Q&A: The Commandment of the Sukkah
The Commandment of the Sukkah
Question
Hello Rabbi, happy holiday.
1. Does going out on a trip have the status of travelers on the road, who are exempt from the sukkah?
2. Regarding the above, what is the law if I just went to eat pizza in the nearby city—does that count as being among travelers on the road? What exactly is the definition?
3. I’m used to sleeping in complete darkness (it bothers me to sleep with light). When all the brothers sleep together, my little brother is afraid to sleep in the dark and therefore won’t let me turn the light off. Am I exempt from sleeping in the sukkah?
4. On hot days, if a person is used to sleeping with air conditioning, is he obligated to install an air conditioner in the sukkah so that he won’t suffer and become exempt? And what about someone who did not install one in advance—is he exempt in a case of heat?
Answer
1. In principle, yes. But it is proper not to completely forgo the commandment of sukkah without a good reason.
2. It doesn’t seem so to me. You are not a traveler on the road, but rather eating outside the sukkah.
3. Yes. One of the two of you is exempt.
4. He is not obligated. It’s an expensive expense. But it is proper to do what one can. A portable air conditioner or a fan.
Discussion on Answer
1. Simply speaking, yes, you would recite a blessing, because if you can sit in the sukkah, you are not exempt. True, one could discuss whether this is an essential exemption even when one can fulfill it (and apparently one could bring proof for this from the Talmud in Sukkah 10b, regarding Rav Huna and Rav Chisda, who told Rav Nachman that they were exempt even though they sat with him in the sukkah. But that can be rejected), but plainly not. Moreover, even if you are not obligated, it seems that this is no worse than a woman who recites a blessing.
3. Then you should insist too.
4. There are reasonable expenses that an ordinary person would spend (you are not required to buy another apartment in which there is a better sukkah). Like the story about Rabbi Chaim, that a yeshiva student came to ask him whether he had to travel to visit his parents by train when the fare was expensive, given that according to Jewish law we hold that one honors them from their funds and not from his own. Rabbi Chaim told him that in fact he is not obligated to travel. Let him go on foot. But the truth is that this is not correct, because walking on foot is not a reasonable demand and not the normal way to do it.
One must remember that here we are talking about escaping a situation of coercion, and not about the fulfillment of the commandment itself (as with tekhelet). When it comes to the fulfillment of the commandment itself, the rule is up to a fifth of one’s assets for a positive commandment, and all of one’s assets for a prohibition.
1. According to this, even when I eat in the sukkah, I would not recite a blessing, because in principle I am exempt. Right?
3. He is below the age of commandments, but insists on sleeping in the sukkah. Would I still be exempt in such a case?
4. If this is part of the obligation, what difference does it make to me whether it is a cheap expense or an expensive one? (Would someone for whom it is expensive to buy a tekhelet string be exempt from it?!)