How to Build a Sukkah

(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.

The dimensions of a sukkah: its height may not be less than ten hand-breadths or more than twenty cubits, and its width may not be less than seven by seven hand-breadths; but one can expand its width even by several mil. If it were less than ten [tall] or seven by seven [wide] or taller than twenty cubits by any amount it is invalid.

A sukkah without three walls is invalid. If it had two complete walls next to one another in the shape of [the Greek letter] gamma (Γ), one may make a wall with a width greater than one hand-breadth and stand it less than three [hand-breadths] adjacent to one of the [other] two walls, and that is enough (Figure 1). But one must [still] fashion the shape of a doorway, since it does not have three complete walls; and we have already explained in the laws of Shabbat that anywhere it says "shape of a doorway" [it means] even [as little as] a pole on this side and a pole on that side and a pole above them, even if they do not connect (Fig. 2).

If it had two walls, one opposite the other, with a passage between them (Figure 3), one may make a wall four hand-breadths wide plus a bit and stand it within three [hand-breadths] of one of the two walls, and it is valid (Figure 4); but one must [also] make the shape of a doorway. If poles stick out from the sekhakh of the sukkah in front of the sukkah, and one wall extends beneath them, that is like a sukkah [and valid] (Figure 5).

(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.

(10) Regarding a house that [its roof] was breached and one put sekhakh on top [of the breach], if there are four cubits [of solid ceiling] between the wall and the sekhakh, it is invalid. And similarly regarding a courtyard surrounded by a colonnade, [if one covered the empty space above it, but there is a gap of three hand-breadths between the sekhakh and the walls, it is invalid]. Regarding a large sukkah which [its sekhakh] was surrounded by material that may not be used for sekhakh, if there is an area four cubits wide beneath it [the invalid material], it is invalid.

(11) If one makes his sukkah like a shed [i.e. with a sloping roof that meets at a line], or leaned it against a wall, Rabbi Eliezer invalidates [both] because it has no roof, and the Sages validate [them]. Regarding a large reed mat, if one made it for lying upon, it may be rendered impure and it cannot be used as sekhakh; if [one made it] for use as sekhakh, it may be used as sekhakh and it cannot be rendered impure. Rabbi Eliezer says: whether it is small or large, if one made it for lying upon, it may be rendered impure and it cannot be used as sekhakh; if [one made it] for use as sekhakh, it may be used as sekhakh and it cannot be rendered impure.