Sukkah 17 – Holes in the roof

The sukkah covering (s'chach) must be complete, with holes no bigger than three-by-three handbreadths. Consider the following three cases.

1. If one took away the center of his house's roof and placed s'chach on top, this is a valid sukkah – provided that no more than four amot (about six feet) remain from the s'chach to the wall.

2. If a courtyard with many houses with porches is roofed with s'chach – it is a valid sukkah, provided that the porches are no wider than four amot.

3. A large sukkah covered with kosher s'chach in the middle is valid if the remaining invalid s'chach is no wider than four amot.

These cases seem repetitive, but each one is, in reality, needed. Had we been told the first case but not the second, you could argue that in the first case, the walls of the house can be imagined as bending inward, and the s'chach is thus valid because of the principle of “bent wall,” or “dofen akumah.” However, you could say that the porches and their walls don't bend outwards in the direction of the courtyard.

And had you been told cases 1 and 2, you could still argue that in case 3, the sukkah does not have bent walls but rather invalid s'chach, and that invalid s'chach for sure cannot be considered a continuation of the wall. Now that the teacher stated all three cases, he prevented these possible incorrect deductions.

Art: Roofs by Paul Cezanne