Boruch stepped into the shared backyard, hammer in hand, ready to build his beautiful sukkah. But as he looked up to map out his airspace, he noticed a major snag. His neighbor, Shimon, had clotheslines strung squarely above the exact spot where Boruch’s schach was meant to go.
“Shimon!” Boruch yelled toward the house. “Take down your clotheslines! I am building my sukkah right here, and they can’t be above my schach!”
Shimon poked his head out the back door, shaking his head. “Look, there’s no need to shout your halachic theories across the yard, Boruch, and stop airing our dirty laundry in public.” He stepped out into the yard. “I won’t take down my clotheslines because the strings are made out of pure cotton. It’s an open-and-shut case. The Mishna in Sukkah clearly says that you can use items for schach that grow from the ground once they have been detached. So my strings which are kosher schach won’t interfere with your sukkah.”
Halachic Validity of Cotton String
Boruch sighed, trying to keep his temper pressed. “Please, Shimon, don’t let this stain our relationship, but you are not using a raw cotton plant. The cotton you are using has been highly processed and turned into string. There are two potential issues here, so don’t try to pull the wool over my eyes!”
Boruch raised a finger. “First, you conveniently didn’t mention the other stipulation of the Mishna in Sukkah: schach cannot be something that is mekabeil tumah. Second, the cotton has been fundamentally changed from its original form. It’s been cycled into something completely new! The Rambam says that even something that grew from the ground, if it is completely changed from its original form, may not be used for schach.”
Shimon smirked. “I’m sure you will always spin the halacha your way for your own gain. Still, you’re grasping at threads. I have used cotton string to tie down the schach on my own Sukkah, which I built with my own arm and hammer, and the rabbi even made a bracha on my Sukkah! Now, I know you are only supposed to use something that is kosher for schach to tie down your schach, it’s called a maamid. So, if the rabbi approved, string must be kosher schach!”
The Rule of Maamid and Overhead Clothes
“Perhaps,” Boruch countered, trying to pin the logic down, “the string was only used to secure the schach for uncommon winds, in which case you can use any material.”
“No,” Shimon replied, standing firm. “There are frequent wind gusts here. We practically live in a wind tunnel.”
“Let’s try to sort this out,” Boruch said, stroking his beard thoughtfully. “Maybe the rabbi made a bracha on the sukkah because the halacha of maamid is just a chumra. L’halacha, even if schach was tied down for frequent winds with invalid schach, the sukkah is still technically kosher after the fact. But l’chatchila, you really shouldn’t have made the sukkah that way.”
“No! The rabbi didn’t hang me out to dry,” Shimon objected. “My son specifically asked my rabbi, and he said we can absolutely continue using string every single year! And he further noted that Rashi in Chullin (125b) says that string is not mekbail tumah!”
“Well, that still doesn’t prove that cotton string is strictly kosher schach,” Boruch argued. “Cotton string is rabbinically invalid for the reason I cited earlier: the changed form. Those are rabbinic stringencies. Since maamid is just a chumra anyway, and at best a rabbinic restriction, the rabbis permitted one to support schach with material that is kosher according to Torah law, even if it is rabbinically prohibited. But at the end of the day, cotton string is absolutely non-kosher schach, and you must take them down so I can build my sukkah here.”
Shimon crossed his arms. “I’m hoping I can find an argument to tide you over. The string only takes up a minuscule amount of space. I’m sure it won’t interfere with your sukkah. Your shade will come from your schach and not from my minuscule strings. It’s barely a thread of an issue.”
Boruch was losing his patience. “You’re really starting to agitate me. The string maybe doesn’t take up too much airspace now, but I’m sure you will hang your clothes there on Sukkos as well! Baruch Hashem, you have a lot of kids, and I’m sure you’ll be doing laundry on Chol Hamoed. Those clothes will interfere with my schach!”
“Boruch, calm down, you’re really bringing down the yom tov cheer,” Shimon laughed. “I’m not throwing in the towel just yet. My clothes hanging on the line also won’t bother you. They hang straight down. They still won’t interfere with your sukkah. It is a well-known halacha that a sukkah under tree branches is perfectly kosher if the shade inside comes primarily from the schach and not the tree. Even if I hang many clothes, they will, for the most part, only take up vertical space.”
Applying Lavud to Overhead Obstructions
“Okay, but there is another significant wrinkle that needs to be ironed out,” Boruch countered triumphantly. “The Gemara in Chullin, on page 125, discusses a case where there is an opening between two stories of a house. The Gemara says that even though a lattice placed in that opening has holes in it, tumah cannot get through. We view those holes as being halachically solid. Here too! You have three clotheslines hanging. Since the space between each of the clotheslines is less than nine inches, they are viewed as solid through the halachic principle of lavud. So it’s not just each individual clothesline I’m concerned about. Because of lavud, it comes out to over two feet of completely pasul schach!”
Shimon’s eyes widened. “Wow. That sounds like a massive stretch. Trying to use the concept of lavud for a sukkah to invalidate it? You’re making me split at the seams with these mental gymnastics!”
“Whoa!” Boruch exclaimed. “I have seen your own sukkah! You have fabric walls, and you use lavud straps on them! Every nine inches you have another strap. You literally use lavud to make your sukkah kosher. You can’t have it tailor-made both ways! You can’t just bounce between different halachic opinions whenever it suits your needs!”
“Yes, you have caught me in a trap,” Shimon conceded. “Still, there seems to be a glaring difference. I am intentionally using lavud to make my sukkah kosher. You, on the other hand, are suggesting that lavud can work entirely against your will, to make your sukkah pasul. You’re trying to weave a halacha out of thin air.”
“True,” Boruch nodded, “but over seven generations ago, the Bach suggested exactly that! It’s called lavud l’hachmir, applying the rule of connection to be stringent.”
Contemporary Poskim on Clotheslines
“Hmm.” Shimon paused, a memory returning to him. “Wait, this is coming back to me. Didn’t the Magen Avraham argue entirely with the Bach on that? So it’s the Bach versus the Magen Avraham. It’s a total wash. In a dispute like that, can’t we just be meikel?”
“I’m sorry,” Boruch replied firmly, “but the Mishna Berura implies that one really should be concerned for the opinion of the Bach.”
Shimon quickly grabbed a sefer from a nearby outdoor table and began rapidly flipping through the pages.
“I see you surfing through that sefer just to find a leniency!” Boruch pointed out.
“One second... it says right here that Rav Shlomo Zalman Auerbach, zt”l, says to be machmir like the Bach only for permanent fixtures!” Shimon declared victoriously. “He says that one should not build under security bars, because that is a permanent fixture and it really is meant to be as good as solid. Whereas by clotheslines, you don’t want the space filled in! Just the opposite – you specifically need the empty space to hang your laundry! Moreover, clotheslines are temporary and much less permanent.”
“You think you can just whisk away my proofs with one quote?” Boruch muttered. “Not everyone agrees. The Minchas Yitzchak, for one, disagreed with that distinction. So you’re really just blowing hot air!”
Shimon closed the sefer with a satisfying thud. “Well, HaRav Zilberstein said that I don’t have to take down my clotheslines for your chumra. I refuse to let our backyard enter a new era of unnecessary stringencies. Halachically, you can’t force me. I’m sorry, Boruch, but the lines stay!”
Realizing he was completely out of material, Boruch finally decided to fold. After all, it was a better alternative than to let their friendship unravel.
Suddenly, Boruch noticed a neighbor videoing this whole conversation. “If you make this go viral, be sure to tell them to speak to their rav for halacha l’maaseh.”
“Sure,” replied the neighbor, “but I’m not sure I’ll send it out. I’ve seen laundry detergent leave a better film than this.”
Maggid shiur and Rebbe at Yeshiva Ateres Shimon in Far Rockaway. He leads the Daf Yomi chaburah at Eitz Chayim of Dogwood Park in West Hempstead, and writes “Delving into the Daf” each week for The Jewish Home.
