Can I Build a Sukkah on Public Property? + Does One Fulfill the Mitzva Through a Stolen Sukkah? Whats the Halacha? [#113]

Can I Build a Sukkah on Pubic Property? + Does One Fulfill the Mitzva Through a Stolen Sukkah?

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Today, we're going to discuss the question of building a sukkah on public property, as well as If someone were to use somebody else's sukkah without their permission, without their explicit permission.

In these cases, can a person actively do it? If they do it, have they fulfilled their obligation? Also, what about making the bracha of leishei b'sukkah on such a sukkah? So, the Gemara in Misachet Sukkah, Daf chof Zayin and Daf  Lamed Aleph, discuss the question of whether a sukkah is like the Daled Minim, the Arba Minim.

We know that by the Daled Minim, the lulav, esrog, Hadassim in Aravos is the Pasuk says, that it must be yours, you have to have full ownership of them in order to fulfill the obligation on the first day, or days of Sukkot. And that also excludes even borrowed Daled Minim. You can't borrow them, you have to actually take full ownership.

We did make a video, that was video number 54 on how to properly transfer money. Ownership, but the gemara discusses whether or not that applies to a sukkah as well, and it's actually an argument in the gemara But we come out and we hold that although it's by the da'ad minim You have to fill ownership by a sukkah and actually all seven days by the sukkah You don't have to have ownership even on the first day and therefore you would be allowed to use a borrowed sukkah and a borrowed Sukkah that's the halacha and you can even make a bracha of leishev in such a sukkah as well  However, the Gemara does say is that if it's a stolen sukkah, if it actually has a shame of a gizela on the sukkah, then everyone agrees that you would not be Yotzi, you could not fulfill the obligation, of course not make a bracha, on a stolen sukkah.

So, the question is, is it possible to steal a sukkah? Because there is a concept in the Gemara, in the Masechit Bava Kama, it comes up, as karka, whether karka, In an exilis or exilis. Whether land according to halacha can actually be stolen. And we hold that the halacha is, is that land or anything that is attached to land cannot be stolen according to halacha.

So therefore it would seem that you can't steal, land and therefore it's not possible to steal the land under the sukkah, which would stop a person from being yotzi, such a mitzvah and therefore it actually comes out that if you go and build your sukkah on somebody else's land, since technically you haven't stolen their land, so then it's not a stolen sukkah, and the halacha is in such a case, you would have been yotzi the mitzvah if you would sit in such a sukkah.

Of course you are not allowed to do it, it is usurped to do so.  However, if someone were to have done so, B'Diavid, they would have fulfilled their mitzvah obligation of sitting in a sukkah. But they would not be allowed to make a bracha of leishei b'sukkah. That is the first case of building your sukkah on somebody else's ground.

However, let's say you go, and you take somebody else's sukkah on their ground. Now, maybe the ground cannot be stolen, but what about the sukkah itself? So going back to this rule, of the Karka in an exile is that the ground or anything attached to the ground cannot be stolen. So, then we must see, is this sukkah attached, connected, or clicked into the ground?

If the sukkah is attached or clicked or connected into the ground, then it is like the ground and it cannot be stolen either. So therefore, if a person were to go ahead and sit in somebody else's sukkah against their will, Explicitly, then still, although it is not yours, like we said, the sukkah does not have to be yours so you can fulfill the obligation.

And in this case, you cannot steal the sukkah because it is attached to the ground as well. So therefore, a person would still be Yotzi, the mitzvah, if they had done so and not allowed to do it. And in such a case, again, of course, they should not make a bracha. However, in a case where the sukkah is not attached to the ground, it is not clicked in or connected, it is, movable, even if it's heavy.

It does not matter. If it is movable, then it's not considered attached to the ground, and then it could be stolen by sitting in it and taking it away from the owner. And therefore, in a case where it is movable, or sometimes, like, on top of a wagon that Rashi speaks about, or in nowadays cases, people have a sukkah on the back of a pickup truck, it's movable.

So, in such a case, it could be stolen. In such a case, which would be a nigzal. It would be a stolen sukkah. And if someone were to have sat in such a sukkah or done that in a stolen sukkah, they would not be able to see the mitzvah because it is considered stolen. Now, and of course, they would not make a bracha on such a case.

Now, when it comes to building sukkahs on public Paces. So, the halacha actually depends. Again, public ground. It is ground. It cannot be stolen. So, if you build your sukkah there, the question is, if I'm going to be Yotzi my mitzvah if I had done it. But was I allowed to do it in the first place or whatever the bracha?

So it actually depends on whether or not you built the sukkah in an inconvenient place where it blocks the passage of the people and it's inconvenient for them. The halacha is, is that although a person would have been Yotzi the mitzvah if he did it, However, you're not allowed to actively do so.

And also, it's questionable whether or not a BHA could be made in such a case. So you'd have to speak to your local rev. Mr. Brewer does say, if you don't have another sukkak, then you could make the bracha. But we are going to leave it as being questionable as well. The second case is, what about if nobody cares?

If it is a place where the public and no one, no one minds. So that the consensus of the Poskim is, is that it is allowed and not, and you're allowed to actively build in such a case, and you're allowed to make the BHA LE pca. And that is actually the Minh that we see in heavily.

populated Jewish areas that we see Sukkot everywhere like in Eretz Yisrael. We would just like to point out in any specific case where someone has a question, they should consult a Rav who is qualified to answer such questions. Thank you very much and have an excellent Sukkos