14 Oct SUKKOS QUESTIONS WITH RABBI MOSHE ELEFANT FROM THE OU

Is a canvas
sukkah kosher
if the walls
move in the
wind?
Sukkah walls that move in a regular wind
are not valid walls. There are different
opinions as to what
type of movement
invalidates a sukkah.
To satisfy all
opinions, the walls
should not move
in the wind at all
(see Yechaveh Daas
3:46). This standard
is difficult to achieve
with a canvas sukkah.
In the past few
years, some sukkah
merchants have addressed this concern
by including stretchable straps with the
canvas walls. The straps wrap around the
sukkah. The first strap should be placed
40 inches above the ground. The next
strap should be placed less than 9 inches

below the first, and each subsequent
strap should be placed within 9 inches
of the strap above it, until the bottom
strap is within 9 inches of the ground.
Depending on the thickness of the straps,
this will require stretching either four or
five straps around the sukkah. This series
of straps which do not move in the wind
are considered halachically acceptable
walls, based
on a concept
known as
lovud. The
principal of
lovud states
that the space
between two
objects that
are within
three tefachim
(approximately
9 inches) of each other, is treated as sealed
in the eyes of halachah. Thus the series
of taut straps placed within 9 inches of
each other form a halachically valid wall,
irrespective of the canvas.

In my sukkah, the table is
partially under the schach and
partially under an overhang. Is
this acceptable?
Shulchan Aruch (634:4) rules that if
one eats inside a sukkah, but their table
is outside the sukkah, it is as if they ate
outside the sukkah. Chazal forbade
eating in this manner, because they were
concerned that one might lean forward
over their table and eat outside the sukkah.
This is true even if the sukkah is large. So
long as the table is outside of the sukkah,
it is forbidden. However, the Mishnah
Berurah (634:6) writes that if part of the
table is inside the sukkah and part of it
extends outside of the sukkah, that is
acceptable. How much of the table must
be in the sukkah? The Mishnah Berurah
(Shar Hatziyun 634:6) writes that this is a
matter of dispute. According to the Chayei
Adam, even if a tefach (approximately 4
inches) of the table is inside the sukkah,
that is sufficient, even though most of the
table is outside the sukkah. However, the
Birkei Yosef writes that most of the table
(51%) must be inside the sukkah.
With respect to our original question,
the area under the overhang is not
kosher for the mitzvah of sukkah
and one should be sure the table is
properly configured in the sukkah
(preferably, at least 51%). However,
since women are not obligated
to eat in a sukkah, this concern
does not apply, and Chazal did
not establish a prohibition. Rav
Nissin Karelitz zt”l (Chut Shani –
sukkos 11:15) adds that a woman
may even recite the beracha of
leisheiv b’sukkah when eating
inside a sukkah, but at a table
that is outside of the sukkah,
since they are not violating a
Rabbinic injunction.

I am visiting my parents for
the first days of Sukkos and
my in-laws for the last days.
We hung up, in my parent’s
Sukkah, decorations that
my children made in school.
Can we take them down
and bring them with us and
hang them in my in-law’s
Sukkah?
Not only does a Sukkah have special
holiness, but the decorations are
infused with holiness as well. One

may not remove Sukkah decorations from
a Sukkah for no reason, unless they were
hung before Sukkos on condition that
they should not become holy. (There is
a specific wording that one must say to
prevent them from becoming holy – “aini
bodel mayhen kol bein hashmashos shel
ches yamim.” [I do not separate myself
from them all the twilights of the eight
days (of Sukkos).]) However, if one is
concerned that they will be ruined or
stolen, they may be removed (Piskei
Teshuvos 638:7 – citing Rav Shlomo
Zalman Auerbach, zt”l). Similarly, Tzitz
Eliezer (13:67) writes that if the intent
is to hang them in another Sukkah, this
too is permitted. He explains that this is
not considered “bizui mitzvah” (belittling
of the mitzvah), since the decoration is
being transferred to another Sukkah. Rav
Moshe Sternbuch, shlita points out that

one may not decrease the level of sanctity
of the decorations. If the decorations were
hanging from the s’chach, they should
be hung again on the s’chach, which has
a higher level of holiness than the walls
(Mo’adim U’zmanim 6:68).