Sitting in the Sukkah
[1] (halacha 98)
Question: Does one who drinks wine need to drink it in the sukkah?
Answer: The Alter Rebbe wrote1 that by the strict halacha one who drinks wine incidentally is not obligated to drink it in the sukkah (however, by minhag we do not drink anything outside the sukkah2), but if one establishes the drinking of the wine as a fixed setting he must drink it in the sukkah.
Question: When one drinks a revi'is of wine as a fixed setting, must one recite Leishev BaSukkah?
Answer: a. A person who drinks wine in the sukkah in which he recites Leishev BaSukkah during the day over his eating, does not recite Leishev BaSukkah over the wine he drinks, since the wine is exempted by the bracha of the eating, just as sleeping and strolling in the sukkah are exempted by the bracha of the eating3.
Except for Kiddush and Havdalah, where our minhag is to recite Leishev BaSukkah [unless one makes Havdalah not on wine but on beer (or other chamar medinah), in which case one does not recite it]4.
b. But if one enters a different sukkah in which he does not intend to eat bread or mezonos in the amount of a kebeitzah, but only wishes to drink wine there in a fixed setting, the poskim disagree as to whether one must recite Leishev BaSukkah, since it is forbidden for him to drink this outside the sukkah; but some cast doubt on this bracha, and in their view there is no fixed setting with wine and therefore one should not recite a bracha over it.
c. The ruling of the Alter Rebbe5 is that since this is a dispute among the poskim it is proper that a person not put himself into this situation and not establish himself for the drinking of wine, in order to avoid a question regarding the bracha.
d. However, in a case where a person drinks the revi'is of wine in a different sukkah together with friends as a form of recreation — which is called strolling in the sukkah, such as when they sit for a farbrengen (and there are no mezonos) — then he must recite Leishev BaSukkah over the wine on account of the law of strolling in the sukkah, for according to the opinion of the Alter Rebbe6 one must recite a bracha over strolling. (And note from the responsa Vaya'an Yosef7, who noted that one must examine what is the measure of the fixed setting of sitting in the sukkah with respect to the bracha over strolling; but in this matter one should add what was written on the proofread page for the Sefer HaMinhagim8 from the sicha of the Rebbe Rayatz on the first day of the festival of Sukkos 5699, that: 'also over drinking a cup of a revi'is of wine in the sukkah one recites Leishev BaSukkah, because the wine creates a fixed setting'. And one should recite the bracha at least on account of strolling, as above).
Notes:
1 סי' תרלט סי"ב ↩
2 שוע"ר שם, ספר המנהגים ע' 67 ↩
3 שוע"ר שם ↩
4 ספר המנהגים, אוצר מנהגי חב"ד ע' שח, שכד ↩
5 שוע"ר שם סט"ו ↩
6 שם ↩
7 או"ח סי' שעד ↩
8 התפרסם בתשורה לחתונת קארפ - ענגעל מח' תמוז תש"פ, אך לפועל לא נדפס ↩
[2] (halacha 99)
Question: When does one fulfill the mitzvah of dwelling in the sukkah?
Answer: The Alter Rebbe wrote1: 'What is the mitzvah of dwelling in the sukkah? That one should eat and drink and sleep and stroll and reside in the sukkah all seven days, both by day and by night, in the manner that he resides in his home the rest of the days of the year; and if he needs to converse with his fellow, he should converse with him in the sukkah. The general rule of the matter: one should always regard his sukkah as if it were his home, and anything that he would not do outside his home — he should not do outside his sukkah'.
And further on in his words2 he wrote: 'Indeed, even the sitting that one sits in the sukkah after the seudah is also included in the mitzvah'.
And he further wrote3: '.. that every single moment that he sits in the sukkah .. he fulfills a mitzvah of the Holy One, blessed be He'.
And so it is brought regarding the conduct of our Rebbeim, the Nesi'im, who would dwell at length in the sukkah4.
If so, every moment that we are present in the sukkah we fulfill the mitzvah of "BaSukkos teishvu shivas yamim" (You shall dwell in sukkos for seven days)!
It is important to know that there are poskim who hold5 that not only is there a mitzvah at every moment, but it is also an obligation upon us to be present in the sukkah and to fulfill this mitzvah, and if not, this is a nullification of a positive mitzvah; therefore it is proper to make an effort to be present in the sukkah as much as possible [aside from situations where, according to the Shulchan Aruch or according to our minhag, we are not required to be in the sukkah].
Question: What should we have in mind when sitting in the sukkah?
Answer: The poskim disagree as to what intention one must have in the sukkah, since the Tur in siman 625 mentioned a. that Scripture made the mitzvah of sukkah dependent on the Exodus from Egypt, and that He surrounded us with His Clouds of Glory and commanded us to make sukkos so that we should remember His wonders and His awesome deeds. And the poskim disagree as to what the intention is in practice: some wrote6 that one must intend that the sukkah is a remembrance of the miracle that Hashem surrounded us with the Clouds of Glory, and some wrote7 to intend only a remembrance of the Exodus from Egypt. And some wrote8 that it is proper to intend both intentions.
And in practice we have only the ruling of the Alter Rebbe9: 'And therefore every person must have in mind, in his sitting in the sukkah, that he sits in it in order to fulfill the mitzvah of the Holy One, blessed be He, who commanded us to dwell in the sukkah as a remembrance of the Exodus from Egypt'.
Notes:
1 בסי' תרלט ס"ד ↩
2 סט"ז ↩
3 סי' תקצב ס"ז ↩
4 ליובאוויטש וחייליה ע' 31. ס' השיחות תרצ"ט ע' 295. ס' השיחות תש"ה ע' 35. מעשה מלך ע' 287. בקודש פנימה ע' 22 ↩
5 נסמנו בפסקי תשובות סי' תרלט אות א הערה 2 ↩
6 ס' בית השואבה ריש הל' סוכה אות ב. כף החיים סי' תרכה אות ב בשיטת המחבר ↩
7 ב"ח. מגן אברהם סי' תרכה ↩
8 פרי מגדים שם באשל אברהם ומשבצות זהב ↩
9 סי' תרכה, וכפי שביאר הרבי בלקו"ש חל"ב ע' 146 ↩
[3] (halacha 100)
Question: Must tefillah and Torah study take place in the sukkah?
Answer: a. Tefillah - The Alter Rebbe wrote1 that by the strict halacha, from the standpoint of the laws of dwelling in the sukkah, one who davens — if he has tranquility in the sukkah such that he can daven there with kavanah — must enter the sukkah and daven, for during the rest of the days of the year, when he does not daven in shul, he enters his home and davens. In what case is this said? In a place where there is no shul, or where it is impossible for him to go to a shul; but if it is possible for him to go to a shul, he should go, and he need not daven in the sukkah'.
Therefore in practice 1) it is always preferable to daven in shul2. 2) However, in a case where one cannot daven in shul, such as due to illness or the like, he should daven in the sukkah. 3) Unless he cannot daven there with kavanah, in which case he is permitted to daven at home.
b. Torah - The Alter Rebbe wrote3: 'All seven days one must read and study inside the sukkah (unless he reads and studies in the beis midrash).
And if he understands and is exacting when he studies [i.e., studies in depth], he may study outside the sukkah so that his mind should be settled upon him, for the spaciousness of the air is good for him to broaden his mind.
And in any case, it all depends on the matter, for if he has tranquility in the sukkah, he must study in the sukkah.
And if he needs to study from many books, if it is possible for him to prepare a place for them in his sukkah in a manner that he will not need to clear them out of his sukkah at the time of eating and sleeping and then bring them back in at the time of study, he must study inside the sukkah; but if it is impossible for him to prepare a place for them easily without great trouble, and he has great trouble to clear them out and then bring them back in, he may study outside the sukkah, for any excessive trouble that a person, in order not to be troubled, refrains from this trouble in order to sit in his home in a fixed manner — he is not obligated to trouble himself in order to sit in his sukkah in a fixed manner'.
And so it is brought in several places, the conduct of our Rebbeim, the Nesi'im, to study for many hours in the sukkah4. And regarding the Rebbe Maharash it is brought that he had in the sukkah all the books of study5.
In practice: 1) Lechatchilah it is always preferable to study in the beis midrash6. 2) When one does not study in the beis midrash he should study in the sukkah. 3) But in a case where studying in the sukkah harms the quality of the study, such as when he wishes to study in depth and for this he needs space and air or the like; or in a case where he needs many books for the purpose of the study and his sukkah is small and he has no possibility to leave the books in the sukkah all the time and would need to trouble himself to take them out and bring them in, he is not required to trouble himself and may study outside the sukkah.
Notes:
1 סי' תרלט ס"ה ↩
2 ראה גם בסי' צ ס"י ↩
3 סי' תרלט ס"ד ↩
4 ס' השיחות תרצ"ט ע' 295. מעשה מלך ע' 288 ו292 ↩
5 לקו"ד ליקוט לג, אות יד ↩
6 ראה גם הלכות תלמוד תורה פ"ד ה"י ↩
[4] (halacha 101)
Question: We entered to eat bread in the sukkah, or mezonos more than a kebeitzah, and we forgot to recite Leishev BaSukkah — what is the halacha?
Answer: The Alter Rebbe wrote1: 'If he forgot to recite Leishev BaSukkah until he finished his seudah, he should recite it after his seudah. And even though all mitzvos one must recite a bracha over them prior to their performance [i.e., the bracha must be before the performance of the mitzvah] — nevertheless, even the sitting that one sits in the sukkah after the seudah is also included in the mitzvah, and if so, he is indeed reciting the bracha before the performance of the mitzvah'.
Therefore in practice, in a case where we forgot to recite Leishev BaSukkah, as long as we have not gone outside the sukkah we must recite it.
Question: We arrived at a sukkah that has no chairs to sit on and we were forced to eat standing, can we recite Leishev BaSukkah (to sit in the sukkah)?
Answer: The Bach wrote2 that this matter depends on a dispute of the Rishonim as to how to understand the bracha of Leishev in the sukkah, for according to the opinion of the Rambam3 the mitzvah is specifically to sit, and therefore the Rambam wrote that one recites the bracha and sits down, and thus the bracha is prior to its performance; however, according to the opinion of the Rosh4, Leishev means to tarry, as it is written 'וַתֵּשְׁבוּ בְקָדֵשׁ יָמִים רַבִּים' (And you tarried in Kadesh many days), and the bracha is over the very tarrying in the sukkah, and consequently one can recite the bracha even when eating standing.
And in practice the Bach rules that the main view is like the opinion of the Rambam, and the Pri Megadim brought it5, and on this basis the Mishnah Berurah wrote6 that one is compelled to sit and recite the bracha.
However, from the words of the Taz7 it appears that he understood in the view of the Rambam that one need not specifically sit, and even according to the Rambam the bracha is over the tarrying, and consequently one can recite the bracha while standing.
And when one examines the words of the Alter Rebbe8 it also appears that the main view is that one can recite the bracha even when eating standing, since the Alter Rebbe explains why one can recite the bracha while sitting and not before sitting down: although the content of the bracha is over the mitzvah of sitting — tarrying in the sukkah — yet the main mitzvah over which we recite the bracha is over the eating, and the main point is that the bracha be before the eating, and through this the matter of "prior to its performance" is fulfilled; consequently, according to this, the moment a person eats in the sukkah we have the main mitzvah over which the bracha is recited, and from his eating it is also evident that he is now tarrying in the sukkah (and not like a person who merely stands in the sukkah without eating, where it is not evident that he is tarrying)9.
And therefore in practice, even a person who eats standing in the sukkah recites Leishev BaSukkah.
Notes:
1 סי' תרלט סט"ז ↩
2 סי' תרמג ↩
3 הלכות סוכה פ"ו הי"ב ↩
4 סוכה פ"ד סי' ג ↩
5 סי' תרמג משבצות זהב ס"ק ב ↩
6 שער הציון שם סק"ד ↩
7 סי' תרמג ס"ק ב. סי' תרמג ס"ב ↩
8 ראה גם הערות וביאורים גליון א'עז. ובשוע"ר מהדורת הרא"א הערה יג ↩
[5] (halacha 102)
Question: Is it permitted to dismantle the sukkah on Hoshana Rabbah?
Answer: The Mechaber wrote in the Shulchan Aruch1: 'Even though one finished eating on the seventh day in the morning, he should not dismantle his sukkah, but he may take the vessels out of it from Mincha and onward, and he prepares the house in honor of the final Yom Tov'.
The reason we do not dismantle the sukkah on the seventh day until its end, Rashi2 wrote, since the entire day is the obligation of the sukkah, and if he wishes to rest or to study or to eat he must eat in the sukkah, and therefore we do not dismantle the sukkah on the seventh day. An additional reason is brought in the Ran3, that since the Torah said "BaSukkos teishvu shivas yamim" (You shall dwell in sukkos for seven days), therefore a person must have a sukkah throughout all seven days.
[Additional problems that could exist in dismantling the sukkah during Chol HaMoed: a. Excessive trouble. b. The nullification of the sanctity that is in the sukkah throughout the seven days, explained in siman 638, and we will discuss this on another occasion be'ezras Hashem4].
However, since one must prepare for the festival of Shemini Atzeres and get organized in the house, therefore he is permitted to take out of the sukkah the vessels that are there from the time of Mincha Ketanah5, for then the matter is evident that he is doing this in honor of the Yom Tov6.
Therefore in practice we do not dismantle the sukkah on Hoshana Rabbah, and from the time of Mincha Ketanah one may begin to clear the vessels into the house in honor of the festival seudos.
Question: Is it permitted to continue dining in the sukkah in Eretz Yisrael on Shemini Atzeres?
Answer: The Mechaber wrote there: 'And if he has no way to clear out his vessels and wishes to eat in it on the eighth day, he must reduce in it a space of four by four to make a recognizable distinction that he sits in it not for the sake of the mitzvah of sukkah, so that he should not appear as one who adds'.
That is to say, so that it should not appear as if he is adding [the claim] that even on Shemini Atzeres one must sit in the sukkah, therefore one makes an important recognizable distinction by removing s'chach in the size of four by four tefachim (30 square cm), which is the measure of an important space7; and behold, some wrote8 that it is sufficient to make a recognizable distinction and the sukkah need not become invalid because of this, but according to the opinion of several of the poskim9 the sukkah must also become invalid in addition to the recognizable distinction.
And therefore in practice, one who uses the sukkah in Eretz Yisrael on Shemini Atzeres must also make a recognizable distinction by removing the s'chach and ensure that the sukkah is invalid (in the case where it is a large sukkah where removing the s'chach does not invalidate the sukkah).
Question: Instead of removing s'chach, can one place invalid s'chach of this size on the sukkah?
Answer: Indeed, in the sefer Bigdei Yesha it is written that it is effective, but the Bikkurei Yaakov10 wrote that it is not effective, since it is not as recognizable as the opening created by removing the s'chach, and therefore in practice one should not rely on invalid s'chach but should remove s'chach; however, a sukkah that has a retractable roof — it is sufficient to close it11.
Notes:
1 סי' תרסו ס"א ↩
2 סוכה מח, א ↩
3 על הריף דף כא, א ↩
4 וראה בשו"ת שואל ומשיב מהדורא רביעאה חלק ג' סימן כח. שו"ת ציץ אליעזר חי"ג סי' סח. שו"ת להורות נתן ח"ז סי' מז ↩
5 משנ"ב ס"ק ב ↩
6 משבצות זהב ס"ק א ↩
7 ר"ן שם, מג"א ס"ק א. ברכ"י אות א ↩
8 משנ"ב ס"ק ד ושער הציון ס"ב בשם הריטב"א ↩
9 ברכ"י שם שכן דעת הר"ן ורש"י. ביכורי יעקב ס"ק ד שכן דעת הרמב"ם והכלבו. ערוך השלחן ס"ב ↩
10 אות ה, והסכים איתו הבן איש חי שנה ראשונה פרשת ברכה אות טז ↩
11 נטעי גבריאל פרק פא דין ד ↩
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