Man building sukkah
Man building sukkahFlash 90

Jerusalem municipal bylaws will be changed to make it possible for residents to construct sukkahs – the temporary structures that Jews are commanded to construct and live in on the Sukkot holiday – starting in the evening hours after Yom Kippur ends.

Current noise regulations forbid construction work and similar noisemaking in the evening that follows a rest day or Sabbath. This meant that it was illegal to build a sukkah on motzei Yom Kippur – the evening that immediately follows the end of Yom Kippur – and also on motzei Shabbat, when Sabbath falls on the five days between Yom Kippur and Sukkot.

This meant that valuable time that is often used – outside of Jerusalem, at least – for constructing the sukkahs, was lost.

United Torah Judaism's representatives in the municipality asked the mayor of Jerusalem to change the regulations, in a letter they sent him recently. The matter was then brought before the City Council's Committee on the Environment Monday. The UTJ representatives explained that for many people, the nighttime hours are the only time in which they can build a sukkah.

The committee accepted the arguments unanimously and decided that it will be permissible to build sukkahs every (non-Sabbath) night between Yom Kippur until Sukkot, until 11 PM. It will also be permitted to take apart a sukkah on the night following Simhat Torah, until 11 PM.