CCAR RESPONSA
Contemporary American Reform Responsa
182. Decoration of Sukkah with Fruit and
Vegetables
QUESTION: Are there any specific requirements about
decorating a sukkah? Need it be decorated with fresh and perishable fruits and vegetables? It seems that this is an inappropriate waste in a period when many individuals go hungry, and the food should be given to poor people. Would it be equally appropriate to celebrate the festival by insisting the fruit and vegetables, normally used in this fashion, simply be donated to the poor? (Rabbi M. Soifer, New Orleans,
LA)
ANSWER: The
decoration of sukkot with fruit and vegetables goes back to Talmudic discussions. There is, for example, a statement whether “branches of fig trees on which there are figs, vines with grapes, palm branches with dates, and wheat with ears on it, may be used for a sukkah covering.” Though there is some discussion, they are considered valid (Suk. 13b). More directly, it is simply stated that a wide variety of fruit and vegetables were used to decorate the sukkah. This included nuts, almonds, peaches, pomegranates, grapes and ears of corn along with phials of wine, oil, fine flax and embroidered work (Suk. 10a, also 31b). In another place in the same tractate, there is a discussion of using other decorations (Suk. 28b). Some later authorities mention nuts used for beautification. It is clear, therefore, that there is some warrant for decorating the sukkah in this fashion, using fruit and vegetables as well as nuts, from Talmudic times onward. We find this mentioned, incidentally, in prescriptions for the sukkah given by Maimonides, Caro and other codifiers, as well as an occasional reference in the responsa. There is, however, no requirement that the sukkah be decorated in this fashion. For that matter, any type of decoration seems to have been acceptable. Some sukkot of wealthy European families in the last century contained painted walls. Few of those survived and one is exhibited in the Israel Museum in Jerusalem. Others were decorated with pictures made by various younger members of the family. There are no stipulations about this in the legal halakhic literature and we are dealing with minhag in this matter.
As there are no stipulations for the decoration of the
sukkah, it would be a mitzvah in time of need to use the funds normally expended upon such items of food for the direct alleviation of poverty. In place of the fruit and vegetables usually hung, inedible items could be hung as decoration, such as gourds, acorns, chestnuts, etc., along with pictures made by children in the religious schools.
October 1983
If needed, please consult Abbreviations used in CCAR Responsa.