A Moving Wall on a Permanent Wall
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Question
I have a sukkah balcony with four walls as follows: the wall adjacent to the house (entry to the sukkah is through sliding windows that are not the majority of the wall, and above them is more than a tefach until the schach). The other three walls are essentially the balcony railing, more than 10 tefachim in height of iron bars in a 'shti' form, standing on a step less than 10 tefachim in height, and there is less than 3 tefachim between the end of the step and the place where the railing itself stands on the step. So if I understand correctly, I have 3 walls by the law of lavud (there is less than 3 tefachim between each bar of the railing), which are considered as extending up to the schach by the law of 'gud asik', and they are kosher even for the Rabbanan who require shti and arev because I have a 4th wall. (Let me know if I'm wrong!) Now the questions... Of course, to avoid wind, I don't just leave the railing as a wall, but I pull from the top (the schach) to the bottom (the beginning of the railing on the step) a kind of strong curtain on the inside of the 3 walls (the railing). This thing can sway in the winds present during Sukkot, possibly more than 3 tefachim in the middle of the curtain (at the top it is fixed and at the bottom there is a relatively large and heavy iron bar, but it also moves), but I'm not really sure how much it can move. Does this thing have a name as a wall? And if so, do I need to pull it down before placing the schach, or because I have another wall (the railing) is it enough so that the schach does not precede the walls? And if there is concern that they are not considered a wall because they move, then the decorations I put there are not muktze because they are not really on the walls? Thank you in advance!
Answer
Hello,
The sliding door is considered the fourth wall. However, in any case, this wall is not required according to either the Mishnah Berurah or the Chazon Ish.
According to the Mishnah Berurah, the sukkah is kosher without it, and according to the Chazon Ish, the sukkah is not kosher even with the wall.
Since according to the Chazon Ish, even a sukkah with four walls is not kosher with vertical walls. On the other hand, according to the Mishnah Berurah, a sukkah with bars is not considered a sukkah with vertical walls because it has a horizontal bar at the bottom and top. Therefore, it does not need a fourth wall.
The curtain that sways in the wind is not considered a wall, but it does not detract from the kashrut of the walls made of bars that do not move in the wind. And since they have ten tefachim on their own, there is no need to consider the curtain as a wall.
However, if you have a height of ten tefachim in the walls with a small part of the bars, it is possible that the sukkah is kosher even according to the Chazon Ish. For you have a stone fence, on which lies an iron bar as the 'arev' of the bars, and only from there do the straight bars continue. Therefore, if up to a height of ten tefachim from the floor, there is no need to use the height of three tefachim of bars, the wall is kosher according to all opinions.
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