1. One who did not build a Succah
either by accident or intentionally, he may build one on Chol Hamoed
(חול המועד) even as late as the end of the seventh day.
Similarly, he is able to exit from this Succah and to stay in another
one.
2. One fulfills his obligation with a borrowed Succah.
Similarly, one fulfills his obligation if the Succah is owned by a
partnership.
3. A stolen Succah is valid to fulfill the commandment of
Succot. How is this? Suppose one overpowered his friend and
forced him out from his Succah. Then one stole the Succah and
stayed in it {1} then he does fulfill his obligation; for land can not
be stolen {2}. [However, it is preferred (לכתחלה) for one to not
dwell in his friend's Succah without his consent and surely to steal
it. Similarly, it is preferred (לכתחלה) for one to not build a
Succah on someone else's land without their knowledge. The same
applies to public land. But according to the letter of the law
(בדיעבד), one does fulfill his obligation in such cases.
Similarly, a Jew should not gather the Sechach by himself but rather
buy it from Gentiles since any stolen thing one should not build a
Succah from it according to the preferred way of doing the commandment
(לכתחלה)]. If one stole wood and built a Succah from this wood,
even if he did not join the planks or change the material at all he
fulfills his obligation. The Rabbis made a decree that the owner
of the wood is entitled to only the value of the wood. If one
stole a Succah that was built on top of a boat or on top of a wagon and
stays in it, one does not fulfill his obligation. [Similarly, if
Reuven built a Succah on Simeon's land and then Simeon overpowered
Reuven and stole his Succah that is sitting on Simeon's land, he does
not fulfill his obligation. Because here this Rabbinical decree
does not apply since Simeon did not put any effort into it and did not
take it out at all. {3}]
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{1} He occupied anther's Succah in its original place.
{2} Anything attached to the land is considered like land. Hence,
the Succah is considered like land. Land always belongs to the
original owners. So when one drives someone else out of his Succah and
occupies it, he does not technically steal the Succah since the land
can not be stolen in such a case according to Jewish law.
{3} M.B. This case is different then the case where one simply
stole a Succah on someone else's land, since over there it is
considered like one is stealing the person's land that the Succah is on
and land can not be stolen. Here, since the land belongs to the
one who stole the Succah it is considered like he stole the Succah
alone which is identical to the case where one stole the wood for the
Succah. But unlike there where the Rabbis made a decree in the
thief's favor since he carried the wood, here there is no such decree
since the thief didn't do any effort.
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ShulchanArach.com
Translated by Dr. Jay Dinovitser 11/2009
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