The most important part of the sukkah is the roofing material which is called schach (סכך). There are lots of rules about what is kosher schach, or schach which can be used on a sukkah. Basically, the roof is made of something that grows from the ground but is cut off from the ground.
- Have you ever seen schach?
- What did it look like?
- What type of material was it?
Tucked away in Mishnah Sukkah 1:1 are 4 Hebrew words which tell us something very important about schach. Read the highlighted section
(א) סֻכָּה שֶׁהִיא גְבוֹהָה לְמַעְלָה מֵעֶשְׂרִים אַמָּה, פְּסוּלָה. רַבִּי יְהוּדָה מַכְשִׁיר. וְשֶׁאֵינָהּ גְּבוֹהָה עֲשָׂרָה טְפָחִים, וְשֶׁאֵין לָהּ שְׁלֹשָׁה דְּפָנוֹת, וְשֶׁחַמָּתָהּ מְרֻבָּה מִצִּלָּתָהּ, פְּסוּלָה...
(1) A sukka that is more than twenty cubits high is unfit. Rabbi Yehuda deems it fit. Similarly, a sukka that is not even ten handbreadths high, and one that does not have three walls, and one whose sunlight that passes through its roofing is greater than its shade are unfit...
According to the Mishnah, a kosher sukkah is one that has more sunlight or more shade?
Draw a sukkah with the right ratio of sunlight to shade. Your drawing might include the sun shining down on the sukkah.
Discussion questions:
- Why do you think some light has to come through the schach, although there must be more shade?
- What feeling do you think you are supposed to have when you leave your house to sit in a sukkah?