The Blogs: Building Walls: Sukkot 5786

If I asked what is the most important part of a Sukkah, I believe that most people would say, “the s’chach,” since the s’chach alludes to God’s presence, to the Shechinah hovering above us, to the neshama of the Sukkah’s interior space. Nevertheless, I would like to speak this morning about the defanot, the walls. After all, it is the walls that provide shape, structure and support, the same way our bodies provide shape, structure and support for our neshamah.

According to the first Mishnah in Masechet Sukkah, a sukkah must have at least 2 full walls and a maximum minimal third wall.

סוכה שהיא גבוהה למעלה מעשרים אמה פסולה… ושאין לה שלוש דפנות פסולה”
The Talmud explains that halacha leMoshe miSinai, that third wall can be only 10 handbreadths tall, as long as it is within 3 handbreadths of an adjoining wall. (lavud) This criterion is codified in the Shulchan Aruch Orach Chaim 630:2. If one builds a sukkah with the minimum number of walls, a tsurat haPetach, a door frame consisting of two vertical posts and a horizontal post, can suffice.

The minimum height of the walls is 10 tefachim, approximately 32–40 inches, or about 3 feet tall. The S’chach cannot be higher than 20 amot, or about 30 feet. The Talmud explains that higher than that, la shalta bei ayina–in all likelihood a person would not notice the s’chach at that height, and therefore remain unaware of where they are. According to the Talmud (Sukkah 4a) and the Shulchan Aruch (630:9) the walls do not need to reach all the way to the s’chach, as long as they reach within 3 tefachim of the ground (lavud). There cannot be a gap at the bottom of a wall greater than 3 tefachim.

When we build our Sukkah, my sons are constantly talking about the best way to put up the walls. This is what you get when your four boys played with legos for the first 15 years of their lives, and are now still playing with them–and not exclusively because our grandchildren like to build…..All of this is interesting, but what I would like to now explore are the materials and stability of the walls. According to the Talmud,

“דפנות שאין יכולות לעמוד ברוח מצויה – לא הוי דופן”
“Walls that cannot withstand a normal wind are not valid walls.”

Sukkah 23b:

מַעֲשֶׂה בְּרַבָּן גַּמְלִיאֵל וְרַבִּי עֲקִיבָא שֶׁהָיוּ בָּאִין בִּסְפִינָה, עָמַד רַבִּי עֲקִיבָא וְעָשָׂה סוּכָּה בְּרֹאשׁ הַסְּפִינָה. לְמָחָר נָשְׁבָה רוּחַ וַעֲקָרַתָּה. אָמַר לוֹ רַבָּן גַּמְלִיאֵל: עֲקִיבָא! הֵיכָן סוּכָּתְךָ? אָמַר אַבָּיֵי: דְּכוּלֵּי עָלְמָא, הֵיכָא דְּאֵינָהּ יְכוֹלָה לַעֲמוֹד בְּרוּחַ מְצוּיָה דְּיַבָּשָׁה — לֹא כְּלוּם הִיא. יְכוֹלָה לַעֲמוֹד בְּשֶׁאֵינָהּ מְצוּיָה דְּיַבָּשָׁה, כּוּלֵּי עָלְמָא לָא פְּלִיגִי דִּכְשֵׁרָה. כִּי פְּלִיגִי בְּדִיכוֹלָה לַעֲמוֹד בְּרוּחַ מְצוּיָה דְּיַבָּשָׁה וְאֵינָהּ יְכוֹלָה לַעֲמוֹד (בְּרוּחַ שֶׁאֵינָהּ מְצוּיָה דְּיַבָּשָׁה). רַבָּן גַּמְלִיאֵל סָבַר: סוּכָּה דִּירַת קֶבַע בָּעֵינַן, וְכֵיוָן דְּאֵינָהּ יְכוֹלָה לַעֲמוֹד בְּרוּחַ מְצוּיָה דְּיָם — לֹא כְּלוּם הִיא. רַבִּי עֲקִיבָא סָבַר: סוּכָּה דִּירַת עֲרַאי בָּעֵינַן, וְכֵיוָן דִּיכוֹלָה לַעֲמוֹד בְּרוּחַ מְצוּיָה דְּיַבָּשָׁה — כְּשֵׁרָה.

Once, Rabban Gamliel and Rabbi Akiva were traveling on a ship. Rabbi Akiva built a sukkah at the top of the ship. The next day the wind blew it down. Rabban Gamliel said to him: ‘Akiva, where is your sukkah? It was invalid from the start.”

Here is the ambiguous case: the sukkah is able to withstand a typical land wind but is unable to withstand an atypical land wind, which is the equivalent of a typical sea wind–meaning: what if the sukkah can stand on the ground, but it would blow over on a boat? Was that sukkah valid in the first place? Rabban Gamaliel ruled: such a sukkah is invalid, because it does not meet the underlying meaning of sukkah which is to build and live inside a “permanent environment,” דירת קבע. Rabbi Avika, on the other hand, ruled that a Sukkah that can withstand the wind on land is kosher, even if it would blow off in the wind on a boat, because the underlying value is to build and live inside of a דירת עראי.

Let me frame the topic in a slightly different way. We all know what an escape-room is. A sukkah is an awareness and resilience room. There are times when we will not anticipate which winds will blow. We will not anticipate the directions of the wind, or how ferociously they will overwhelm us. That is the world God created for us. The world has everything we need to be cultivated like a magnificent garden. However, like any garden, it requires proper tending and a generosity of resources to keep it alive, including the right amount and force of wind and rain. The dispute between Rabban Gamaiel and Rabbi Akiva is about our mindset, about our attitude towards ourselves, each other, humanity and the world we inhabit. According to Rabban Gamaiel, what the world needs, what we need, to stay safe and thrive, is maximum rigidity. A sukkah must be able to withstand the wind at sea–perhaps even a hurricane, a tempest–to withstand a perfect storm. According to Rabbi Akiva, what we need to stay safe and to thrive is maximum flexibility–a sukkah that would fall at sea needs to withstand a typical wind in my backyard–and therefore I can even risk building such a sukkah on a boat.

This description leads to another way to frame the dispute between Rabban Gamaliel and Rabbi Akiva. They might not only be talking about flexibility and rigidity. They might also be talking about risk. How much risk should people take when the winds begin to blow forcefully around us? What is worth the risk? What is at stake if one does not take chances that present themselves, and when must one hold one’s ground firmly, rigidly, without movement?

Clearly, one could not construct the walls of a sukkah from news print. The Talmud in Sukkah 24b states: If the walls of a sukkah are so flimsy that a regular wind would blow them down, then the Sukkah is invalid. The shulchan Aruch reads:

“אם אין הדפנות יכולות לעמוד ברוח מצויה שבאותו מקום – אין זה מחיצה.”
“If the walls cannot stand against the normal wind of that place, it is not a valid partition.” (630:10)

It is all about context–what counts as a tempest in one environment might be a breeze in another. Rabbenu Nissim of Gerona, 13th c, commenting on the halachot of the Rif, Rabbi Yitzchak ben Yaakov, the Alfasi who settled in Fes, Morocco in the 11th c, noted the following on this page of the Talmud:

There is a baraita that describes a Sukkah made from trees. That baraita

means that the walls are made from trees, not the s’chach. And not flimsy trees that sway back and forth either! Firm trees that will not move in the wind!

So the question of the defanot, the walls or partitions of the Sukkah, is about experiencing, considering, becoming aware of the balance between rigidity and flexibility, and between risk and security. It is all well and good that the Shechinah hovers close to us within 10 tefachim overhead, but it is the walls that stimulate my consciousness of these critical life questions about flexibility and risk.

This tension between when to exercise flexibility and when to demand rigidity, when to take a chance and when to desist by holding your ground, is behind the halachic discussion about how to build the walls–what materials to use, and how to design them:

Rema, 16t cn Poland: If using flexible materials like sheets or tarps, they must be tied securely so they don’t move in the wind, or the sukkah is invalid.
- Chazon Ish, Rabbi Avraham Yeshya Karelitz, 20th c, More lenient: allows a wall to move somewhat, as long as the motion is not so large so that it flaps away from the s’chach, for example. Minor swaying is okay if the movement is less than three tefachim. (OC 77:6)
R Menasche Klein 20th c, the Ungvarer Rebbe from Czechoslovakia, Auschwitz , R Yosef Chaim Sonnenfeld founder of the Edah Chareidis during the Mandate period, & R Moshe Sternbuch, British, Av Beit Din of the Edah Hareidis, lives in Har Nof, 99, They accept canvas/fabric walls if they are tightly secured (all sides tied, strong material) such that the risk of loosening is minimized.
Rabbi Moshe Feinstein, Igrot Moshe, OC 5:40:2 f the fabric is well secured and strong, possibly one could rely on it. However, his general tone is cautious.
Rav Shlomo Zalman Auerbach: Tends towards a stricter view: slightly moving fabric/plastic walls are problematic. Plastic curtains that sway even a little are considered unfit.
Rabbi Ovadiah Yosef: Even slight sway disqualifies a wall of fabric/plastic. Even if tied, because of fear that the ties will loosen unnoticed.

Of course, this is not really a halachic talk; everyone buys Sukkot with hechshers from one authority or another, and most people are concerned primarily with the s’chach and decorations. And we tie little strings to make that 3rd wall connected to a permanent structure. We have so many creative solutions for building Sukkot in the spaces at our disposal that we might not experience the messaging of the walls: when to be flexible, when to be rigid; when to take a risk, and when to stay your course? When can we afford to take risks, and when do we dare not? One thing is certain: if we do not consider that flexibility and risk, with our eyes open, can nourish a vision for change and can lead the way to new realities, current realities will not simply blow over.

In addition and beyond the issues of risk and security, and the need for rigidity and flexibility, down deep, there is something disturbing about building walls.

Read, “Mending Wall,” Robert Frost