Sukkah, Daf Kaf Het, Part 5
Introduction
Today’s section deals with the obligation of a minor to sleep in the sukkah.
אמר מר: כל – לרבות את הקטנים. והתנן: נשים ועבדים וקטנים פטורין מן הסוכה! – לא קשיא: כאן – בקטן שהגיע לחינוך, כאן – בקטן שלא הגיע לחינוך. –
The master said, [The word] "every" comes to include minors.
But have we not learned: women, slaves and minors are exempt from the sukkah?
There is no difficulty. One source refers to a minor who has reached the age of education, and one source refers to where he has not yet reached the age of being trained.
Above we saw a baraita (a tannaitic source not from the Mishnah) which used the word "every" as in "every homeborn" to teach that even minors are obligated to dwell in the sukkah. This is a direct contradiction to the mishnah which exempts minors from dwelling in the sukkah.
The Talmud resolves the difficulty by saying that the first baraita refers to a minor who is old enough to be educated. Such a minor must dwell in the Sukkah. Below we shall see the definition of this age.
A minor who is too young to be educated is not obligated at all to sit in the sukkah.
קטן שהגיע לחינוך מדרבנן הוא!
מדרבנן, וקרא אסמכתא בעלמא הוא.
But is not the obligation of a minor who has reached the age of being trained a derabanan (from the rabbis) commandment?
It is indeed of rabbinical originan, the Scriptural verse was merely a support.
Above, the baraita used the word "every" to include a minor in the obligation for sukkah. This implies that the Torah mandates minors to dwell in the sukkah. But there is a principle that until the age of bar mitzvah, children are never obligated to observe the commandments. The Talmud resolves that the verse is just a support the source of the ruling is rabbinic.
קטן שאינו צריך לאמו כו’ היכי דמי קטן שאינו צריך לאמו?
אמרי דבי רבי ינאי: כל שנפנה ואין אמו מקנחתו, רבי שמעון בן לקיש אומר: כל שנעור משנתו ואינו קורא אמא.
גדולים נמי קרו!
אלא אימא: כל שנעור ואינו קורא אמא אמא.
A minor who is not dependent on his mother etc.
What is meant by a minor who is not dependent on his mother?
The school of R. Yannai said, Any child who when he relieves himself, his mother does not need to clean him.
Rabbi Shimon b. Lakish said: He who wakes up and does not call his mother.
But do not older ones also call their mother?
Rather he who awakes from his sleep and does not call "Mother! Mother."
There are two definitions for a child who does not need his mother any more, two definitions that I think are still applicable today. The first is that the child can relieve himself without help. As a father of four, I can safely say that passing this hurdle remains one of the signposts of having reached maturity.
The second is that when the child wakes up, he doesn’t call "Mommy, mommy" until she rescues him from his bed. A child that wakes up and calls "Mommy" once is already somewhat independent.
We should note also that both of these are related to the sukkah. Women were exempt from the sukkah, so a child sleeping in the sukkah would be without his mother. He would also have to be responsible for taking care of his own needs. A child who still needs to be wiped and can’t make it through the night without his mother would be better off sleeping in the house.
מעשה וילדה כלתו כו’. מעשה לסתור? – חסורי מחסרא והכי קתני: ושמאי מחמיר, ומעשה נמי וילדה כלתו של שמאי הזקן ופחת את המעזיבה וסיכך על המטה בשביל הקטן.
It once happened that the daughter-in-law of [Shammai gave birth to a child and he opened up the plaster of the roof and put skhakh above the child].
Did the mishnah cite the incident in order to contradict [the previous halakhah]?
There is something missing, and thus it should be taught: But Shammai is strict, and [indeed] it once happened that the daughter-in-law of Shammai the elder gave birth to a child and he opened up the plaster of the roof, and put skhakh over the bed for the child.
In the mishnah it looks like Shammai just disagrees with the other sages. He holds that even new-born infants are liable to sleep in the sukkah, so when his daughter-in-law gives birth, he opens up a sukkah over her bed.
However, the Talmud at times wants to harmonize variant opinions. It is bothered by the fact there is a story that disagrees with the opinion preceding it. The Talmud resolves this by saying that Shammai doesn’t disagree on principle he agrees that a new-born need not sleep in the sukkah. He just rules strictly.