Is It Time To Take Down The Sukkah Yet?

By Indy Saisev

Judaism is usually pretty specific about when to do what. All you have to do is look in a book or two and you have your answer. So I’m finding it both troubling and confusing that no one seems to know when you’re supposed to take down the sukkah.

My teachers were pretty clear on when you have to put it up: it has to be ready in time for the fifteenth of Tishrei. No problem. Mine was already decorated even before Yom Kippur. So the preparation part I got down. What troubles and confuses me is that no one has been able to tell me when I’m supposed to have the thing cleared away – and then, once I find that out, I have to figure out what I’m supposed to do with the pieces. Do we let them rot, like other stuff that gets left over in a Shmittah year? Is it supposed to be used as fuel for burning the chametz before Pesach? I’m at a loss here.

Usually, Jewish law is very particular about when something starts and ends. Everyone knows about starting Shabbat before sunset on Friday, and what time it ends on Saturday night. The first Mishna in the whole corpus of Rabbinic literature introduces both the start time and end time for reciting the nighttime Shma. But when it comes to a deadline for putting away the sukkah, suddenly the Rabbis are silent. What am I missing?

It’s certainly possible the answer is more esoteric than a relative novice such as I can expect to know. I’m not forty years old yet, so maybe when I get to that age I an delve into some Kabbalah and maybe find out the answer. But my Jewish neighbors seem mostly to have put their sukkot away already, except for that one weirdo up at the end of the street, who has his still crumbling on his terrace. That’s what makes me think it’s a Kabbalistic thing. He’s into that sort of stuff.

But what about all my other neighbors who took theirs down ages ago? I always feel stupid having to ask my more knowledgeable friends about such seemingly basic things. How did they know it was time to take down theirs? And why didn’t they all do it at the same time? I was kind of waiting for the Rabbi to make some sort of announcement, the way he did after Pesach about when we could start eating at various establishments and not worry about chametz that had been in a Jew’s possession during the holiday. No such luck.

And the synagogue administration is very good about keeping us apprised of all the other changes: when the Eruv is up or down so we can carry things outside on Shabbat; what time we have to stop eating chametz on the day before Pesach; when’s the latest time for saying Shma and praying every morning; when we have to make sure we start eating the third meal on Shabbat; when all the fast days end; and so on. But when to take down the sukkah? Nada.

It’s really important, because some of my non-Jewish neighbors are complaining about the eyesore my sukkah has become. I’d feel silly keeping it looking good, considering no one else is doing that, and the weather hasn’t made that so feasible anyway. I need to know whether it’s OK to take mine down already.

Maybe Chanukkah is the right time. I remember hearing about all sorts of parallels between Sukkot and Chanukkah.

Better safe than sorry. I’ll wait till then to figure this out.