[Avodah] Waterproof S'chach? Really?

[Akiva Miller via Avodah]

R' Micha Berger cited the DailyHalacha.com:

> Several other Poskim, however, disagreed. The Shebet Ha’levi
> (Rav Shemuel Wosner, contemporary) wrote that we should not be
> trying to “outsmart” Halacha by devising creative strategies,
> and we should use the same kind of Sechach that Jews have been
> using for generations. Likewise, the Kinyan Ha’Torah maintained
> that although rainproof Sechach might be technically
> permissible, one should use the traditional Sechach.

I don't understand. Why does sentimentality trump a d'Oraisa?

If a posek holds that s'chach *must* allow some rain in, and that if the
s'chach keeps the rain out then it is pasul (as R' Zev Sero cited Rabenu
Tam) - that is a position I can understand. But the two cited here do not
seem to hold that way; they say to use "traditional s'chach", but they
don't passel this new one.

It seems to me that if one has a choice between (a) a traditional sukkah
that will probably force me to eat in the house part of the time, and (b) a
non-traditional sukkah that is kosher and which I can use all week long,
it's really no contest.

Such s'chach might be beyond the budget of many people, or unavailable for
other reasons. But if one does have the option, then avoiding it for
reasons of "not traditional" sounds to me very much like the ill person who
insisting on fasting on Yom Kippur.

Akiva Miller
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://lists.aishdas.org/pipermail/avodah-aishdas.org/attachments/20161021/12564e44/attachment-0008.html>