Search results for: ""sukkah""

How To Make a Car into a Sukka
To make a car into a sukka:
  • Open two doors on the same side of the car and put schach on top/across the doors.
  • Make sure the doors reach to within 10 ½ inches (26.7 cm) of the ground or curb (so you might need to park at a curb).
  • Make sure the schach over the doors is at least 40 inches (1 m) above the curb.
 
Intention/Kavana
Mitzvot that are from the Torah (tzitzit, tefilin, sukka, etc.) require having the intention (kavana) to fulfill that commandment. But with many such mitzvot, it is inherent in doing the mitzva that you are doing it for the mitzva and therefore you do not need to have a special intention (for example, you would not put on tefilin to keep yourself warm).
Sukkot: When To Say Leisheiv BaSukka
When you sit down in a sukka, only say the blessing leisheiv ba'sukka:
  • If you are going to eat at least 1.9 fl. oz. (56 ml, or about 1/4 - 1/5 cup) of bread or mezonot within four minutes, OR
  • Immediately after saying kiddush and before drinking the wine in anticipation of eating mezonot or bread, OR
  • Before eating any food or beverage (except salt or water) when visiting any other person in his/her sukka.
Sukkot: Blessings: SheHecheyanu
First Night: Say she'hecheyanu after saying leisheiv ba'sukka (in kiddush), since she'hecheyanu covers the sukka and the Jewish festival. 
Second Night: Say she'hecheyanu before leisheiv ba'sukka (since it only covers the Jewish festival itself).
Note There is no blessing on building a sukka; it is covered by the she'hecheyanu in the kiddush.
Sukkot: Sleeping at Someone Else's House
If you sleep at another person's house or sukka during Sukkot, you should consider their sukka as being yours. You do not say the blessing leisheiv ba'sukka except if you eat bread or mezonot there.
Sukkot: Blessings: Forgetting Leisheiv BaSukka
If you washed hands, said ha'motzi, and ate some bread in a sukka but forgot to say the blessing leisheiv ba'sukka, you may still say that blessing until you have finished your meal; but you should eat at least 1.3 fl. oz. (39 ml, or 1/6 cup) more of bread (within 4 minutes) after saying leisheiv ba'sukka.
 
Sukkot: Prayers: What Time To Start: Ma'ariv and Kiddush
  • Ma'ariv on both nights of Sukkot may be said from 1 1/4 hours before sunset.
  • Kiddush in the sukka may not be said until after dark on both nights.
 
Women: Exemption from Time-Dependent Positive Commandments
Women and girls are generally exempt from time-dependent positive commandments (mitzvot), but they may perform these voluntary mitzvot and if they do, they do say the relevant blessings:
  • Lulav
  • Sukka
  • Saying the full shema.
Women and girls may NOT do these time-dependent positive commandments (mitzvot):
  • Kiddush levana
  • Tefilin
  • Tzitzit.
Introduction to Sukkot
Sukkot means “huts.” The Jewish festival of Sukkot celebrates and commemorates the shelters in which the Israelites lived for 40 years after leaving Egypt.
 
Symbols
The main symbols associated with Sukkot are living in a sukka (eating and, when possible, sleeping in the sukka) and the lulav and etrog.
 
Sukkot is observed at fall harvest time.  When many Jews were feeling wealthy due to their produce, we were commanded to live in temporary shelters--in part, to ward off feelings of arrogance or pride in what we had accomplished in the material world. Instead of thinking or feeling that our hard work or great wisdom has made us wealthy, we are reminded that whatever we have comes from God, and that God will take care of us, even in a flimsy “house.”
 
The lulav and etrog have many meanings.  Here are two:
 
Likening to the Human Body
The four components are compared to four parts of the human body:
  • Palm branch: Spine.
  • Myrtle leaves: Human eyes.
  • Willow leaves: Human lips.
  • Etrog: Human heart.
When we hold the four parts of the lulav/etrog together, we are symbolically taking the various components of our bodies together to serve God.
 
Likening to Types of Jews
The four components are likened to four types of Jews:
  • Etrog smells nice and tastes nice--like a tzadik who is knowledgeable in Torah and does mitzvot;
  • Myrtle smells nice but does not have a good taste--like a person who does mitzvot but is not knowledgeable in Torah;
  • Palm tree (date palm) has a nice tasting fruit but no scent--like someone who has knowledge but lacks mitzvot;
  • Willow does not smell nice nor has a good taste--like a person who has neither.
By holding them together, we show that all types of Jews are to be consider as one nation.
Women: Time-Based Positive Mitzva Obligations
Although women and girls are generally exempt from time-dependent positive commandments (mitzvot), they may do some mitzvot for which they are not obligated and it is considered to be virtuous behavior for which they will get a reward. They may say the blessings before each mitzva.

1. These are voluntary mitzvot that women may do:

  • Lulav

  • Sukka

  • Saying the full shema.

2. Women and girls MAY NOT  wear tefilin.

 

3. Women traditionally do not:

  • Say tachanun. 

  • Wear talit or tzitzit (talit katan).

  • Study gemara.

  • Say kiddush levana or birkat ha'chama.

But these are not forbidden.


 
Mezuza: Buildings Regularly Used with a Person's Home
Mezuzot must be placed on any buildings used with a person's home.
Examples
  • A barn with animals that is near a house, if you use their milk or meat for food.
  • A coop with birds that is near a house if you eat their meat or eggs.
  • A shed for firewood.
Note There may be exceptions due to size or other factors--consult a rabbi.
Note A structure that only stores items not used regularly, such as a shed for storing a sukka--even if attached to a house--does not need a mezuza.
NoteDo not put mezuzas on a sukka or any other temporary structure. If you have a pergola or gazebo that is at least 50 sq. ft. of area inside and that you use during much of the year, consult a rabbi.

Hidur Mitzva/Mehadrin
Almost all mitzvot may be enhanced by:
  • Making them beautiful (hidur mitzva), or
  • Observing non-required stringencies (mehadrin).
Hidur Mitzva
Examples
  • Women baking challa for Shabbat and Jewish festivals (and separating challa as a remembrance of the challa that was given to the priests/cohanim in the Temple).
  • Wearing especially nice clothes and eating special foods on Shabbat and Jewish festivals.
  • Using beautiful fragrances, tastes, textures, colors, and artistry in serving God.
Beautiful
Examples
  • Shabbat/Jewish festival table (set with beautiful challa cover, silver, kiddush cups).
  • Havdala set and pleasant-smelling spices for havdala.
  • Sukka and putting your finest things in it.
  • Etrog/etrog case.
  • Shofar.
  • Seder plate, matza holder, and matza cover.
  • Illuminated hagadas (hagadot) and megilas (megilot).
  • Chanuka candle-holder (menora, chanukiya).
  • Torah scroll written with a fine pen and beautiful script and wrapped in beautiful silks.
  • Mezuza covers.
  • Ketuba.
  • Wimple (to wrap baby in prior to brit mila; then donated to hold the two parts of the Torah together).
  • Elijah's Chair/Kisei Eliyahu.
  • Synagogues.
  • Chuppa.
Mehadrin
Examples
  • Chalav Yisrael--When consuming milk and milk products, eating or drinking only those items whose production was supervised by religious Jews;
  • Pat Yisrael—When eating bread, only eating bread baked by Jews (not necessarily by religious Jews);
  • Glatt meat—When eating meat, eating only meat that had no lesions on the animal's lungs;
  • Lighting more than one Chanuka candle each night (beginning on the 2nd night) and having more than one person in each house light their own candles.
Jewish Festivals: Earliest Mincha
The earliest permissible time to say mincha before a Jewish festival is one-half hour after halachic midday, as with all mincha prayers including before Shabbat.
Note You may begin the second day of any Jewish festival as early as plag ha'mincha. You should ideally say mincha before plag and then say ma'ariv after plag; but if you are praying with a minyan, you may say mincha anytime after plag and then say ma'ariv immediately afterward, just as on Shabbat.
Note However, there is nothing gained by saying mincha early before a Jewish festival:
  • We don't want to start Rosh Hashana (Yom HaDin) early and no one wants to start Yom Kippur early.
  • You may not start either seder until after dark on Passover.
  • You could eat in a sukka before dark on either of the first two days of Sukkot, but you would not fulfill the requirement of eating in a sukka since it was not dark.  
  • Likewise, the first day of Shavuot does not begin until after dark.
  • Since you may not say the blessing on eating in a sukka on Shmini Atzeret (which you would have to do if you eat before dark), there is nothing gained by saying mincha and ma'ariv early on that day, either.
So, as a practical matter, the only days on which saying mincha and ma'ariv early would allow beginning the holiday early are the second day of Shavuot, the second day of Rosh Hashana, and the last days of Passover.