wife as he does the rest of the year, and in places where he cannot sleep there together with his wife, because he does not have a private sukkah, he is exempt from sleeping there, It is desirable for one to be stringent, and to be in the sukkah with his wife, in the manner that he rides all year, if he is able to have a private sukkah.