Sukkah, Daf Kaf Vav, Part 3

 

Introduction

This section goes on to discuss the next clause of the Mishnah, which exempted sick people from dwelling in the sukkah.

 

 

חולים ומשמשיהם. תנו רבנן: חולה שאמרו – לא חולה שיש בו סכנה, אלא אפילו חולה שאין בו סכנה, אפילו חש בעיניו, ואפילו חש בראשו. אמר רבן שמעון בן גמליאל: פעם אחת חשתי בעיני בקיסרי, והתיר רבי יוסי בריבי לישן אני ומשמשי חוץ לסוכה.

 

Those who are sick and their attendants [are exempt from the mitzvah of the sukkah]. Our Rabbis taught, The sick one spoken of here is not [only] one who sick and is in danger, but also one who is sick but not in danger, even one who has a pain in his eye or a pain in his head. Rabban Shimon b. Gamaliel said: On one occasion I had a pain in my eye in Caesarea and R. Yose Berebi permitted me and my attendants to sleep outside the Sukkah.

 

This baraita teaches that one who is sick and would be discomforted by sleeping in the sukkah is exempt from the mitzvah. Even if this pain is minor, he is exempt.

We should note that the psychology here is not of people looking for excuses to "get out" of being in the sukkah, but rather the rabbis instructing people not to fulfill the mitzvah of sukkah if it causes them discomfort. The rabbis seem to be worried that people will do so even if it is painful for them; they do not seem to be concerned that people will use these halakhot as an excuse to get out of sleeping in the sukkah.

רב שרא לרב אחא ברדלא למגנא בכילתא בסוכה משום בקי.

רבא שרא ליה לרבי אחא בר אדא למגנא בר ממטללתא משום סרחא דגרגישתא.

 

Rav allowed R. Aha Bardela to sleep in a canopy bed in a Sukkah in order [to keep out] the gnats.

Rava allowed R. Aha b. Adda to sleep outside the Sukkah on account of the stink of the plaster.

 

The Talmud now cites two stories in which rabbis gave permission to other rabbis to not fulfill the mitzvah of sukkah because of the discomfort there. R. Aha Bardela sleeps under a canopied bed which is not allowed (if it has four posts it forms a barrier to the skhakh) in the sukkah. Rav allows him to do so because the canopy protects him from the gnats whose presence makes the sukkah intolerable. R. Aha b. Ada’s sukkah is smelly, so Rava allows him to sleep outside the sukkah altogether.

רבא לטעמיה דאמר רבא: מצטער פטור מן הסוכה. – והא אנן תנן: חולין ומשמשיהם פטורים מן הסוכה. חולה – אין, מצטער – לא! – אמרי: חולה – הוא ומשמשיו פטורים, מצטער – הוא פטור, משמשיו לא.

 

Rava follows his own reasoning, since Rava said: One who is in discomfort is exempt from the Sukkah. But have we not learned: Those who are sick and their attendants [are exempt from the mitzvah of the sukkah]. One who is sick but not one who is merely in discomfort?

I will explain: A sick person and his attendants are exempt, whereas he who is in discomfort is exempt, but not his attendants.

 

Rava’s permission to sleep outside the sukkah because of the stench is a result of his broader belief anyone who is in discomfort by being in the sukkah need not remain there!

However, the Talmud now thinks that Rava has gone a bit too far. The Mishnah exempted those who are sick, not anyone with any discomfort.

The resolution is that there is a difference between the sick and those merely in discomfort. If someone is truly sick, then he might need attendants with him. In such a case the attendants are also exempt from being in the sukkah. But if someone merely feels discomfort, he is exempt if the sukkah increases his discomfort. But even if he has attendants, they are not exempt. As long as they do not feel discomfort in the sukkah, they are obligated to dwell there.