Q&A: A Rabbinic Doorframe Form in a Sukkah with 2 Full Walls
A Rabbinic Doorframe Form in a Sukkah with 2 Full Walls
Question
Hello Rabbi,
I am studying the Mishnah, tractate Sukkah, chapter 1, mishnah 1.
A sukkah that has 2 full walls adjacent to each other—one sets up a third wall that is a handbreadth and a bit wide, at a distance of less than 3 handbreadths from one of the walls, and it turns out that I have a majority of a partition of 4 handbreadths.
My question is: why is it also necessary, by rabbinic enactment, to make a doorframe form in order to complete the missing part of the third wall? After all, I already have a majority of a partition of 4 handbreadths.
Thank you, Rabbi.
Answer
This is a rabbinic enactment. By the halakhah transmitted to Moses at Sinai, a handbreadth together with the principle of lavud is sufficient. I assume they wanted to strengthen the status of the third wall so that people would not come to forgo it entirely.