Succa on a Fire Escape

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Viewing 17 posts - 1 through 17 (of 17 total)
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  • #592372
    insuranceguy
    Member

    Can someone please tell me how one fulfills the mitzvah of succah by eating in a succah one set up on a fire escape. What is wrong with people? This is a sakana, I wish rabbonim would tell people not to do this.

    #696256
    squeak
    Participant

    Crossing the street is a sakana, I asked rabbonim to tell people not to do it, but nu- they have to get to the other side of the street.

    #696257
    rebdoniel
    Member

    There is a difference. A fire escape is there specifically for the purpose to save lives in the event of a fire, c”v, so that you have an escape should an apartment or house go on fire. Pikuach nefesh comes first and foremost.

    #696258
    squeak
    Participant

    Fire- milsa d’lo schiacha

    Cars on street- schiach

    Kal v’chomer the succah can be there.

    #696259
    tomim tihye
    Member

    Thank you for the heter Rabbi Squeak. Now I can join my family on Shabbos.

    #696260
    charliehall
    Participant

    I often work at FDNY HQ. I often see frum Jews in line because they have been cited for fire code violations. We of all people who were granted the principle of pikuach nefesh should be the last people to get fire code violations. Please, PLEASE do not put a sukkah on a fire escape. You will regret it if disaster strikes.

    #696261
    WIY
    Member

    Charlie

    Oiberchuchems dont listen to reason.

    #696262
    emoticon613
    Member

    i never really understood fire escapes anyway. the thing doesn’t even go all the way to the ground so it doesn’t help anything – you’re still stuck two stories up attached to a burning building?? doesn’t make sense to me. explanation…?

    #696263
    FunnyBunny
    Member

    @emoticon613: its close enough to the ground to jump, or the firefighters put their ladders up against the hanging ladder and you climb down the rest.

    #696264
    squeak
    Participant

    tomim tihye-

    I’m not being mattir or saying it is adivsable. Merely pointing out that if you are complaining purely because of “sakana” you don’t have an argument. Driving a car and crossing the street are things we do that have an equal or greater level of sakana.

    #696265
    Dr. Pepper
    Participant

    emoticon613- If it’s a vertical ladder then it’s held in place by a bar and can be released by lifting the ladder up a little and lowering it down.

    There are horizontal ones that have a counterweight so when you start walking down it will slowly shift towards the ground. Hold on tight.

    The obvious reason for this is to keep people at street level from climbing up.

    I hope this answers your question.

    #696266

    squeak

    im not sure but i think you are misunderstanding the concern of sakana here

    im getting the impression that you believe the poster is saying it is a sakana to live in a Sukkah in such a precarious location.

    but i believe the poster is saying the sakana is to everyone, in the event that the fire escape needs to be used in the event of a fire.

    or maybe you are not misunderstanding the poster

    #696267
    squeak
    Participant

    Let me be clear.

    Driving a car is also a sakana to ‘everyone’ (by everyone you mean ‘many people’). In the event of a brake failure, or a loss of attention, or mistimed maneuver- many people could wind up hurt as a result of your decision to drive the car.

    Blocking a fire escape presents a similar sakana. To block a fire escape for no reason would be senseless. To put a succa there is not senseless- if you want to have a succa and you live in an apartment, it is easy to see the sense in putting it there (since all other space accessible to you is indoors).

    I am not saying that this means it is OK to do- au contraire. As it is a violation of code, it is just as wrong as double-parking your car or parking in front of a fire hydrant. Just that the folks crawling out of the woodworks to cry ‘sakana’ as of the same ilk as the ones who want to stop kapparos because ‘tzar baalei chayim’.

    #696268
    student
    Participant

    To squeak:

    The fireplace does not belong to you-it belongs to the building, and you have no right to put a sukkah there, especially if it endangers other people in the event of a fire. Dina Malchusa dina – the laws of the land (in this case the fire department) must be followed, even if it means you might have to walk a few blocks to use your shul’s sukkah instead. And BTW although I vehemntly disagree with your viewpoint of a sukkah on a fireplace, I don’t see what that hasanything to do with oppostion to kapparos.

    #696269

    squeak agrees one should not put a Sukkah on a fire escape, and one does not have a right to do so.

    he only states that the reason of sakanah is not alone enough, as the sakanah is no greater than a myriad of other activities we do on a daily basis, even though there is an equivalent or even greater degree of sahanah

    #696270
    tomim tihye
    Member

    Squeak- LOL- Do I even have a fire escape?

    #696271
    truthsharer
    Member

    If a fire place is public property then you couldn’t put a sukkah there without permission anyway.

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