Do Sukkot Right

0:00We have our holidays, we have Sukkot. We have to prepare to make sure that it's really comfortable. How comfortable? Comfortable enough for you to sleep in. Why? Because that's the commandment. That's the commandment; you have to sleep inside the Sukkah. The man has to sleep in a Sukkah. The wife is not obligated to sleep in a Sukkah. Thank you for coming. Sukkot, we have to prepare to make sure that it's really comfortable. How comfortable? Comfortable enough for you to sleep in. Why? Because that's the commandment. That's the commandment; you have to sleep inside the Sukkah. The man has to sleep in a Sukkah. The wife is not obligated to sleep in a Sukkah. Now, thank you for coming.

1:03This is a Holocaust survivor, so please rise. Give some respect. Make it please. Not a surprise. You should have told me. I would have prepared. Let him sit, please. Baruch Hashem. One of the most amazing things is when his wife, whom we just met recently, told me that they're watching the shiurim. I said, Baruch Hashem. I have all types of people watching the shiurim. So,

2:05Yom Kippur, you are obligated to sleep in the sukkah. It's very, very important. If you can't sleep in a sukkah because it's too hot, that's not a sukkah; it's a tent for camping. So you have to put... So what I... So this year, there's not a show. I'm gonna try... So you put something... We have the fan already. You might try to see me like for the air conditioner in a sukkah. It's so hot. But you have to do it now. What happens? I have a few students that live in apartments, and not everybody allows a sukkah. Not everybody has a balcony, and even if you have a balcony, not everyone allows people to build a sukkah on it. This is not like in Israel, where most people are born in Israel, and you build it without asking the landlord anything. Here in America, you can't do whatever you want and take down your sukkah. You can't do whatever you want. As far as a sukkah, if you're able to build, build obviously. If you can't build, then to eat, you have to find a place to eat. You have to find a place to eat in a sukkah. You're not allowed to eat bread outside of the sukkah. You have to find a place to eat.

3:19Sleep if you can't find a sukkah to sleep in, and then you sleep at home. Now, if you mamash don't have any friends and you can't find someone to host you to go to their sukkah and have dinner there, or if you just can't make it because you don't feel good, this is a real reason, not an excuse like you don't feel like it. you know, like me, where you're suffering at 72 degrees. Well, much of the time, you ever feel that you have a real reason why you can't go, you don't have somebody, or you know no one's inviting you, whatever the reason is, then you're an onus (a person who is compelled by circumstances). Then you can eat at home, but in reality, you are missing out on one of the biggest mitzvot in the Torah. So you have to do whatever you can to find a way to at the very least eat in the sukkah. Baruch Hashem, in America, one of the advantages that we have is that... It's very easy to be Jewish even though there's 40% anti-Semitism. It's still very easy to be Jewish in most of America. In almost every single place, synagogues, and sometimes restaurants, they have a sukkah. So you can go eat in the sukkah. Even if you don't have any friends, you have a synagogue. So go to the synagogue; the synagogue has a sukkah. The second thing about Sukkot is that there is a little bit of confusion...

4:40What's about these Sukkot that they made popular over the last few years? I forgot what they're called, but you pretty much put the pieces together. It's like Lego, and they have three strings on the side. Because you're supposed to have something that's like the equivalent of a wall. And there's a halacha regarding the required difference in space between each string. The problem with those strings, or the felt, is that if wind comes, the felt moves. The strings move. And if it moves even an inch, it's pasul. The whole sukkah is pasul. So you have to replace those things. that's what comes with the sukkah itself when you buy it from the store. So you have to replace it either with metal poles that you connect from one side to the other on all three sides, or with a plastic or wooden fence, like a small, one-foot fence. I went to a Home Depot yesterday. It's like 10 bucks, 12 bucks each for one of these little fences. You know, it depends on how big your sukkah is—three, four, or five of them, however many you need, and

5:50And you have a kosher sukkah. The reason why is because if you stay with just those strings, you might as well stay at home. It's no sukkah. So, it's a very, very big mitzvah, but it's a very easy mitzvah to ruin. It's a very easy mitzvah to just not do right. So that's the second thing. The third thing is that it's extremely important to learn Torah in a sukkah. You have to spend, especially the men, the men have to spend as much time in the Sukkah as possible, to such an extent that the Mekubalim said you shouldn't leave the Sukkah at all during the whole holiday, even to go to the bathroom. In the old days, they would go next to the Sukkah, cover themselves obviously, but they would try to do everything possible not to leave the Sukkah, even to go to the Beit Knesset. Love everything that we do inside the sukkah. It is such a big zechut (merit) to be in the sukkah. You shouldn't leave it. Today, obviously, things are a little bit different; you still go to the beit knesset (synagogue) and so on, but you get the point. The point is to be in the sukkah as much as possible. If you're learning, learn in the sukkah. If you're eating, eat in the sukkah. Spend as much time as you can. That's why it's good that tomorrow, before the chag (holiday) starts, you know you have only a day and a half before the chag starts.

7:04Spend as much time as you can preparing. You need to put a few extra fans, put a few extra fans. If you can put an air conditioner, put an air conditioner. Whatever you got to put in there just to make it comfortable. Because if it's not comfortable, it's not a sukkah. So those are the few things. We're very excited to offer you the new Be'ezrat Hashem app 3.0. It's a newer, faster app, full of Torah, lots of Kedusha from the shiurim that we do. Myself, Rabbi Efraim, Rabbi Chaim. where you'll also have newer features, enabling you to use the app while you're using other applications on your phone. You'll be able to share the lectures directly from the app. You'll be able to donate online and support our kehilla and our Torah work that we're doing. And the most exciting feature is that you'll be able to actually ask questions directly on the app and get answers from the rabbis directly from the app. This is something unprecedented, and Baruch Hashem, we will be able to offer it. Thank you again for all of your support. Check it out. Make sure you have the Kosher Torah that will re-energize your neshama each and every single day. Kol tuv u'bracha v'hatzlacha.