Q&A: Was the sekhakh placed before the walls?
Was the sekhakh placed before the walls?
Question
Hello Rabbi,
I wanted to ask about someone eating in a sukkah when he does not know who assembled it, and it is not easy to find out: must he be concerned that the sekhakh was placed before the walls, making it invalid because of the rule of “you shall make it, and not from that which is already made”?
For example, if eating in a bakery or restaurant sukkah, should I be concerned about this? And suppose I asked—would the person being asked be believed in a case where he is not observant of Torah and commandments?
I started wondering about this after, during a visit to an IDF base (Camp Arad – Home Front Command) a few days before the holiday, I saw next to the dining hall a sukkah in the middle of construction, where the sekhakh had already been placed and tied down, while the walls had not yet been put up at all.
Answer
As for the person being asked, that depends on your impression. It is hard to set sweeping rules here.
As for the law itself, as is known, it is a matter of dispute. If you do not know, then there is a double doubt here, and there is room to be lenient. If you can shake the sekhakh a bit (preferably in a way that the sekhakh becomes invalid when you lift it) and then place it back down again for the sake of shade, that completely solves the problem.