Sukkah, Daf Kaf Vav, Part 1
Introduction
Daf Kaf Vav continues to discuss those who are exempt from performing one mitzvah because they are occupied with another mitzvah.
תנו רבנן: חתן והשושבינין וכל בני חופה פטורין מן התפילה ומן התפילין, וחייבין בקריאת שמע. תלמוד משום רבי שילא אמרו: חתן פטור, והשושבינין וכל בני החופה חייבין.
Our rabbis taught: The bridegroom, and the groomsmen and all the wedding guests are exempt from prayer and tefllin, but are obligated to read the Shema. In the name of R. Shila they said: The bridegroom is exempt, but the groomsmen and the wedding guests are liable.
This baraita deals with the ritual prayer obligations of those involved in the wedding party. These people are exempt from prayer (the Amidah) because prayer requires a lot of intention kavanah, and it is difficult for people celebrating to have the proper intention for prayer. They are exempt from tefillin because people may be getting drunk and one should not wear tefillin when drunk. We should note that in talmudic times people probably wore tefillin all day long. It was only in a later period when the norm began to be to wear them only during prayer. But they are obligated to recite the Shema, because the Shema is shorter and requires less kavanah (intention). Also, the Shema is a biblical passage that is probably easier to remember than the Amidah which had not yet been written down and whose precise wording had not yet been fully determined.
R. Shila says that the bridegroom is exempt from the Shema because he is worried about his wedding. But the other members of the wedding party are obligated because they are not so worried.
We should note that this baraita disagrees with the principle we learned above, that anyone occupied with the performance of a commandment is exempt from performing another commandment.
תניא, אמר רבי חנניא בן עקביא: כותבי ספרים תפילין ומזוזות, הן ותגריהן ותגרי תגריהן, וכל העוסקין במלאכת שמים, לאתויי מוכרי תכלת – פטורין מקריאת שמע, ומן התפילה, ומן התפילין, ומכל מצות האמורות בתורה, לקיים דברי רבי יוסי הגלילי. שהיה רבי יוסי הגלילי אומר: העוסק במצוה פטור מן המצוה.
It has been taught: R. Hanania b. Akavya said: Scribes writing [Torah] scrolls, tefillin and mezuzot, their agents and their agents agents, and all who are engaged in holy work including sellers of blue [for tzitzit] are exempt from the obligation of prayer and tefillin and all the commandments mentioned in the Torah, to confirm the words of R. Yose the Galilean, for R. Yose the Galilean used to say: He who is occupied with the performance of a mitzvah is [at that time] exempt from other mitzvot.
This baraita is even more expansive in who is exempt from performing any mitzvah because they are occupied in the performance of another mitzvah. Even people who are preparing objects to be used in the performance of a mitzvah, scribes and sellers of religious objects, are exempt from performing another mitzvah at the same time.
In my opinion these statements should be understood more as value statements than as halakhic prescriptions. What I mean is that when one is doing something important, performing one mitzvah, s/he shouldn’t turn away from that mitzvah in order to do something better. One should stay involved in the mitzvah that one is already performing. In reality, scribes and sellers can do both, and throughout history, to this day, that is what people do. I have been to many evening weddings in which we stop to daven maariv. But still, the principle remains true, and personally I think that there are some important life lessons here. One shouldn’t always be chasing after the "better" thing to do. One should be satisfied with the importance of the here and now.
תנו רבנן: הולכי דרכים ביום – פטורין מן הסוכה ביום, וחייבין בלילה. הולכי דרכים בלילה – פטורין מן הסוכה בלילה, וחייבין ביום. הולכי דרכים ביום ובלילה – פטורין מן הסוכה בין ביום ובין בלילה. הולכין לדבר מצוה – פטורין בין ביום ובין בלילה.
Our rabbis taught: Day travelers are exempt from the sukkah during day but are obligated at night. Night travelers are exempt from the sukkah at night, but are obligated during the day. Travelers by day and night are exempt both day and night. Those who are going to perform a mitzvah are exempt both by day and by night.
This baraita deals with the difficulty travelers have in performing the mitzvah of dwelling in the sukkah. Those who are traveling are exempt from the mitzvah, but only while they are actually traveling. When they are resting, they are obligated to sleep and eat in a sukkah. However, one who is on his way to perform a mitzvah is exempt even when he is not traveling. Again, I read this as a value statement. Traveling for work or pleasure is important and one is allowed to do so during hol hamoed, but it only takes priority when one is actually traveling. Traveling in order to perform a mitzvah is of greater significance and therefore one is exempt even during the time of day he is not traveling.
כי הא דרב חסדא ורבה בר רב הונא, כי הוו עיילי בשבתא דרגלא לבי ריש גלותא – הוו גנו ארקתא דסורא. אמרי: אנן שלוחי מצוה אנן, ופטורין.
As in the case of R. Hisda and Rabbah son of R. Huna who, when they went up to the house of the Exilarch on the Shabbat of the Festival, slept on the river bank of Sura, saying, We are messengers engaged on a mitzvah and are exempt.
R. Hisda and Rabbah son of R. Huna go to visit the exilarch (the political leader in talmudic Babylonia) on the Shabbat of Sukkot. While they probably could have just as easily slept in the sukkah of the exilarch, they do not do so, choosing to camp out on the banks of the river. They do so to teach that one who is in the process of performing a mitzvah is exempt from simultaneously performing another mitzvah. In this case, the mitzvah that they are performing is to greet their rabbi on the festival, something we see many rabbis doing in the Talmud.