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Let's assume that there is a lechatchila to not use metal object that are mekabel tumah (susceptible to tumah) for something that supports the s'chach ("maamid"), which can be avoided by using something that supports something that supports s'chach ("maamid d'maamid"); but if it was used there is no issue b'dieved with using a maamid that is mekabel tumah. See this Halachipedia article for more information.

What about a notched 2x4 board? Many people use long beams across their sukkos to support their schach -- are these mekabel tumah?

Here's a picture:

2x4s, each with a notch that removes a few inches along the length of the board from half of its cross-section

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1 Answers1

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in shulchan aruch harav siman 628 sief 7 he writes regarding mats that are made for a few diffrent reasons that since they are not made for anything in particular therefore you go after the intention of the one buying it if his intentions are for a sukkah then they are not mikabel tumah

so to in this case the 2x4s are bought with the intentions of holding up the schach therefore they were never in the category of mikabel tumah

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  • Mats do not have a beis kibul and so are not inherently a kli. A notch in wood is arguably different being that the notch is a beis kibbul, the lumber might no longer be called pshutei kli eits. – user6591 Oct 20 '14 at 03:26
  • Those notches are made in order to hold up the sukkah nut for any other reason (I have never seen a price of wood with those notches in it except for a sukkah) so again they are sold as pshutei kli eitz and those notches are made solely for the sukkah and there is no time between four them to become a beis kibul litumah. See shailos utsuvos avnei neizer siman tof ayin gimmul and piskei tshuvos siman tof reish chof tes seif yud – skraz13 Oct 20 '14 at 03:54
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    @user6591 How is a notch a beis kibbul? – Double AA Oct 20 '14 at 04:05
  • @user6591 - I second that. A notch is not a beth qibbul any more than the tip of an arrow that has been whittled down to a point; granted it is made to receive or interlock with another piece, but it is not a keli. Such arrows by the way are kosher sekhakh. Kol tuv. –  Feb 06 '15 at 02:46
  • @Maimonist I third it. I didn't say i think it is, I said it can arguably be said, meaning there is room for further clarification to ascertain if indeed the halakha for one applies to the other. – user6591 Feb 06 '15 at 02:50
  • What if the notch was made as half of a half-lap joint? It is literally being made to be mekabel the other piece of wood. Does a beis kibul have to be something that holds liquid? – Yitzchak Sep 04 '15 at 16:11
  • @user6591 Since a half pipe is not consider a kli kibul (though a U-bend might be a problem, since water pools in the bend) apparently notches would not transform a flat board into a kli kibbul. What might be a question is whether the notch becomes a chibbur between the two objects, since before they would potentially slide past one another and now they will not. – Isaac Kotlicky Mar 02 '16 at 13:00
  • @IsaacKotlicky Trust me, there are winds every few years that prove the notch isn't a chibur. They slide sideways every year, and if you tie mats to them, they go airborn every once in a while and land sideways. In a ruach she'eino metzuyah (eg Irwin even in its weakened, Tri-State Area, form) they will land off the deck altogether. – Micha Berger Sep 28 '16 at 10:47