# Have you put up a sukkah this year?
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-put-up-a-sukkah-this-year/1023761
**Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share
**Created:** [October 7, 2025, 9:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-put-up-a-sukkah-this-year/1023761 "2025-10-07T21:13:17Z")
**Posts on this page:** 20
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@commasense](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/commasense)
#### Post date: [October 7, 2025, 9:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-put-up-a-sukkah-this-year/1023761/1 "2025-10-07T21:13:17Z")
Yesterday was the start of the Jewish holiday of Sukkot, my wife’s favorite. It’s a harvest holiday in which observant Jews build a temporary hut (sukkah) outside their house and eat meals in it for the ten days of the holiday. It celebrates the harvest while also signifying the impermanence of all things.
Every year since we’ve been together, I’ve built a sukkah in back of our house, and we eat dinner in it each evening of the holiday, weather permitting. We usually have friends and family over for a few of those nights. (Sukkot, the name of the holiday, is the plural form of sukkah.)
We’ve lived in four different places during our 15-year marriage, and although she already had one in the house she lived in when we got married, for the successive three, I’ve custom built new ones. The latest, which I built four years ago, is made of 10-foot sections of 3/4" conduit, held together with neat little clamps from this place: [MakerPipe](https://makerpipe.com/).
As you’ll see from photos I’ll post a little later, we decorate it extensively with string lights.
To my fellow MOTs: do you have a sukkah? Did you used to? Would you like to? Any good sukkah stories?
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### Author:  [@hogarth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hogarth)
#### Post date: [October 7, 2025, 9:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-put-up-a-sukkah-this-year/1023761/2 "2025-10-07T21:50:26Z")
I’m not Jewish, but I’ve seen a few ads for sukkah providers along Bathurst Avenue in Toronto.
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### Author:  [@FinsToTheLeft](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FinsToTheLeft)
#### Post date: [October 7, 2025, 10:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-put-up-a-sukkah-this-year/1023761/3 "2025-10-07T22:15:38Z")
Nope, never put up a Sukkah. My wife’s parents used to do one, but not in the 33 odd years we’ve been together.
I’ve also seen the signs @hogarth mentioned, as well as the lulav and etrog sellers.
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### Author:  [@commasense](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/commasense)
#### Post date: [October 7, 2025, 10:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-put-up-a-sukkah-this-year/1023761/4 "2025-10-07T22:30:01Z")
Please excuse the brain fart: Sukkot is eight days, not ten.
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### Author:  [@puzzlegal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/puzzlegal)
#### Post date: [October 7, 2025, 10:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-put-up-a-sukkah-this-year/1023761/5 "2025-10-07T22:31:25Z")
I have a sukkah. It’s one of those commercial ones made of light aluminum pipes and angle joints that you can screw on and off, with canvas walls. I use it from time to time. But i doubt I’ll get around to it this year. I’m just feeling overwhelmed with cancer and all that. (See the thread about my husband’s illness. [My husband is seriously ill](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-husband-is-seriously-ill/1023019) )
But a friend invited me to her family’s sukkah, and I’ll probably go. It’s a nice holiday.
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### Author:  [@Mark\_Finn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mark_Finn)
#### Post date: [October 7, 2025, 10:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-put-up-a-sukkah-this-year/1023761/6 "2025-10-07T22:40:01Z")
Not Jewish, but live near a very Jewish neighborhood (the Mezuzah count on the front doors is over 90% 🙂 ). I’ll have to look more closely for Sukkahs next time I walk by.
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### Author:  [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)
#### Post date: [October 7, 2025, 10:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-put-up-a-sukkah-this-year/1023761/7 "2025-10-07T22:41:26Z")
Tangentially related: Many years ago, there was a thread on this board called “How should I light my sukkah?”. As a mod, and unaware of what the word meant, I hurried into the thread, thinking it might be some sort of drug paraphernalia. Nope.
(IIRC, the solution suggested was Christmas-tree lights)
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### Author:  [@Babale](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Babale)
#### Post date: [October 7, 2025, 11:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-put-up-a-sukkah-this-year/1023761/8 "2025-10-07T23:07:51Z")
I built one from scratch (using 2x4s) only once, the year I graduated college and moved into a rental with who would become my wife.
Every other year, I’ve lived in a house with a pergola, so I’ve “cheated” by just putting sheets up.
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### Author:  [@Yllaria](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Yllaria)
#### Post date: [October 8, 2025, 1:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-put-up-a-sukkah-this-year/1023761/9 "2025-10-08T01:13:59Z")
From everyone’s descriptions, I’m assuming that tents don’t count.
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### Author:  [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)
#### Post date: [October 8, 2025, 1:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-put-up-a-sukkah-this-year/1023761/10 "2025-10-08T01:34:03Z")
IANAJ, but from what I understand, a tent would be perfectly acceptable, if perhaps a bit impractical, given that you’re going to be eating (and preparing?) family meals in it for over a week.
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### Author:  [@Darren\_Garrison](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Darren_Garrison)
#### Post date: [October 8, 2025, 2:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-put-up-a-sukkah-this-year/1023761/11 "2025-10-08T02:05:18Z")
I’ve never heard of these. What do Jews who don’t have yards do?
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### Author:  [@Babale](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Babale)
#### Post date: [October 8, 2025, 2:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-put-up-a-sukkah-this-year/1023761/12 "2025-10-08T02:10:49Z")
> [@Darren\_Garrison](#):
>
> What do Jews who don’t have yards do?
Build them on a balcony, or go to communal sukkahs.
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### Author:  [@commasense](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/commasense)
#### Post date: [October 8, 2025, 5:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-put-up-a-sukkah-this-year/1023761/13 "2025-10-08T05:25:23Z")
> [@Yllaria](#):
>
> From everyone’s descriptions, I’m assuming that tents don’t count.
> [@Chronos](#):
>
> IANAJ, but from what I understand, a tent would be perfectly acceptable, if perhaps a bit impractical, given that you’re going to be eating (and preparing?) family meals in it for over a week.
Technically speaking, no, a tent is not acceptable. There are several requirements to a sukkah, one of which is that the roof (called the s’chach) must be made of material that was once living, and cannot be solid: one must be able to see the stars through it. Some people use tree branches or wooden lattice. Also, one side should be open to the outside.
The idea is not to have a sealed, comfortable enclosure, but to be exposed to the elements.
Here is a daytime view of our sukkah. Nighttime image still to come.
[ ](https://photos.google.com/share/AF1QipPzQeRv0dAUTItD7uC1X3Uy1KyKigZhN81lChNJdN6DRBOzWm6F7MuWcAwBWu18VQ?key=OEpOZkM2b3RkaGxxcXNBX0twVF81MnU5TW1BMkxR)
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### Author:  [@Alessan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alessan)
#### Post date: [October 8, 2025, 8:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-put-up-a-sukkah-this-year/1023761/14 "2025-10-08T08:57:05Z")
I live in a condo with no balcony, so no sukkah. One of our neighbors has sacrificed his parking space for a communal one for the building; I may stop by.
> [@commasense](#):
>
> Some people use tree branches or wooden lattice
Palm fronds are considered the best. They sell them here around the holidays.
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### Author:  [@Broomstick](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Broomstick)
#### Post date: [October 8, 2025, 9:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-put-up-a-sukkah-this-year/1023761/15 "2025-10-08T09:16:18Z")
> [@Darren\_Garrison](#):
>
> I’ve never heard of these. What do Jews who don’t have yards do?
In recent years this intermittently (at best) observant Jew with no yard and no suitable balcony has gone to the sukkot of local Jews who have such luxury.
Except this year my opportunity to visit my sister and her family (which I’ve been trying to do for over four years - there have been delays) fell right across the High Holidays and Sukkot. HaShem will just have to be understanding that I took an airplane flight on Yom Kippur and visited my sister’s home rather than a temporary dwelling - but since HaShem is all knowing I presume I don’t have to explain myself. I chose living family over ritual.
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### Author:  [@Spoons](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spoons)
#### Post date: [October 8, 2025, 9:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-put-up-a-sukkah-this-year/1023761/16 "2025-10-08T09:54:56Z")
> [@commasense](#):
>
> Here is a daytime view of our sukkah. Nighttime image still to come.
I’m not Jewish, but that looks like a very nice setting. Enjoy your celebrations!
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### Author:  [@Eric1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eric1)
#### Post date: [October 8, 2025, 10:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-put-up-a-sukkah-this-year/1023761/17 "2025-10-08T10:26:26Z")
I’m a novice about a sukkah. Yet I’ve always wondered what the final scene in the movie The Great Dictator was, where Paulette Goddard says something to the effect of “we’re free to live like regular people.” Though I’ve seen the movie a couple times, the context finally clicked.
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### Author:  [@commasense](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/commasense)
#### Post date: [October 8, 2025, 2:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-put-up-a-sukkah-this-year/1023761/18 "2025-10-08T14:21:53Z")
Thanks. Here’s the night view.
[ ](https://photos.google.com/share/AF1QipONn5ykOY1gklxJvLqIwtmjcehafMj777xazlzWm5jBqznsbu7saABYcEfUDq1JVw?key=M1p1OVR2MlVPOFJuc0o3ZzhtQjZ0SzZla0QxRVhB)
We live on the North Shore of Boston, our house backs right onto the sea, and our view looking out is of Swampscott, Marblehead, and the Atlantic. This is what we see from the sukkah. The rainbows aren’t there all the time. (Click to see the whole image.)
[ ](https://photos.google.com/share/AF1QipOZPwWmW8gzmPq4nQChA27pA80gsS318eHmLglL__JlkFVGtMAr8NDk_04U23ZGww?key=YnhBWGRfOUdESEdWdGJpeThaaHRSeHUtQXpldEdB)
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### Author:  [@Telemark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Telemark)
#### Post date: [October 8, 2025, 2:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-put-up-a-sukkah-this-year/1023761/19 "2025-10-08T14:27:48Z")
I’ve never put up a sukkah, but at our previous home the downstairs neighbors always put one up on the deck I built in the back yard. We loved seeing it set up and even spent some time out there with them in the evenings. I have some photos of my family in our next door neighbor’s sukkah when I was a wee lad, but I don’t recall us ever building one.
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### Author:  [@puzzlegal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/puzzlegal)
#### Post date: [October 8, 2025, 5:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-put-up-a-sukkah-this-year/1023761/20 "2025-10-08T17:27:20Z")
> [@Alessan](#):
>
> Palm fronds are considered the best. They sell them here around the holidays.
A friend who used to live in Florida collected palm friends left when the city pruned the trees. But here in the American North East, palm is not an option. Most people use a loosely woven bamboo mat (which can be reused every year.) When i set up my sukkah, i prune my oak trees and sometimes the yew, and use those branches.
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