639 - תרלט דיני ישיבת סוכה ובו כ"ו סעיפים

Laws of Dwelling in the Sukkah

1. "In sukkos you shall dwell for seven days": The Oral Tradition teaches, "Dwell as you reside." That is, just as a person lives in his house all year, the Torah obligates him to leave his home and dwell here in the sukkah with his beds, bedding, and all his household utensils.

From here the Sages said: All seven days, a person should make his house temporary and his sukkah permanent.

How so?

If he has fine bedding and beautiful utensils, he should bring them up to the sukkah.

Similarly, all drinking vessels that he needs should be with him in the sukkah, just as they are with him in his house all year.

But utensils in which flour is kept, kneading troughs, and water vessels do not need to be in the sukkah, for even during the year these are not usually kept in the main living quarters but have their own place.

2. Eating utensils—after eating, such as pots and bowls, which are repulsive after the meal—must be taken out of the sukkah.

Likewise, a bucket or jug used for drawing water should not be brought into the sukkah.

Nor should any degrading activity be done in the sukkah, such as washing pots and bowls, so that the mitzvah should not be treated disrespectfully.

However, it is permitted to wash drinking vessels, such as cups and flasks, in the sukkah.

3. The lamp—while it is lit—should be inside the sukkah.

If the sukkah is small, such that there is concern the flame may come close to the walls or the sechach and catch fire, the lamp must be placed outside the sukkah, even if it is made of gold.

The custom is not to bring an earthenware lamp into the sukkah, even if the sukkah is large.

4. How is the mitzvah of dwelling in the sukkah fulfilled?

One should eat, drink, sleep, spend time, and live in the sukkah all seven days—both by day and by night—just as he lives in his house during the rest of the year. If he needs to converse with a friend, he should do so in the sukkah.

In summary: A person should always regard his sukkah as if it were his house, and anything he would not do outside his house, he should not do outside his sukkah.

Therefore, all seven days, one should read and study Torah in the sukkah (unless he is reading or studying in the beis midrash).

If he understands and is precise in his learning, he may study outside the sukkah so that his mind will be settled, for the open air is good for broadening his mind.

Nevertheless, everything depends on the situation—if he can be comfortable in the sukkah, he should study in the sukkah.

If he needs to study from many books: If it is possible for him to prepare a place for them in his sukkah so that he will not need to remove them for eating and sleeping and then bring them back for learning, he should study in the sukkah.

But if it is not possible for him to prepare a place for them easily without great trouble, and it would be a great bother to remove and return them, he may study outside the sukkah.

For any excessive trouble that a person would not endure, and would avoid in order to remain settled in his house, he is not obligated to endure in order to remain settled in his sukkah.

5. One who is praying—if he can be comfortable in the sukkah and pray there with concentration—should enter the sukkah and pray there, for during the rest of the year, when he does not pray in shul, he enters his house to pray.

When does this apply? In a place where there is no shul or it is not possible for him to go to shul. But if he can go to shul, he should go, and does not need to pray in the sukkah.

6. One who recites Havdalah over a cup should enter the sukkah to recite it there, for during the rest of the year he enters his house to recite Havdalah there.

7. One may eat a casual meal outside the sukkah. But it is forbidden to sleep, even a casual sleep, outside the sukkah, because with sleep there is no distinction between casual and fixed—sometimes a person dozes only a little, and that suffices, so this is considered his fixed sleep, for which he is obligated to enter the sukkah.

8. In cold places, where it is distressing to sleep in the sukkah because of the cold, and he does not have proper pillows and blankets, he does not need to sleep in the sukkah.

Even if he has bedding, but it is not possible for him to prepare a place for it in the sukkah for all seven days of the festival, so that he would need to go to the trouble of removing it from the sukkah for eating and bringing it back for sleeping, and this is a great bother, and he would be so troubled by this that if he had such trouble sleeping in his house, he would not sleep in his house—he does not need to sleep in the sukkah. For anyone who is distressed by dwelling in the sukkah is exempt from dwelling in it, as will be explained in siman 640.

9. Nowadays, people are lenient regarding sleeping—that only those who are meticulous in mitzvos sleep in the sukkah.

Some have justified those who are married, since a man is obligated to bring joy to his wife on the festival, and women are exempt from sukkah—so if he does not wish to separate from his wife, this is considered a mitzvah matter, and one engaged in a mitzvah is exempt from another mitzvah, as will be explained in siman 640. Therefore, he is exempt from sleeping in the sukkah at night.

Even if his wife is not ritually pure, nevertheless, there is still joy when a husband is secluded with his wife in the same room, as explained.

Nevertheless, it is good to be stringent and have a separate sukkah where he can sleep with his wife and fulfill both mitzvos.

10. One who marries a virgin two or three days before the festival, so that his seven days of celebration extend into the festival (for during the festival itself, one does not marry, as explained in siman 546)—in earlier times, the custom was that throughout the seven days of celebration, the groom and bride would be secluded in a special room, and no one would enter except when they wished to bring them joy and eat and drink with them. This room was called the chuppah.

The chassan, the shushvinin, and all those who are part of the wedding party—that is, those who eat with the chassan—are exempt from the sukkah for all seven days of the wedding celebration. They are permitted to eat, drink, and rejoice outside the sukkah, meaning in the room called the chuppah, because it is not possible to rejoice properly inside the sukkah. The main joy is only in the chuppah, which is the primary place where the chassan and kallah stay, meaning the place where they are together in seclusion.

And it is not possible to make the main dwelling of the chassan and kallah inside the sukkah, because every sukkah has only three walls and is open on the fourth side, and the chassan would be embarrassed to play with his kallah there.

Therefore, now that it is customary to make four walls for the sukkah—even the chassan is obligated in the sukkah.

11. As already stated, it is permitted to eat a casual meal outside the sukkah.

How much is considered a casual meal? The volume of a k’beitzah (an egg’s volume), for it is normal for a person to taste once a mouthful outside his home. A mouthful is the size of a k’beitzah, since the gullet does not hold more than a k’beitzah.

This applies to bread made from the five species of grain, or a cooked dish made from the five species. But for other types of food, and certainly for fruits—even if one eats a lot of them, and even if one establishes his meal upon them—it is permitted to eat them outside the sukkah, because establishing a meal on these types is considered only like a casual eating of bread.

12. It is permitted to drink all beverages outside the sukkah, even wine, and even if one drinks more than a revi’is.

Anyone who is stringent with himself not to drink even water outside the sukkah is praiseworthy.

This applies when one drinks in a casual manner. But if one establishes himself to drink wine or other beverages that people commonly establish to drink, such as mead and beer, in these countries where it is customary to establish drinking on them without a meal—one must enter the sukkah.

However, one does not need to recite the blessing “leishev basukkah,” because drinking is secondary to eating, and the blessing “leishev basukkah” that was recited over the morning meal covers the drinking for the entire day.

Similarly, it covers sleeping and strolling in the sukkah for the entire day—there is no need to recite a blessing over them. Even if one left the sukkah after eating and there was a long interruption between the eating and the drinking, sleeping, or strolling, nevertheless, since all these are drawn after and secondary to eating, which is the main mitzvah of dwelling in the sukkah, the blessing over eating covers them.

Even if one drinks, sleeps, or strolls before eating, there is no need to recite the blessing, because they are secondary to the eating that will follow.

13. If one was established for drinking in the sukkah and then decided to eat—even though there was no need to recite “leishev basukkah” over the drinking, since the blessing over the eating that follows covers it—nevertheless, one must recite “leishev basukkah” over this later eating, because this eating is not secondary to the first eating, but is significant in its own right.

This applies when one left the sukkah between the end of the first eating and the start of the later eating, and stayed outside the sukkah and did not return immediately, but only after an hour or two. Or even if he returned immediately, but at the time he left the sukkah, he intended to stay outside for a long time and not to return immediately—in such a case, the blessing recited over the first eating does not cover the later eating, since there was a complete interruption with the intention not to return immediately.

But if there was not a complete interruption with the intention not to return immediately, there is no need to recite a blessing over the later eating.

Even if one is in the sukkah all seven days, if he did not leave it with a complete interruption and the intention not to return immediately, he only needs to recite “leishev basukkah” the first time he enters the sukkah.

14. All this applies when one enters the same sukkah in which he recited the blessing over the first eating. But if one enters a different sukkah, even if it is in the same courtyard and adjacent to the sukkah where he recited the first blessing—when he wishes to eat in this sukkah something that is forbidden to eat outside the sukkah—he must recite “leishev basukkah” again.

Even if it is in a case where there is no need to recite a blessing of enjoyment over this eating, such as when he is in the middle of his meal that he began in the sukkah where he recited the blessing, and he pauses his meal and goes to eat in another sukkah—he must recite the blessing again.

15. Even if one does not wish to eat in this sukkah, but only enters it to sleep or stroll, he must recite “leishev basukkah,” because the sleeping and strolling in this sukkah are not covered by the blessing recited in another sukkah.

But if he enters it to eat foods that are permitted to be eaten outside the sukkah, there is no need to recite the blessing.

If he wishes to establish himself there to drink wine or other beverages that people commonly establish to drink, he is required by law to recite the blessing, since it is forbidden to drink them outside the sukkah.

Nevertheless, since there are those who are uncertain about this blessing, it is proper not to establish oneself for drinking except in the sukkah where one ate that day and recited “leishev basukkah.”

16. If one forgot to recite “leishev basukkah” until after he finished his meal, he should recite the blessing after his meal. Even though all mitzvos should be recited before performing them, nevertheless, the sitting in the sukkah after the meal is also included in the mitzvah, so he is reciting the blessing before performing the mitzvah.

17. There is no set number of meals required in the sukkah; if one wishes, he may eat in the sukkah, and if he wishes, he may eat only foods that are permitted to be eaten outside the sukkah. The mitzvah is only that if one eats, he should not eat outside the sukkah.

This applies during Chol Hamoed. But on Yom Tov, and on Shabbos that falls during the festival, when one is obligated to eat bread more than a k’beitzah, as explained in siman 274, one must eat in the sukkah.

If it rains, one enters the house, as will be explained.

When does the above apply? From the first night of the festival and onward. But on the first night of the festival, that is, the night of the 15th of Tishrei, one must eat in the sukkah even when it is raining.

And even though he is distressed because of the rain, and anyone who is distressed is exempt from the sukkah, nevertheless, on the first night, one is obligated to eat in the sukkah.

This is because we learn by a gezeirah shavah from the festival of Matzos. It says here, "On the festival of Sukkos, on the fifteenth day of the month," and it says there, "On the festival of Matzos, on the fifteenth day of the month." Just as on the fifteenth mentioned there, on the first night there is an obligation to eat a kezayis of matzah, as explained in siman 475, so too, on the fifteenth mentioned here, there is an obligation to eat in the sukkah.

And by eating a kezayis in the sukkah, one fulfills his obligation, just as one fulfills it by eating a kezayis of matzah. However, one is still obligated to eat more bread in the house, for at every Yom Tov meal it is obligatory to eat more than a kebeitzah of bread. But in the sukkah, when it is raining, there is no obligation to eat more than a kezayis, just as with eating matzah.

And even when it is not raining: if he wishes to eat a kezayis in the sukkah and a precise kebeitzah in the house, he is permitted to do so.

However, one who is stringent and eats the entire meal in the sukkah when it is not raining is praiseworthy, as explained above.

18. When one eats in the sukkah while it is raining, he must also recite Kiddush over the wine in the sukkah, for Kiddush must be in the place of the meal. He should recite the blessing "leishev basukkah" before "shehechiyanu," just as if it were not raining.

19. There are those who disagree with all of this and say that for all Shabbos and Yom Tov meals, one is only required to eat a kezayis of bread. Therefore, on Yom Tov and Shabbos during the festival, if one wishes to eat only a kezayis and eat it outside the sukkah, he is permitted to do so.

And this, too, we learn by a gezeirah shavah from the festival of Matzos—that there is an obligation to eat in the sukkah on the first night. But we do not learn from this gezeirah shavah that there is an obligation to eat even when it is raining, for since he is distressed because of the rain, he is exempt from the sukkah even on the first night.

And even though the primary halachah follows the first opinion in all of this, nevertheless, on the second night of Yom Tov in the Diaspora, since it is only a custom, for we are now expert in the fixing of the month, one may rely on the latter opinion and is not required to eat in the sukkah when it is raining.

And one who wishes to be stringent with himself also on the second night, following the first opinion, does not need to recite Kiddush in the sukkah; rather, he should recite Kiddush and eat his entire meal in the house, and after the meal, enter the sukkah and eat a kezayis there, but he should not recite the blessing "leishev basukkah."

20. And since the eating on the first night is learned by a gezeirah shavah from eating matzah, it must be similar to it in every respect. That is, one should not eat on the eve of Yom Tov from minchah and onward, so that he will eat in the sukkah with an appetite. And he should not eat in the sukkah until after nightfall, and he should be careful to eat before midnight—all as with eating matzah, as explained in the laws of Pesach.

21. From when is it permitted to leave the sukkah because of rain during the other meals of the festival, aside from the first night?

From the time that so many drops fall into the sukkah that if they were to fall into a dish of beans, which is quick to spoil with even a small amount of water, the dish would spoil—then one may leave the sukkah, even if he does not have such a dish in the sukkah.

And one who is not expert in this measure should estimate: if so much rain were falling in the house, would he leave the house? If so, he may also leave the sukkah.

22. All this applies to eating. But regarding sleeping, one does not need to estimate whether the dish would spoil, for even a small amount of rain causes discomfort when sleeping there, and he may leave the sukkah, for anyone who is distressed is exempt from the sukkah.

And just as it is permitted to leave the sukkah because of rain, so too it is permitted to leave because of heat or because of mosquitoes, even if the person is not personally distressed, but the food would spoil because of it.

Similarly, if the weather is cold and fatty foods congeal in the sukkah, one may eat his entire meal in the house.

23. Anyone who is exempt from sitting in the sukkah and does not leave the sukkah does not receive reward for that sitting, and is considered among the unlearned.

24. One who leaves the sukkah because of rain should not stomp out, but should leave with humility, like a servant who comes to pour a cup for his master and his master pours it back in his face, as if to say: I do not desire your service.

25. If one was eating in the sukkah and it began to rain and he went into the house to finish his meal, and after he sat down to eat the rain stopped, he is not required to return to the sukkah to finish his meal, but may finish his meal in his house.

26. If one was sleeping in the sukkah and it began to rain and he went into the house to finish his sleep, and before he lay down the rain stopped, he must return to the sukkah.

But if he already lay down in the house and then the rain stopped, he does not need to return to the sukkah, but may sleep in his house for the rest of the night.

And even if he wakes from his sleep before dawn, he is not required to return to the sukkah to finish his sleep there, but is permitted to finish his sleep in his house.

And even if dawn has already broken and he is still sleeping in the house, he does not need to be woken from his sleep, but is left to sleep until he wakes up on his own.

But if he wakes up after dawn and wishes to go back to sleep, he must go to the sukkah and sleep there, since dawn has already broken.