Sukkah, Daf Kaf Zayin, Part 1

 

Introduction

New daf, new mishnah.

 

משנה. רבי אליעזר אומר: ארבע עשרה סעודות חייב אדם לאכול בסוכה, אחת ביום ואחת בלילה. וחכמים אומרים: אין לדבר קצבה, חוץ מלילי יום טוב ראשון של חג בלבד. ועוד אמר רבי אליעזר: מי שלא אכל [לילי] יום טוב הראשון – ישלים לילי יום טוב האחרון של חג. וחכמים אומרים: אין לדבר תשלומין, ועל זה נאמר +קהלת א+ מעות לא יוכל לתקן וחסרון לא יוכל להמנות.

Rabbi Eliezer says: a man is obligated to eat fourteen meals in the sukkah, one on each day and one on each night. But the sages say: there is no fixed number, except on the first night of the festival alone.

Furthermore Rabbi Eliezer said: if one did not eat in the sukkah on the first night of the festival, he may make up for it on the last night of the festival.

But the sages say: there is no compensation for this, and of this was it said: That which is crooked cannot be made straight, and that which is lacking cannot be counted (Ecclesiastes 1:15).

 

The Talmud will discuss both of these sections, so I will leave explanation for there.

 

גמרא. מאי טעמא דרבי אליעזר? תשבו כעין תדורו, מה דירה – אחת ביום ואחת בלילה, אף סוכה – אחת ביום ואחת בלילה.

 

GEMARA. What is the reason of R. Eliezer? "You shall dwell [in Sukkot for seven days]"–this implies just as you normally dwell. Just as in a [normal] dwelling, [one has] one [meal] by day and one by night, so too in the Sukkah [he must have] one meal by day and one by night.

 

R. Eliezer says that your dwelling in the sukkah should be like your normal dwelling, when you dwell in your house. In talmudic times it was normal to eat two meals a day, one midday meal and one night meal (breakfast was not a real meal), so too you must have two meals in the sukkah per day.

 

ורבנן: כדירה, מה דירה – אי בעי אכיל אי בעי לא אכיל, אף סוכה נמי – אי בעי אכיל אי בעי לא אכיל.

 

And what about the rabbis? Like a normal dwelling place. Just as in a normal if he wants to eat he eats, and if he doesn’t want to eat he doesn’t eat, so too with the Sukkah; if he wants he eats, and if he does not want he does not eat.

 

The rabbis agree that your dwelling in the sukkah should be like your dwelling in an abode. However, this does not mean that one has to eat two meals a day. Just as in normal situations, one eats only if one wants to eat, so too in the sukkah.

I think we can see that R. Eliezer imposes a rule on the sukkah you have to dwell there, and that entails eating two meals a day. The other rabbis understand the mitzvah differently. When you dwell, i.e. eat, it must be there. But if you don’t want to dwell/eat, there is no mitzvah to do so.

 

אי הכי, אפילו לילי יום טוב ראשון נמי!

אמר רבי יוחנן משום רבי שמעון בן יהוצדק: נאמר כאן חמשה עשר ונאמר חמשה עשר בחג המצות, מה להלן – לילה הראשון חובה, מכאן ואילך רשות, אף כאן – לילה הראשון חובה, מכאן ואילך רשות – והתם מנלן? – אמר קרא +שמות יב+ בערב תאכלו מצת – הכתוב קבעו חובה.

 

But if so, even the first night of the Festival [he should not be obligated to eat there]? R. Yohanan answered in the name of R. Shimon b. Yehozadak: It was stated with regard to Sukkot, "The fifteenth," and it was stated with regard to the Festival of Matzot, "The fifteenth." Just as there the first night only is obligatory but from then on it is optional, so too here the first night is obligatory, but from then on it is optional. And from where do we know [that the first night of Pesah it is obligatory to eat matzah]? The verse says, "At evening you shall eat matzah" (Exodus 12:18); Scripture sets it as an obligation.

 

The other rabbis agree that on the first night of Sukkot there is an obligation to eat in the Sukkah. The rule is not that if one eats, one must do so in the sukkah; the rule is that one has to eat and do so in the Sukkah. Where do the rabbis derive this obligation from?

The answer is that Sukkot is compared with Pesah. Just as on the first night of Pesah it is mandated to eat matzah, and on the rest of the nights one can eat matzah but doesn’t have to (but of course, no chametz!) so too on Sukkot which falls on the same day of the month. On the first night one must eat in the Sukkah; on subsequent nights one can eat in the sukkah. If one doesn’t want to eat, one need not do so (but no eating a meal outside of the sukkah).

The obligation to eat matzah on the first night is learned directly from Exodus.