Can You Use a Pergola, Gazebo, or Pop-Up Canopy as a Sukkah? What Makes It Kosher (and What to Buy Instead)

Every September we get some version of this phone call: “I already have a pergola over the patio—can I just throw bamboo on top and call it a sukkah?” Sometimes it’s the gazebo version. Increasingly it’s the pop-up canopy version: there’s a 10×10 EZ-Up in the garage left over from a soccer tournament, and Sukkot…