In truth, according to either minhag, one is acknowledging that there is a safek and treating the mitzvah with respect. Then we are left with the question, which way to go? That answer is rather simple – we always are instructed to follow our own family minhag (cf. Beza 45b).
My uncle, Horav Sholom Klass, zt”l, always used to relate that his grandfather [my great grandfather], Horav Yaakov Epstein, zt”l, would be meticulous in the observance of the mitzvah of sukkah and would remark, “If one builds a beautiful sukkah [and dwells therein], he will merit to have a beautiful [year round] home as well.”
May we all be blessed with such recompense for our meticulous observance of the mitzvah of sukkah, as we eagerly await Melech Ha’Moshiach, speedily in our days.
Rabbi Yaakov Klass, rav of Congregation K’hal Bnei Matisyahu in Flatbush, Brooklyn, is Torah Editor of The Jewish Press. He can be contacted at [email protected].