Sukkah, Daf Kaf Heh, Part 1

 

Introduction

This new daf begins with a new mishnah.

 

שלוחי מצוה פטורין מן הסוכה חולין ומשמשיהן פטורין מן הסוכה אוכלין ושותין עראי חוץ לסוכה:

 

Mishnah. Those who are agents to perform a mitzvah are exempt from [the obligations of] sukkah.

Sick people and their attendants are exempt from [the obligations of] sukkah.

One may eat and drink in a casual fashion outside the sukkah.

 

People who are busy performing a mitzvah and find it difficult to eat or sleep in a sukkah are exempt from the sukkah. This is due to the general rule that one who is engaged in one mitzvah is exempt from performing another mitzvah.

People who are sick enough so that being in the sukkah would be a discomfort for them, are not obligated for the laws of the sukkah. Being in the sukkah is not supposed to be painful and therefore, one who would be pained by being in the sukkah is exempt. Note, that the mishnah is not addressed to those who might fake being sick in order to get out of sleeping or eating in the sukkah. It is addressed to those who are so zealous about keeping the commandments that they would risk injury or at least illness to do so. The rabbis tell such a person to get out of the sukkah the sukkah is not supposed to cause one pain.

Meals must be eaten in the sukkah. However, snacking may be done outside of the sukkah.

 

מנא הני מילי דתנו רבנן (דברים ו; דברים יא) בשבתך בביתך פרט לעוסק במצוה. ובלכתך בדרך פרט לחתן. מכאן אמרו הכונס את הבתולה פטור ואת האלמנה חייב.

 

GEMARA. From where do we know this?

From what our rabbis taught: "When you sit in your house" this excludes one who is occupied with a mitzvah. "And when you walk by the way" this excludes a bridegroom. From here they said: He who marries a virgin is exempt [from the obligation of reading the Shema], but [he who marries] a widow is obligated [by the obligation].

 

The Talmud now cites a baraita which provides scriptural support for why an agent on his way to perform a mitzvah is exempt from sitting in a sukkah. There is a general principle that whenever one is occupied with one mitzvah, he is exempt from performing another mitzvah. This is derived from the words from the Shema: "You shall speak about the words of Torah when you sit in your house and when you are going on the path." "Sitting in the house" implies that you don’t have to study Torah when you are engaged in another mitzvah. "Going on the path" implies that a bridegroom is exempt from the Shema. How this midrash functions will be discussed below. After the midrash, the baraita appends a halakhah that states that when a man marries a virgin he is exempt from the recitation of the Shema, but when he marries a widow (or divorcee) he is liable. Below, the Talmud will discuss why there exists such a difference.

מאי משמע?

אמר רב הונא כדרך, מה דרך רשות אף כל רשות, לאפוקי האי דבמצוה עסוק.

 

How is this inferred?

R. Huna said: It is compared to "the path" just as going on "the path" is an optional act, so too [one is obligated to recite the Shema while performing] any optional act, to exclude one who is occupied with the performance of a mitzvah.

 

The Talmud asks how we can use the words "when you are going on the path" to exclude one who is going to perform a mitzvah from being obligated to read the Shema. R. Huna answers that going on a path, meaning a trip, is not a mitzvah it is an optional act. From here we can deduce that one is obligated to recite the Shema only when one is performing an optional act, but when one is occupied with a mitzvah, he need not recite the Shema.

מי לא עסקינן דקאזיל לדבר מצוה וקא אמר רחמנא ליקרי?

אם כן לימא קרא בשבת ובלכת.

מאי בשבתך ובלכתך? בלכת דידך הוא דמיחייבת הא בלכת דמצוה פטירת.

 

But does it not refer to where one is going on a religious mitzvah [as well]? And the Torah nevertheless says to read?

If so, the verse should have said, "When sitting and when walking." Why [then does it say,] "When you sit and when you walk"? When walking for your own purpose you are obligated, but when walking to perform a mitzvah you are exempt.

 

The Talmud presses the question. How do we know that the person referred to in the Shema as "walking on the path" was going to perform an optional act? Maybe he too was going to perform a mitzvah? The answer is that R. Huna derives this from the fact that the Torah says, "When you sit" or "when you walk." The word you (expressed by the suffix kaf) implies that only when you are sitting or walking and occupied in something that is "for you" are you obligated to recite the Shema. If you are going on a religious errand, or occupied with a mitzvah, you are exempt.