Sukkah, Daf Kaf Tet, Part 2

 

Introduction

Today’s section continues to deal with rain coming down while one is eating or sleeping in the sukkah.

 

תנו רבנן: היה אוכל בסוכה וירדו גשמים וירד – אין מטריחין אותו לעלות עד שיגמור סעודתו. היה ישן תחת הסוכה וירדו גשמים וירד – אין מטריחין אותו לעלות עד שיאור. –

 

Our rabbis taught, If he was eating in the sukkah, and rain fell, and he went down from [the sukkah], they do not trouble him to return there until he has finished his meal. If he was sleeping in the sukkah and rain fell and he went down, they do need not trouble to return him until dawn.

 

Basically the principle is simple if you’re engaging in one of the main sukkah activities, eating or sleeping, and you have to leave the sukkah due to rain, you don’t have to come right back to the sukkah as soon as it stops raining. Rather, you can finish your meal inside, or finish the night’s sleep inside. Only then must you go back into the sukkah, if it’s not raining of course.

We should note that as usual the Talmud refers to leaving a sukkah as "going down." This is because their sukkot were usually on roofs.

איבעיא להו: עד שיעור, או עד שיאור? תא שמע: עד שיאור, ויעלה עמוד השחר. תרתי? אלא אימא: עד שיעור ויעלה עמוד השחר.

 

They asked them: Does it say שיעור (until he wakes up) or שיאור (until dawn)?

Come and hear: Until it gets light (שיאור) and the dawn appears.

Both? Rather say until he wakes up (שיעור) and the dawn appears.

 

The end of the baraita above said that he need not go back to the sukkah until שיאור. This word if written with an "aleph" means until it gets light outside. But if this word written with an "ayin," שיעור, then it means until he wakes up. The words sound almost the same, even though their roots are different. So the Talmud asks which is it if he wakes up and it’s still dark, does he have to go back to the sukkah? Alternatively, if it gets light and he’s still sleeping should someone wake him up and send him back to the sukkah?

The answer comes, paradoxically, from a baraita that seems to say שיאור, until it gets light outside. It would seem to mean that as soon as it’s light outside, he must go back to the sukkah. However, this baraita also says "until it is dawn." The baraita shouldn’t need to say both they are superfluous. Therefore, the Talmud reads the baraita as שיעור with an ayin. He only has to go back to the sukkah once he wakes up and it is light outside.