by Rabbi Avi Billet
One of my favorite words in all of Halakhic literature is the one which describes Sukkah decorations. “Noy Sukkah” is the phrase, and the word I love is “Noy.” Maybe because it sounds yeshivish, but it’s not.
Considering that one is supposed to be able to see the Skhakh (sukkah ceiling), and the inability to see the Skhakh may render the Sukkah unkosher, I like to kid around with children, “What do you have when your decorations don’t allow you to see your Skhakh? Noy Sukkah!” [Insert groan here]
When one reads the discussion on the Shulchan Arukh on this subject, what becomes abundantly clear is that the abundance of plastic fruits (ie. the faux grapes and pomegranates) we hang around the sukkah, were not very common in the Middle Ages.
So how was the sukkah decorated, and for what purpose? And why, in heaven’s name, does the Halakha declare the decorations to be muktze (prohibited from being touched) for all the days of the holiday? Really – the laminated photograph my child brought home from kindergarten is muktze? How could that be?
Read the Shulchan Arukh (OC 638), and we begin to understand. “Foods and drinks that we hang in the Sukkah in order to beautify it, can’t be used for eight days, even if they fell (and on Shabbos, they can’t be touched because they are muktze). However, if one made a condition that it can’t be used during [a certain time period] then it can be used otherwise… The Maharil did not allow the condition anymore, and that is the accepted practice for decorations which hang from the Skhakh. However, decorations which adorn the walls, such as decorated sheets/drapery, may be removed (and brought indoors) when it rains, even if no condition was made. If a person used hadasim as skhakh or hung an esrog as decoration because of its beauty, one may smell it as long as he doesn’t touch it.”
It seems that back in the day people would hang from their skhakh either real food or containers that held drinks in them. And they would adorn their walls with beautiful drapery. And, as much as the “Noy Sukkah” was meant to be a decoration, there was a potential practical side to the thought process people had because the decorations could be otherwise useful.
The Mishnah Brurah notes that “If he knows children will eat from the decorations, it’s better not to hang them. The strings used will get all knotted and one will come to violate Shabbos [because untying knots is forbidden]… However if things can be set at such a height that kids can’t reach them, that is better. After all, the Shla”h (Shnei Luchot Habrit) wrote that it is ideal to beautify one’s sukkah with draperies and with important fruit.”
The Ro”sh's comment can be viewed as adding to the Shulchan Arukah when he explains that decorations could be removed from the sukkah if one is concerned that either the rain or thieves will ruin them, as long as a condition to remove them during the holiday was made beforehand.
The argument is circular, however, when one considers the Drisha on Orach Chaim 21, who explains why the decorations might be considered untouchable. When one examines the verse in parshat Emor (Vayikra 23:34) that explains that “You will make this holiday for yourself, seven days for your God,” one sees that the Talmud (Sukkah 8a) explains that “just as the name of heaven is invoked on the Hagigah offering, it is invoked on the Sukkah itself. Therefore the Sukkah decorations are forbidden from deriving benefit from (which is separate from the pleasure one gets from simply having a beautified Sukkah) because one is misusing an edifice that has the Name of Heaven on it. This is the same reason why one shouldn’t smell the Esrog one shakes. The mitzvah is to take it and to hold it, not to get benefit from it in any way. Such a use is a demonstration of misusing the mitzvah-related item.”
Could the halakha really be that nit-picky? It seems the answer is yes. It’s not about the specific item. Because obviously the draperies can be removed. The question becomes what is considered the Sukkah, and are we using it properly?
Since no one hangs fruits from their ceiling in their home, and no one keeps drinks anywhere but on a table or shelf, the beautification of the sukkah seems to be the only agenda. Who takes a painting off a wall in one’s house to eat from it? Lickable wallpaper might have been a Willy Wonka creation, but it really has no place anywhere.
So I think the untouchable status of sukkah decorations really boils down to our attitude in putting it up and what the item actually is. A kindergarten project, for example, has no practical use other than being a cute thing a child made. If it falls down and the child wants to show it to people, it is not forbidden to touch. But if the decoration has some other value or purpose, such as food which can be eaten, it becomes "muktze" onced assigned as a sukkah decoration.
Perhaps even something which serves no purpose other than to beautify the sukkah (such as tinsel) might also not be considered untouchable if it falls because there’s no way to derive benefit from it.
I have never seen anyone hang real fruit from a sukkah (we just don’t do that!), but were someone to do so, this seems to be the problematic kinds of Noy Sukkah, from which one cannot derive added pleasure from actually using it for a constructive purpose, such as putting it in a salad or simply eating it directly. It has been dedicated to beautify the Sukkah.
Hopefully we can enjoy our beautified Sukkahs without getting anNOYed at kids or adults who want to touch the decorations, whether with intent or just for practical reasons (e.g. to avoid bumping into it). It is nice for the sukkah to be decorated. And it is even more nice when we don’t use our “frumkeit” to cause anyone to be uncomfortable.
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