By Rabbi Yair Hoffman for 5tjt.com
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Reb Tuvya is making a vort over Chol HaMoed. Generally speaking, food is served at a vort and vorts are made in large Sukkos. But, unfortunately, COVID-19 is a monkey wrench thrown in the middle. So what should Reb Tuvya do?
Here are the five choices:
- Endanger lives of others in your Sukkah – very not ideal, possibly involving a number of Torah prohibitions.
- Don’t serve food and make it in the backyard – not ideal for a vort
- Only serve shehakol food and make it in the backyard– not ideal for those yarei shamayim but permitted technically, and the shehakol cakes have gotten really really good lately.
- Give out food packages to be eaten later in one’s own Sukkah and make it in the backyard – cute and innovative, but still missing something
- Build a COVID-19 Safe Open Air Sukkah as below. Don’t forget to socially distance and wear masks – but with a 400 square foot Sukkah – you have plenty of room.
So here goes:
The Gemorah in Sukkah 7a tells us that Mechitzos Gru’os are effective for use as a wall in a Sukkah. Thus, what can be done is to make walls out of netting.
According to this author’s research – the following product will give the best bang for one’s buck.
The product above is some 7.5 feet high and 65 feet wide. This can yield a 20 by 20 foot sukkah.
The Chazon Ish 75:8 indicates that this approach, using both a horizontal and vertical system of ropes – would negate the Mogain Avrohom’s requirement (OC 730) to have four walls rather than three when using Mechitzos gru’os.
So here is what to do in 5 steps:
- Put up a frame work – four 8 foot poles or two by fours – twenty feet apart.
- Attach 7 pairs of 12 foot two by fours together to form the schach frame (4) and schach support beams (3)
- Wrap the netting around three of the poles – make sure they are taut and don’t sway 3 tefachim.
- Put up 4 schach mats
- Enjoy the simcha!
The author can be reached at [email protected]
With all due respect, you left out the most obvious choice. Not to make a vort at all. I’m not getting into the question of whether we should be making vorts at all but in these times of Covid it is absolutely irresponsible to make a vort period. Perhaps it would have been wiser to use perhaps something like a Bris as an example
Simply use lattice work to make your succah walls
I like the simchos done in the driveway next to the stinky garbage cans. That is true simcha.