06. The Sukka Walls

Any material may be used for the walls of a sukka, as long as it can withstand a normal wind. The walls need not be airtight or offer protection from the sun and wind. Therefore, one may use plastic, glass, or mesh netting (SA 630:1). Stone walls are also kosher, as only the sekhakh must be characteristic of a temporary residence; the walls can be permanent. Indeed, in some places, the common practice is to open the ceiling and roof of a room in the home and place kosher sekhakh there, resulting in a beautiful sukka, pleasant to sit in even in the cold.

Le-khatḥila it is better to build a sukka with four full walls and a door that can be closed, so the sukka is comfortable and provides shelter from the sun and wind (see Rema 630:5.) Technically, however, since a sukka is a temporary residence, it is not required to have four walls; three suffice. Moreover, the third wall need not be full; technically, one tefaḥ suffices. The Sages said that this tefaḥ must be within 3 tefaḥim of one of the other walls, and the one-tefaḥ wall must extend by means of a doorway (tzurat ha-petaḥ, explained in the note). Since this law is complicated, someone who wants to save on sukka walls should be advised to put up two complete walls, and a third one which is 7 tefaḥim long (about 56 centimeters). Then, even if his sukka is large, and even if the two walls aren’t connected to one another but rather face each other, the sukka is kosher (Rema 630:3).^[9]