Sukkah הלכות סוכה
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625The Mitzvah of SukkahSiman 625 · 6 seifim
- 1.The Torah says, ‘You shall dwell in sukkot for…
- 2.The diligent hasten to mitzvot. Those meticulous in observance…
- 3.Each person should participate in building the sukkah because…
- 4.When Shabbat falls between Yom Kippur and Sukkot, some…
- 5.There are places where few build a sukkah as…
- 6.On Friday or the eve of Yom Tov, one…
626A Sukkah Beneath a Tree or RoofSiman 626 · 13 seifim
- 1.The public must be warned not to build a…
- 2.Sechach must be detached from the ground; a sukkah…
- 3.Suppose a three-walled balcony has only five tefachim beneath…
- 4.One may build and place valid sechach beneath an…
- 5.A sukkah may be built beneath a retractable roof,…
- 6.A retractable roof may open like doors or a…
- 7.A sukkah with sloped sechach is valid.
- 8.If a metal roof above the sechach was mistakenly…
- 9.One who has a canopy installed over the sukkah…
- 10.Likewise, if rain began during the meal, the roof…
- 11.A covered balcony with thin wooden slats permanently nailed…
- 12.A sukkah built for the festival is exempt from…
- 13.If an asbestos ceiling was removed and replaced with…
627Sleeping Under a Bed in the SukkahSiman 627 · 2 seifim
Read this siman →628A Sukkah on a VehicleSiman 628 · 1 seifim
Read this siman →629Materials Fit for SechachSiman 629 · 35 seifim
- 1.Material used to cover a sukkah requires three conditions…
- 2.Some invalidate still-attached branches growing in any planter, perforated…
- 3.A tree detached from a nonperforated planter may be…
- 4.A broken wooden box or chest remains invalid for…
- 5.Such pieces may nevertheless support the sechach because an…
- 6.Large shipping crates holding forty se’ah or more do…
- 7.A table or similar flat wooden utensil contracts impurity…
- 8.Food is invalid for sechach even before becoming susceptible…
- 9.Animal fodder remains unsusceptible to impurity even when people…
- 10.Fragrant plants used only for scent, and decorative flowers…
- 11.Spices such as cinnamon that flavor a dish but…
- 12.Fig branches bearing figs or vines bearing grapes may…
- 13.A sukkah covered with branches of a living tree…
- 14.All forms of paper, including cardboard made from paper,…
- 15.Sechach poles may be wrapped in colored paper for…
- 16.Nylon and plastic sheets are invalid for sechach because…
- 17.Glass is invalid even as a flat sheet never…
- 18.Wooden spits and wooden bed legs may not be…
- 19.Bundles of straw and stalks may unquestionably be used…
- 20.Cotton may not be used. The reason processed flax…
- 21.A commercial reusable sechach mat made of thin slats…
- 22.A straw mat is presumed made for lying and…
- 23.One should not initially use foul-smelling material or foliage…
- 24.Very soft vegetable sechach expected to dry out during…
- 25.Some hold that sechach from an asherah tree used…
- 26.Some trees grow formations resembling birds hanging by their…
- 27.The Sages forbade covering the sukkah with boards four…
- 28.When using thin boards, one should preferably avoid leaving…
- 29.Ideally, sechach should not rest directly on material that…
- 30.Plywood joined with synthetic glue may be used as…
- 31.Sukkah poles may be joined with iron nails or…
- 32.In a place where very strong winds are common…
- 33.Some prohibit a sukkah beneath the thin rafters that…
- 34.A sukkah beneath clotheslines, electrical wires, or telephone wires…
- 35.If heavy snow fell on the sechach of the…
630The Walls of a SukkahSiman 630 · 6 seifim
- 1.A sukkah must be made with three walls and…
- 2.A wall attached to the ground is valid. A…
- 3.Wall material need not qualify as sechach and may…
- 4.The height of the wall must be no less…
- 5.A wall board may be moved from one side…
- 6.A six-by-six-tefach sukkah can be valid when a one-tefach-thick…
631The Arrangement of SechachSiman 631 · 6 seifim
- 1.Sechach should preferably allow large stars to be seen.…
- 2.If one remembers on Yom Tov or on Shabbat…
- 3.A sukkah must have more shade than sun. If…
- 4.In uneven sechach, upper and lower pieces within three…
- 5.When valid and invalid sechach are mixed and no…
- 6.Sechach extending beyond the entrance together with one continued…
632Invalid Roofing Within a SukkahSiman 632 · 3 seifim
- 1.Invalid sechach in the middle invalidates a large sukkah…
- 2.An open-air gap of three tefachim invalidates large and…
- 3.Invalid sechach generally invalidates at four tefachim. Some treat…
633The Height of a SukkahSiman 633 · 9 seifim
- 1.A sukkah higher than twenty amot is invalid. Its…
- 2.If straw was placed before Yom Tov without explicit…
- 3.Walls may exceed twenty amot. Only the open height…
- 4.Walls ten tefachim high need not physically reach high…
- 5.When a low sukkah has less than ten tefachim…
- 6.Walls may contain many windows and openings even when…
- 7.A hinged door may serve as the third wall…
- 8.Some require leaving such a door closed from the…
- 9.Some forbid opening or closing the wall-door on Shabbat…
635Sukkot Made by Those Not Obligated and for Non-Mitzvah UsesSiman 635 · 11 seifim
- 1.A sukkah is valid even if it was not…
- 2.A woman or minor, though exempt from the mitzvah…
- 3.If a woman built a sukkah so her household…
- 4.One authority suggested that since sukkah wood is forbidden…
- 5.A sukkah built by non-Jewish workers for a Jew…
- 6.The preferred renewal required for a sukkah built by…
- 7.If a properly built sukkah lost one wall during…
- 8.If sechach fell on the night of Yom Tov…
- 9.If the sechach fell on Yom Tov night and…
- 10.If a resident of the Diaspora properly built a…
- 11.Initially the walls should be made before the sechach.…
636An Old SukkahSiman 636 · 1 seifim
Read this siman →637A Borrowed or Stolen SukkahSiman 637 · 12 seifim
- 1.One who did not build a sukkah, whether inadvertently…
- 2.A convert who converts during Chol HaMoed Sukkot, and…
- 3.The principal ruling is that a sukkah must be…
- 4.One fulfills the mitzvah in a borrowed sukkah and…
- 5.The Torah writes ‘in sukkot’ defectively, and the Sages…
- 6.One authority wrote that the rule that land cannot…
- 7.One who builds a sukkah near the entrance of…
- 8.The law of a stolen sukkah applies both to…
- 9.If one stole wood, used it as sechach, and…
- 10.It is forbidden to cut branches for sechach from…
- 11.Some people improperly take construction boards without the owners’…
- 12.If the only available branches for sechach are from…
638The Sukkah and Its Decorations Are Forbidden for Benefit Throughout the FestivalSiman 638 · 27 seifim
- 1.It is a mitzvah to adorn the sukkah with…
- 2.It is therefore proper to adorn the sukkah with…
- 3.Decorations suspended from the sechach should be close to…
- 4.A colored-paper chain hung from the sechach should initially…
- 5.An oil lamp suspended from the sechach may be…
- 6.Those who display photographs of leading Torah sages in…
- 7.Initially one may not write verses on paper or…
- 8.Decorations manufactured by Christians for their Christmas holiday may…
- 9.Some forbid hanging orlah fruit as sukkah decoration because…
- 10.Produce possessing seventh-year sanctity may be hung as sukkah…
- 11.Throughout the eight festival days one may not benefit…
- 12.Pomegranates, grape clusters, bottles of wine or other drinks,…
- 13.A stipulation saying, ‘I reserve the right to eat…
- 14.No stipulation permits benefit from the sukkah structure itself.…
- 15.One who hangs myrtle branches or a perfume bottle…
- 16.Decorations that fell from the sechach on Chol HaMoed…
- 17.Carpets spread on the sukkah floor have the same…
- 18.If a refrigerator serves as part of a sukkah…
- 19.Pomegranates hung as sukkah decorations that fall and become…
- 20.Similarly, if an etrog hung as decoration falls into…
- 21.If one hung a valid etrog from the sechach…
- 22.The prohibition against benefiting from sukkah decorations applies only…
- 23.Even if one forgot to stipulate that decorations could…
- 24.For a permanent sukkah used every Sukkot, its wood…
- 25.Some hang on the sukkah wall a curtain formerly…
- 26.If a sukkah wall lacks the minimum valid dimensions,…
- 27.There is one who wrote that women should not…
639The Eve of SukkotSiman 639 · 1 seifim
Read this siman →+The Order of the First Festival Night: Candle Lighting and KiddushThe Order of the First Festival Night: Candle Lighting and Kiddush · 11 seifim
- 1.It is a mitzvah to light the Yom Tov…
- 2.Some women light Yom Tov candles before sunset, as…
- 3.Although lighting in the sukkah on the first night…
- 4.One should try to light in the sukkah so…
- 5.Some women customarily recite Shehecheyanu when lighting. It is…
- 6.At Ma’ariv on Sukkot night, the season of our…
- 7.Initially one should take care not to recite Kiddush…
- 8.At Kiddush on the festival night, while standing one…
- 9.On the second festival night in the Diaspora, one…
- 11.Throughout Sukkot, whenever Kiddush is recited, it should be…
- 12.Even at the Shabbat or Yom Tov morning Kiddush,…
+Sitting and Eating in the Sukkah on the Festival NightSiman 639 (continued) · 24 seifim
- 1.The Torah commands dwelling in sukkot so future generations…
- 2.The rule that one who has already fulfilled a…
- 3.There is a positive Torah commandment to eat a…
- 4.Before eating, one should intend that sitting in the…
- 5.If one eats in the sukkah without explicit mitzvah…
- 6.One who eats outside the sukkah transgresses, and in…
- 7.One must eat the measure of a kezayit of…
- 8.The kezayit should be eaten without interruptions, within kedei…
- 9.When eating an egg-volume, each kezayit portion must be…
- 10.Minchat Chinuch writes that kedei achilat peras for each…
- 11.Some say the obligatory kezayit must be eaten alone,…
- 12.One fulfills the first-night obligation with bread cooked even…
- 13.Some say pat haba’ah b’kisnin fulfills the obligatory kezayit;…
- 14.As explained, one should not recite Kiddush before nightfall.…
- 15.Some say a kezayit eaten during twilight does not…
- 16.If the first day of Sukkot falls on Shabbat,…
- 17.The kezayit should be eaten before midnight. If circumstances…
- 18.If only forbidden bread such as untithed produce is…
- 19.Because eating a kezayit in the sukkah on the…
- 20.If one completes Birkat HaMazon on the first night…
- 21.If rain fell on the first night of the…
- 22.When exempt from the sukkah on Sukkot night, some…
- 23.If rain prevented eating in the sukkah on the…
- 24.Similarly, if one was traveling home by ship on…
+Dwelling in the Sukkah During the Remaining Festival DaysDwelling in the Sukkah During the Remaining Festival Days · 38 seifim
- 1.How is the mitzvah of dwelling in the sukkah…
- 2.One should perform no degrading task in the sukkah,…
- 3.One may not use the sukkah as a shortcut.…
- 4.Smoking cigarettes is permitted in the sukkah just as…
- 5.One may wash hands for a meal in the…
- 6.An elderly or weak person sleeping in the sukkah…
- 7.One should read and study in the sukkah throughout…
- 8.An author compiling a work or writing a comprehensive…
- 9.Study has the same rule as sleep: even a…
- 10.At the outset one should not pray in the…
- 11.The Zohar teaches that the radiance of the seven…
- 12.One authority wrote that during the festival even casual…
- 13.It is proper to bring a distinguished chair for…
- 14.Except on the first night, one is not obligated…
- 15.If one began eating in the sukkah without intending…
- 16.If one makes a meal from less than an…
- 17.More than an egg-volume of cake must be eaten…
- 18.A fixed meal of a cooked food from the…
- 19.Fruit, rice, meat, fish, cheese, or eggs are exempt…
- 20.Although fruit, water, and snacks may ordinarily be consumed…
- 21.Some say that on Shabbat and Yom Tov even…
- 22.If one eats seudah shelishit in the sukkah near…
- 23.Wine, beer, liquor, and other drinks do not require…
- 24.One may taste the wine from a circumcision cup…
- 25.Our established custom is that one visiting another’s sukkah…
- 26.One fasting because of a troubling dream during Sukkot…
- 27.When eating more than an egg-volume of bread, some…
- 28.One eating a fixed meal while standing because he…
- 29.One who entered to eat and forgot Leishev BaSukkah…
- 30.If Leishev BaSukkah was forgotten before the meal, it…
- 31.If uncertain whether Leishev BaSukkah was recited, one does…
- 32.If one completed the meal and Birkat HaMazon but…
- 33.The blessing should be pronounced ‘leishev basukkah’: the lamed…
- 34.If one’s head and most of his body are…
- 35.If one sits just inside the sukkah entrance while…
- 36.On the first night, one who ate the kezayit…
- 37.Some say if even slightly more than half the…
- 38.If a small sukkah contains a bed whose greater…
+Sleeping in the SukkahSleeping in the Sukkah · 23 seifim
- 1.Sleeping in the sukkah is obligatory throughout all seven…
- 2.Even if a sukkah is too small to sleep…
- 3.If two brothers or partners lack room for a…
- 4.Rema holds that a sukkah deliberately built where eating,…
- 5.Although sleep is stricter than eating—snacks and casual drinks…
- 6.One may sleep alone in a sukkah at night…
- 7.When the sukkah is private to the householder, it…
- 8.One authority exempts a groom during the first year…
- 9.Guards of gardens and orchards are exempt by day…
- 10.Police responsible for public security and soldiers occupied with…
- 11.One living in a secular neighborhood who reasonably fears…
- 12.Those making kosher wine among non-Jews during Sukkot who…
- 13.As explained above, if the sukkah lacks enough room…
- 14.One who is delicate and easily comes to catch…
- 15.A person cannot exempt himself merely by declaring discomfort;…
- 16.If one’s wife is weak and their young children…
- 17.Discomfort exempts only when leaving the sukkah removes that…
- 18.One who sees another fall asleep outside—such as during…
- 19.When rain begins while one sleeps in the sukkah,…
- 20.The exemption from sleeping in the sukkah because of…
- 21.If one slept indoors by day because of rain,…
- 22.If rain interrupted a sukkah meal and one finished…
- 23.If rain interrupted a meal and one entered the…
640Those Exempt from Dwelling in the SukkahSiman 640 · 5 seifim
- 1.Women are exempt from sukkah by a law transmitted…
- 2.Women are not obligated to eat in the sukkah…
- 3.One authority forbade a menstruating woman to enter a…
- 4.A woman hearing her husband recite Leishev BaSukkah during…
- 5.A woman who voluntarily adopted sitting in the sukkah…
+One Who Is Distressed Is Exempt from the SukkahOne Who Is Distressed Is Exempt from the Sukkah · 34 seifim
- 6.One who is distressed is exempt from sukkah even…
- 7.If rain begins while one is eating in the…
- 8.One unfamiliar with the spoilage measure should ask whether…
- 9.If one entered for a fixed meal and recited…
- 10.Some say the spoilage threshold, intended to prevent appearing…
- 11.One authority requires even an ill person to eat…
- 12.As explained, once one entered the house to continue…
- 13.Likewise, if rain caused one to begin eating indoors…
- 14.If a sudden strong wind blows splinters of sechach…
- 15.If thick sechach above one’s seat keeps the rain…
- 16.One who is stringent with himself to sit in…
- 17.During very heavy Sukkot rain, some people with retractable…
- 18.If the candles in his sukkah went out on…
- 19.One distressed by flies, mosquitoes, wind, or a foul…
- 20.In cold weather one should wear warm clothing and…
- 21.Righteous converts are obligated in sukkah, as ‘every native…
- 22.A child who no longer needs his mother, who…
- 23.A child who cannot tolerate nighttime cold in the…
- 24.A mourner is obligated in sukkah. Although isolation in…
- 25.One authority exempts a mourner throughout Chol HaMoed when…
- 26.An onen whose deceased relative has not yet been…
- 27.An onen on the eve of Sukkot who has…
- 28.A person who is ill but not dangerously so…
- 29.Those caring for an ill person are exempt while…
- 30.A dependent nursing patient with a permanently hired attendant…
- 31.If a groom invites guests to feast and rejoice…
- 32.One authority says that although a groom, attendants, and…
- 33.A circumcision meal must be eaten in the sukkah.…
- 34.Mitzvah emissaries—such as those traveling to greet their rabbis…
- 35.Administrators who travel abroad to raise institutional funds but…
- 36.Daytime travelers for livelihood are exempt by day but…
- 37.One flying for many hours may eat even a…
- 38.The exemption for nighttime travelers applies even on the…
- 39.If one eats in the sukkah during cold weather…
+Prayer Laws for SukkotSiman 640 (continued) · 8 seifim
- 1.The custom is to recite the festival psalm before…
- 2.If no Levite is present on Chol HaMoed Sukkot,…
- 3.The maftir on Shabbat Chol HaMoed Sukkot mentions only…
- 4.When a festival falls on Shabbat, the Amidah should…
- 5.On days when full Hallel is recited, including Sukkot,…
- 6.If one omitted Ya’aleh VeYavo at Minchah on the…
- 7.A minor below bar mitzvah may receive the maftir…
- 8.On Shabbat Chol HaMoed morning one recites the Shabbat…