My wife and I look forward to the publications from the Bais Horaah. They pick a timely topic and explore it with its halachos in a thorough and understandable format. Just before Sukkos, a 20 pager came out (they are usually only two pages) -- score! We read them at the Shabbos table. Actually my wife reads them and I listen/offer running commentary. I didn't expect to learning anything new, but review is always good. Also I then get to offer even more commentary.
My wife read, "The schach must be secure enough that it will not blow off in a normal wind." Yes, yes... "Even if the wind is not blowing, but the schach would blow off in a normal wind, the sukkah is not kosher even in still air." Yes, yes... "Even if the sukkah is in a protected place, like between two houses, so the wind is blocked, the schach needs to be secure enough to stay in place even if the place were not protected." Yes, yes... wait... what?
Our sukkah is on our back deck, protected on two sides by our kitchen wall and our den wall. The third side is only a few feet (less than six) from our neighbor's house. That's pretty well protected. That's why I never worried about securing the schach, because it almost never gets windy back there. (The schach actually did blow off once in a freak storm. Once. Freak storm. No problem.)
My schach is bamboo mats that are pretty light. They would easily be lifted up and possibly off in a normal wind, but our sukkah is protected. I know how protected, because we have an anemometer (gizzy to measure wind speed) that is pretty useless because our deck is so well protected from wind. On Sunday I put up my sukkah and asked the dayan about the schach. Sure enough, we needed to put some boards on top of the schach. (Apparently I wasn't the only one who read that Bais Horaah. I asked for some help at Home Depot and started to explain what I need to the customer service associate. I got about three words out and he said, "You want those. Yes, they are the cheapest.")
Good for this Sukkos, but what about the last 30-ish? I asked the dayan, "So my sukkah has never been kosher?" The dayan told me there are opinions that as long as the schach is secure enough in the protected area, it is kosher -- but we don't pasken like those opinions. I felt like a new father who has been buying -- what he thought was good quality -- baby food for his infant and now finds out it is tainted. Very happy to not be buying the rotten food anymore, but more than a little queasy about what he has already done to his innocent son. The guilt magnified by feeling that if I had just done a little more research, this whole situation could have been avoided.
A good friend saw the look on my face and suggested I could find comfort from Rabeinu Yona on Pirkei Avos (3:9), explaining what is meant by "one whose actions are greater than his wisdom, his wisdom will endure." Rabeinu Yona (second explanation, his own chidush) asks how it is possible to do more than you know? He answers that the mishna is actually giving you a wonderful counsel. What is someone supposed to do when he doesn't yet know all that is required of him? He should accept to follow the guidance of the sages of his generation. With that sincere commitment, he makes all his actions completely in accordance with the Torah and the Will of HaShem.
That means that I wasn't sitting in a non-kosher sukkah all those years. I built it according to what I knew and understood. All the while I was prepared to change immediately if the rav said something needed to change. Our wisdom always falls short of what it needs to be. It can't be, though, that HaShem wants us to first learn the entire Torah and only then start doing mitzvos. It also can't be that HaShem is setting us up for failure. As long as we are always seeking to improve our wisdom and have a rav for guidance, and are ready and willing to change whenever we discover something wrong, then we are always fulfilling our Torah obligations and we are rewarded as one who knows and fulfills the entire Torah.
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