What do you think of when you hear the word “sukkah”? Draw a picture of a sukkah without showing anyone else. When everyone in the class is done drawing, share your pictures. Are they similar?
Your sukkot probably looked a lot alike. How did you know to draw a sukkah in that way? Is there a specific text which describes what a sukkah actually looks like? In this lesson, and others to follow, you will look at texts that provide architectural guidelines for building a sukkah.
We will start our inquiry into how to build a sukkah with the Torah.
What information about building a sukkah does the verse give?
If the building instructions aren’t in the Torah, where do they come from? The rabbis of the Mishnah wrote down many instructions for building a sukkah. Look in the table of contents of the Mishnah to find the section, or masechet, where you think you would find the information. Open the masechet to the first chapter.
The first mishnah of the first chapter of the first masechet gives us lots of information about what a kosher, or suitable, sukkah looks like. Let’s look at the first two characteristics of a sukkah. The sukkah can’t be too tall or too short. What might a too tall sukkah or a too short sukkah look like?
- Draw a sukkah that is too tall. Hint: A cubit is the distance from the fingers to the elbow, which is estimated to be 18 inches. Use the cubit converter to figure out how tall is too tall.
- Draw a sukkah that is too short. Hint: A tefach is thought to be approximately 3.2 inches, which is approximately the width of an adult palm of the hand.
When you have finished your drawings, click here to go to the next sheet.