What is the mitzva of dwelling in a sukka? To whom does it apply? In what ways does it relate to women?
In Brief
What is the significance of dwelling in the sukka?
The Torah explains that dwelling in the sukka for seven days builds awareness of God having settled Benei Yisrael in sukkot (either physical structures or clouds of glory) following the Exodus.
How does Halacha define dwelling in a sukka?
Moving household effects into the sukka and treating it like one’s home by not sleeping outside of it and having all fixed meals within it.
Eating is the central activity in the sukka, so common practice is to recite the beracha over dwelling in the sukka (leishev ba-sukka) specifically before eating.
Must every male of age dwell in the sukka?
No, a number of situations exempt men from sukka. For example, someone who is sick, or who needs act as a caregiver, or for whom dwelling in the sukka creates discomfort is exempt.
What about women?
Though sukka is a positive time-bound mitzva, an oral tradition is also necessary to exempt women. This is because there could otherwise be reason to obligate women (eg., because of the importance of husband and wife dwelling together to making dwelling in the sukka really resemble residing in a home).
And in practice?
Women may choose to eat and sleep in the sukka to fulfill the mitzva, though women’s reciting the beracha is debated and depends on the custom of one’s community. Since women are exempt, even a woman who recites the beracha for herself may not recite it on behalf of a man.
Is the halacha different for married women?
A married woman is encouraged, but not obligated, to sleep in the sukka to help facilitate her husband’s mitzva observance. Building on an idea raised and seemingly rejected by the Talmud, Rema connects common practice in his day for men not to sleep in the sukka to the importance of a husband and wife dwelling together.
In Depth
Rav Ezra Bick, Ilana Elzufon, and Shayna Goldberg, eds.
Yeshiva Ba-Sukka
While the Torah mentions Chag Ha-Sukkot, the Festival of Booths, multiple times, the mitzva of sukka appears in only two verses:
ויקרא כג:מב-מג
בַּסֻּכֹּת תֵּשְׁבוּ שִׁבְעַת יָמִים כָּל הָאֶזְרָח בְּיִשְׂרָאֵל יֵשְׁבוּ בַּסֻּכֹּת: לְמַעַן יֵדְעוּ דֹרֹתֵיכֶם כִּי בַסֻּכּוֹת הוֹשַׁבְתִּי אֶת בְּנֵי יִשְׂרָאֵל בְּהוֹצִיאִי אוֹתָם מֵאֶרֶץ מִצְרָיִם אֲנִי ה’ אֱלֹקיכֶם:
Vayikra 23:42-43
In sukkot shall you dwell for seven days. Every native of Israel will dwell in sukkot. So that your generations will know that I caused the children of Israel to dwell in sukkot when I took them out of the Land of Egypt, I am the Lord your God.
The mitzva is to dwell physically in a sukka for seven days, in order to build spiritual awareness of God having settled benei Yisrael in sukkot following the Exodus.
Tannaitic sages disagree as to the identity of the sukkot in which benei Yisrael dwelled, whether they were clouds of Glory or physical structures:
סוכה דף יא:
דתניא: “כי בסכות הושבתי את בני ישראל” ענני כבוד היו דברי רבי אליעזר רבי עקיבא אומר סוכות ממש עשו להם
Sukka 11b
For it is taught in a baraita: “that I caused the children of Israel to dwell in sukkot.” They were clouds of Glory, the words of Rabbi Eliezer. Rabbi Akiva says, they made for themselves real [physical] booths.
While at first glance, it seems most straightforward to understand these sukkot as physical structures, Tur makes a case for the more spiritual reading:
טור או”ח תרכה
בסוכות תשבו שבעת ימים וגו’…תלה הכתוב מצות סוכה ביציאת מצרים וכן הרבה מצות לפי שהוא דבר שראינו בעינינו ובאזנינו שמענו ואין אדם יכול להכחישנו והיא המורה על אמיתת מציאות הבורא יתעלה שהוא ברא הכל לרצונו והוא אשר לו הכח והממשלה והיכולת בעליונים ובתחתונים לעשות בהן כרצונו ואין מי שיאמר לו מה תעשה כאשר עשה עמנו בהוציאו אותנו מארץ מצרים באותות ובמופתים והסוכות שאומר הכתוב שהושיבנו בהם הם ענני כבודו שהקיפן בהם לבל יכה בהם שרב ושמש ודוגמא לזה צונו לעשות סוכות כדי שנזכור נפלאותיו ונוראותיו ואע”פ [=ואף על פי] שיצאנו ממצרים בחדש ניסן לא צונו לעשות סוכה באותו הזמן לפי שהוא ימות הקיץ ודרך כל אדם לעשות סוכה לצל ולא היתה ניכרת עשייתנו בהם שהם במצות הבורא יתברך ולכן צוה אותנו שנעשה בחדש השביעי שהוא זמן הגשמים ודרך כל אדם לצאת מסוכתו ולישב בביתו ואנחנו יוצאין מן הבית לישב בסוכה בזה יראה לכל שמצות המלך היא עלינו לעשותה …
Tur OC 625
“In sukkot shall you dwell for seven days” etc….The verse attributes the mitzva of sukka to Yetziat Mitzrayim, and so [for] many mitzvot, because it [the Exodus] is a matter that we saw with our eyes and heard with our ears, and a person cannot deny it, and it demonstrates the truth of the existence of the Creator, may He be exalted, that He created everything in accordance with His will and it is He who has the might and the rule and the power in the upper and lower realms, to make them in accordance with His will and no one can say to Him what to do, as He did with us in taking us out of the Land of Egypt with signs and with wonders. And the sukkot in which Scripture says that He caused us to dwell are His clouds of Glory, with which He surrounded them, that the hot wind and sun not strike them. And on this model He commanded us to make sukkot in order that we remember His wonders and His awesome deeds. And even though we went out of Egypt in the month of Nissan, He did not command us to make a sukka at that time because those are the days of the summer and the way of every person is to make a sukka for shade, and our making them as a commandment of the Creator, may He be blessed, would not have been recognizable. And therefore He commanded us to make it in the seventh month, which is a time of rain and the way of every person is to leave his sukka and dwell in his house, and we go out of the house to dwell in the sukka. Through this, it will be apparent to all that this is the commandment of the King upon us to do…
Tur emphasizes that the forty years of Divine protection in the wilderness were a continuation of the Exodus. By celebrating the festival in Tishrei and thus illogically moving outdoors at the start of the rainy season, we demonstrate that our sukkot are not designed for our physical comfort, but rather serve as ritual objects to help us attain a better grasp of the miraculous.
Tur makes this argument at great length. Bach infers that Tur does so in order to get at a halachic point—that conscious awareness of the Torah’s rationale for this mitzva is a prerequisite for fulfilling it:
ב”ח או”ח תרכה:א
בסכת תשבו וגו’ תלה הכתוב וכו’. איכא למידק בדברי רבינו שאין זה מדרכו בחיבורו זה לבאר הכונה לשום מקרא שבתורה כי לא בא רק לפסוק הוראה או להורות מנהג ופה האריך לבאר ולדרוש המקרא דבסכת תשבו ויראה לי לומר בזה שסובר דכיון דכתיב למען ידעו וגו’ לא קיים המצוה כתיקונה אם לא ידע כוונת מצות הסוכה כפי פשטה ולכן ביאר לפי הפשט דעיקר הכוונה בישיבת הסוכה שיזכור יציאת מצרים…
Bach OC 625:1
In sukkot shall you dwell etc. The verse attributes etc. One can derive precisely from the words of our Rav [Tur], for in this work he does not normally explain the intention of any verse in the Torah, but comes only to make a ruling or to teach a custom, and here he explained at length and expounded the verse “in sukkot you shall dwell” and it seems to me to say regarding this that he thinks that, since it is written “in order that they know” etc., that one does not fulfill the mitzva properly if he did not have awareness of the intention of the mitzva of sukka according to its straightforward meaning, and therefore he explained in accordance with a straightforward reading [of the verse] that the fundamental intention for dwelling in the sukka is that one remember the Exodus from Egypt.
In practice, though one should ideally keep this rationale for the mitzva in mind, someone who did not do so has still fulfilled the obligation to dwell in a sukka.
משנה ברורה תרכה:א
וכתבו האחרונים שיכוין בישיבתה שצונו הקדוש ברוך הוא לישב בסוכה זכר ליציאת מצרים וגם זכר לענני כבוד שהקיפן אז עלינו להגן עלינו מן השרב והשמש. וכל זה לצאת ידי המצוה כתקונה הא דיעבד יוצא כל שכיון לצאת לבד [פמ”ג]:
Mishna Berura 625:1
The later halachic authorities wrote that one should have in mind while dwelling in it that God commanded us to dwell in the sukka in commemoration of leaving Egypt and also in commemoration of the clouds of Glory that then surrounded us to protect us from the hot wind and sun. And all this is to discharge the mitzva properly, for after the fact anyone who intends only to discharge the obligation discharges it.
Halachic Parameters
A kosher sukka is a structure with at least three walls (though the third can be partial). Its shade roofing, sechach, must be made of plant materials that are not susceptible to ritual impurity, arranged so that inside the sukka there is more shade than sun. A sukka must be between ten handbreadths (c. 1 m) and twenty cubits (c. 10 m) in height, with an area of at least 7×7 handbreadths (c. 0.5 m2).1
How does Halacha define dwelling in a sukka? A mishna and a baraita present us with an essential principle and some concrete examples:
סוכה כח:
משנה. כל שבעת הימים אדם עושה סוכתו קבע וביתו עראי…. גמרא… דתנו רבנן: )ויקרא כג( “תשבו”—כעין תדורו. מכאן אמרו: כל שבעת הימים עושה אדם סוכתו קבע וביתו עראי. כיצד? היו לו כלים נאים – מעלן לסוכה, מצעות נאות – מעלן לסוכה, אוכל ושותה ומטייל בסוכה, ומשנן בסוכה.
Sukka 28b
Mishna: All seven days, a person makes his sukka permanent and his house temporary…Gemara:… As our rabbis taught in a baraita: “Teishevu”- ke-ein taduru [“you shall dwell” – as you (usually) reside] From here they said: All seven days a man makes his sukka permanent and his house temporary. How? If he has nice vessels, he brings them up to the sukka, nice bedding, he brings it up to the sukka, he eats and relaxes in the sukka, and reviews Torah in the sukka.
On Sukkot, the sukka becomes one’s true dwelling place, ke-ein taduru—as one resides ordinarily at home. We achieve this transformation by moving household effects into the sukka and by engaging in a range of normal daily activities within it.
Among the actions that the baraita singles out as “teishevu” – ke-ein taduru, eating and drinking bear the most halachic significance. Those obligated in sukka must eat all their fixed meals in the sukka. As early as the tannaitic era, however, some were stringent to restrict all eating to the sukka:
משנה סוכה ב:ד-ה
…אוכלין ושותין עראי חוץ לסוכה: מעשה והביאו לו לרבן יוחנן בן זכאי לטעום את התבשיל ולרבן גמליאל שני כותבות ודלי של מים ואמרו העלום לסוכה וכשנתנו לו לרבי צדוק אוכל פחות מכביצה נטלו במפה ואכלו חוץ לסוכה…
Mishna Sukka 2:4-5
…We eat and drink casually outside of the sukka. A story: They brought to Rabban Yochanan ben Zakkai a cooked dish to taste, and to Rabban Gamliel two dates and a pail of water, and they [the rabbis] said: Bring them up to the sukka. But when they gave to Rabbi Tzadok food less than a ke-beitza [an egg’s volume], he took it with a cloth and ate it outside of the sukka…
As the mishna implies, one obligated in sukka may not eat more than a ke-beitza (an egg’s volume) of bread outside of it.
שולחן ערוך או”ח תרלט:ב
אוכלים ושותים וישנים בסוכה כל שבעה…אבל מותר לאכול אכילת עראי חוץ לסוכה. וכמה אכילת עראי, כביצה מפת ומותר לשתות מים ויין ולאכול פירות (ואפי[לו] קבע עלייהו) (ד”ע) חוץ לסוכה; ומי שיחמיר על עצמו ולא ישתה חוץ לסוכה אפי[לו] מים, הרי זה משובח; ותבשיל העשוי מחמשת מינים, אם קובע עליו חשיב קבע וצריך סוכה.
Shulchan Aruch OC 639:2
We eat and drink and sleep in the sukka all seven days…but it is permissible to eat casually outside of the sukka. And how much is casual eating? A ke-beitza [an egg’s volume] of bread. And it is permissible to drink water and wine and to eat produce (even if he established a meal over it) outside of the sukka. And one who is stringent with himself and does not drink even water outside of the sukka, this is praiseworthy. And a cooked dish made from the five species [of grain], if he establishes a meal over it is considered fixed eating and requires a sukka.
Since we don’t eat full festive meals every day at home, we are not obligated to eat festive meals in the sukka on each day of the holiday. However, it is considered a Torah-level obligation to eat the Yom Tov meal on the first night of Sukkot in the sukka. Our sages derive this halacha from the obligation to eat matza on Pesach, the other festival night that falls out on the fifteenth of the month:
סוכה כז.
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…גמרא. מאי טעמא דרבי אליעזר? תשבו כעין תדורו, מה דירה, אחת ביום ואחת בלילה, אף סוכה, אחת ביום ואחת בלילה. ורבנן: כדירה. מה דירה, אי בעי אכיל אי בעי לא אכיל, אף סוכה נמי, אי בעי אכיל אי בעי לא אכיל. 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.
Sukka 27a
Mishna: Rabbi Eliezer says: A person is obligated to eat fourteen meals in the sukka, one during the day and one at night [for seven days]. And our sages say: There is no set amount, aside from the first night of Yom Tov of Sukkot only…Gemara: What is the rationale of Rabbi Eliezer? “Teishevu” – ke-ein taduru. [“You shall dwell” – as you reside]. Just as residing [at home, we eat] one [meal] in the morning and one at night, so in the sukka, one in the morning and one at night. And our sages: Like residing. Just as residing [at home], if he wants, he eats and if he wants, he doesn’t eat, so in the sukka, if he wants, he eats and if he wants, he doesn’t eat. If so, even the night of the first Yom Tov also [should be optional]. Rabbi Yochanan said in the name of Rabbi Shimon son of Yehotzadak: It is said here the “fifteenth,” and the “fifteenth” is said regarding Chag Ha-matzot…Just as there the first night [eating matza] is obligatory and from here onwards it is optional, so too here the first night [eating in the sukka] is obligatory and from here onwards is optional.
Sleeping in the Sukka
What of sleeping in the sukka? The baraita on teishevu ke-ein taduru omits mention of sleep. But a second baraita notes that dwelling in the sukka includes nights as well as days, which strongly implies that one should sleep in the sukka:
סוכה מג.-מג:
דתנו רבנן: בסכות תשבו שבעת ימים – ימים ואפילו לילות…תשבו תשבו לגזרה שוה. נאמר כאן תשבו ונאמר במלואים תשבו, מה להלן ימים ואפילו לילות – אף כאן ימים ואפילו לילות.
Sukka 43a-43b
For our rabbis taught in a baraita: “In sukkot shall you dwell for seven days,” days and even nights…”Teishevu” – “teishevu” (You shall dwell – you shall dwell) is a gezeira shava [expounding by a textual comparison]. Here is written “teishevu” and regarding the days of consecration [to serve in the Mishkan (Tabernacle)] is written “teishevu.” Just as there [refers to] days and even nights, so too here days and even nights.
Additionally, a mishna discusses whether various sleeping arrangements satisfy the obligation to dwell in the sukka, assuming that those obligated in sukka must indeed sleep in it.2 And yet another baraita notes that, under ordinary circumstances, even a catnap must not take place outside the sukka:
סוכה כו.
תנו רבנן: אוכלין אכילת עראי חוץ לסוכה, ואין ישנים שינת עראי חוץ לסוכה… רבא אמר: אין קבע לשינה.
Sukka 26a
Our rabbis taught in a baraita: We eat casual eating [snacks] outside the sukka, but we don’t sleep casual sleeping [naps] outside the sukka…Rava said: There is no [measure of] fixed sleep [distinct from casual sleep].
The Beracha
We’ve learned that the mitzva of dwelling in the sukka is to reside in it as one resides at home, with specific obligations regarding eating and sleeping. What is the proper timing for reciting the beracha “leishev ba-sukka,” (to dwell in the sukka) over this mitzva? Do we recite it once when we “move in” at the beginning of Sukkot? Each time we enter the sukka? Something in between?
The Talmud addresses this question by comparing the beracha on sukka to the beracha on tefillin, which one recites anew each time they are put on:
סוכה מו.
נכנס לישב בה אומר אשר קדשנו במצותיו וצונו לישב בסוכה. וכיון שבירך יום ראשון שוב אינו מברך…תנאי היא; דתניא: תפילין, כל זמן שמניחן מברך עליהן, דברי רבי. וחכמים אומרים: אינו מברך אלא שחרית בלבד…ואנן נמי כרבי עבדינן, ומברכין כל שבעה.
Sukka 46a
He enters to dwell in it, he says “…Who has sanctified us with His commandments and commanded us to dwell in the sukka.” And since he recited the beracha on the first day, he does not recite the beracha again…This is a Tannaitic dispute, for we learn in a baraita: Tefillin, every time that one lays them, he recites the beracha over them, the words of Rabbi [Yehuda Ha-nassi]. And our sages say: He only recites a beracha in the morning…And we also do like Rabbi [Yehuda Ha-nassi] and recite a beracha all seven days [over sukka].
A number of early halachic authorities, including Rambam, read the analogy between sukka and tefillin as mandating a beracha upon each entry into the sukka. Rambam even indicates that one should only sit down after reciting the beracha, though Ra’avad disagrees:
רמב”ם הלכות שופר וסוכה ולולב ו:יב
כל זמן שיכנס לישב בסוכה כל שבעה מברך קודם שישב אשר קדשנו במצותיו וצונו לישב בסוכה, ובלילי יום טוב הראשון מברך על הסוכה ואחר כך מברך על הזמן, ומסדר כל הברכות על הכוס, נמצא מקדש מעומד ומברך לישב בסוכה ויושב ואחר כך מברך על הזמן, וכזה היה מנהג רבותי ורבני ספרד לקדש מעומד בליל ראשון של חג הסוכות כמו שבארנו…א”א [=אמר אברהם (ראב”ד)] מנהג מקומנו לא היה מעולם כזה, והטעם כי הישיבה אינה אלא על דעת האכילה וכל זמן שאינו אוכל, הברכה עובר למצוה היא באמת.
Rambam Shofar Ve-sukka Ve-lulav 6:12
Every time that one enters to sit in the sukka all seven [days], one recites the beracha before he sits: “…Who has sanctified us with His commandments and commanded us to sit [alt. dwell] in the sukka.” And on the night of the first Yom Tov one recites the beracha over the sukka and afterwards recites the beracha over the occasion [she-hechiyyanu], and one says all the berachot in order over the cup [of kiddush]; it works out that one recites kiddush standing and recites the beracha of leishev ba-sukka and sits, and afterwards recites the beracha of she-hechiyyanu, and the custom of my Rabbis and the Rabbis of Spain is like this, to recite kiddushstanding on the first night of the festival of Sukkot as we have explained. Ra’avad: The custom of our place was never like this, because theyeshiva (sitting/dwelling) is only having in mind to eat and as long as one has not eaten, the beracha is truly prior to [performing] the mitzva.
While some follow Rambam’s approach and make a beracha whenever they enter the sukka, common practice follows Rabbeinu Tam. He maintains that the fundamental obligation of dwelling in a sukka is to eat meals there, so that one should recite the beracha specifically before beginning to eat, and that will cover all other activities within the sukka:
תוספות הרא”ש סוכה מה: ד”ה אחד זה
…סוכה בכל פעם ופעם שנכנס בה לאכול ואפילו עשרה פעמים ביום מברך על כל פעם ופעם מידי דהוה אתפילין שמברך כל פעם שמניחן, והיינו טעמא דסוכה דאי מתרמי ליה סעודתא אי אפשר לו לאכול חוץ לסוכה אף על פי שכבר אכל בו ביום בסוכה… ומה שאין מברכין על השינה בסוכה … ומפרש ר”ת [=רבינו תם] משום דעיקר חובת סוכה היינו אכילה וכשהוא מברך בשעת אכילה נפטר באותה ברכה כל מה שיקיים מצות סוכה בין סעודה לסעודה כגון בשינה בשינון ובטיול, ברכה לישב בסוכה שבירך בשעת אכילה פוטרתן…
Tosafot Ha-Rosh Sukka 45b s.v. Echad zeh
…A sukka – every single time that one enters it to eat, and even ten times in one day, he recites a beracha on each and every time, as with tefillin, that one recites a beracha every time that he puts them on. And this is the reason for sukka, for if one chances upon a meal it is impossible for him to eat outside of the sukka even though he already ate in the sukka that day …That we do not recite a beracha over sleeping in the sukka …Rabbeinu Tam explains it is because the fundamental obligation of sukka is eating, and when one recites a beracha at the time of eating, he has become exempt through that beracha for any way he fulfills the mitzva of sukka between meals, as with sleep and study and relaxation, the beracha “leishev ba-sukka” that he recited at the time of eating exempts them…
It is customary to recite this beracha after reciting the beracha over the food, before eating. At meals with kiddush, we recite the beracha right after kiddush:
שולחן ערוך או”ח תרמג:ג
…ונוהגים לברך על הסוכה אחר ברכת המוציא, קודם שיטעום. הגה: הכי נוהגין בחול, אבל בשבת ויום טוב שיש בהן קידוש, מברך לאחר קידוש (מהרי”ו);
Shulchan Aruch OC 643:3
We have the practice to recite the beracha over sukka after the beracha of Ha-motzi, before one tastes [the food]. Rema: So we practice on chol [ha-mo’ed], but on Shabbat and Yom Tov, which have a kiddush, one recites the beracha after kiddush.
Situational Exemptions
In practice, not everyone is obligated to eat or sleep in the sukka. Some exemptions apply when circumstances make it difficult to perform the mitzva, while others, such as women’s exemption, are more categorical.
Several different factors can lead to exemption from dwelling in the sukka. For example, someone busy performing another mitzva is exempt, as an application of the general principle that someone occupied in one mitzva is exempt from another. Three other common situational exemptions apply to the sick, travelers, and those in discomfort:
I. The sick and those who need to attend to them are exempt:
סוכה כה.
משנה. שלוחי מצוה פטורין מן הסוכה. חולין ומשמשיהן פטורין מן הסוכה גמ’…והעוסק במצוה פטור מן המצוה…
Sukka 25a
Mishna. Messengers performing a mitzva are exempt from the sukka. The ill and their attendants are exempt from sukka. Gemara…And one who is occupied with a mitzva is exempt from [performing another] mitzva…
For this reason, someone needed to care for an infant at night is exempt from sleeping in the sukka, and this exemption might apply to younger children with emotional needs for parents at home as well:
רב חיים בכרך, מקור חיים תרמ:ג
חולים ומשמשיהם—ה”ה [=הוא הדין] תינוק שצריכים תמיד לנדנדו בעריסתו גם המשמשו בזה פטור, ולעולם טוב בנשים זה. בן קטן שיש לו געגועים על אביו וא”א [=ואי אפשר] להיות זולתו בהיותו בביתו אם לא בבכיה וצעקה רבה וא”א להביאו לסוכה צ”ע [=צריך עיון].
Rav Chayyim Bacharach, Mekor Chayyim 640:3
The ill and their attendants—so is the law regarding an infant whom they need to continuously rock in his cradle, that one who attends him in this is also exempt [from sukka], but it is always good for women to do this. [The case of] a young son who longs for his father, and cannot be at home without him without much crying and screaming, and who cannot be brought to the sukka, requires study.
II. Travelers are exempt from the sukka when on the road with no sukka readily available:
סוכה כו.
תנו רבנן: הולכי דרכים ביום – פטורין מן הסוכה ביום, וחייבין בלילה. הולכי דרכים בלילה – פטורין מן הסוכה בלילה, וחייבין ביום. הולכי דרכים ביום ובלילה – פטורין מן הסוכה בין ביום ובין בלילה. הולכין לדבר מצוה – פטורין בין ביום ובין בלילה.
Sukka 26a
Our rabbis taught in a baraita: Travelers during the day are exempt from sukka during the day and are obligated at night. Travelers at night are exempt from sukka at night, and obligated during the day. Travelers during the day and at night – are exempt from sukka both day and night. If they are on their way to do a mitzva, they are exempt both day and night.
Though this exemption remains in place, travelers should make an effort to arrange for a sukka en route.3
III. A Mitzta’er, one for whom dwelling in the sukka would cause discomfort or distress, is also exempt:
סוכה כה:
ואמר רבי אבא בר זבדא אמר רב: מצטער פטור מן הסוכה
Sukka 25b
Rabbi Abba son of Zavda said Rav [said]: A mitzta’er [one who is in discomfort] is exempt from the sukka
For instance, a bridegroom is exempt from dwelling in the sukka during the first seven days after his wedding, because dwelling in the sukka would cause him distress. According to one school of thought, this is because he and his bride would not always be able to interact as freely and intimately in the sukka as they would in their home.
סוכה כה:
ואמר רבי אבא בר זבדא אמר רב: חתן והשושבינין וכל בני החופה פטורין מן הסוכה כל שבעה, מאי טעמא?…ורבא אמר: משום צער חתן.
Sukka 25b
Rabbi Abba bar Zavda said Rav [said]: A groom and his groomsmen and all the members of the wedding party are exempt from sukka all seven days [after the wedding]. What is the reason?…And Rava said: because of the distress of the groom.
רש”י סוכה כה:
צער חתן – שהמקום צר ופתוח שאין לה אלא שלש דפנות ובוש לשחק עם כלתו:
Rashi Sukka 25b
The distress of the groom: For the place [in the sukka] is narrow and open, for it only has three walls, and he is embarrassed to have intimate play with his bride.
Rationale
Why should the mitzta’er and others be exempt from dwelling in the sukka? According to Ramban, this qualification is built into the mitzva. The verse from which we learn that dwelling in the sukka must be “ke-ein taduru” mentions “kol ha-ezrach be-Yisrael” “every native of Israel.”
ויקרא כג: מב
בַּסֻּכֹּת תֵּשְׁבוּ שִׁבְעַת יָמִים כָּל הָאֶזְרָח בְּיִשְׂרָאֵל יֵשְׁבוּ בַּסֻּכֹּת:
Vayikra 23:42
In sukkot you shall dwell for seven days. Every native [kol ha-ezrach] of Israel will dwell in sukkot.
The word “ezrach” also appears in Tehillim, described there as “ra’anan,” refreshed.
תהלים לז:לה
רָאִיתִי רָשָׁע עָרִיץ וּמִתְעָרֶה כְּאֶזְרָח רַעֲנָן:
Tehillim 37:35
I have seen an evildoer powerful and spreading like an ezrach ra’anan [a well-rooted/refreshed tree (or native)].
Ramban uses the verse in Tehillim to explain the parameters of the ezrach‘s dwelling as commanded in Vayikra:
חידושי הריטב”א סוכה כח:
ויש לשאול למה נכתב “האזרח,” כלל, שמעתי בשם רבינו הגדול הרמב”ן ז”ל שבא לומר שלא יתחייב בסוכה אלא מי שהוא “כאזרח רענן”, פרט להולכי דרכים ושומרי פירות ומצטער וכיוצא בהן, וכל מאי דאמרינן בכל דוכתא תשבו כעין תדורו מהכא נפקא לן…
Ritva Sukka 28b
One can ask why “ha-ezrach” was written at all. I heard in the name of our great Rav Ramban that it comes to say that only one who is “like a refreshed (or well-rooted) native” [ke-ezrach ra’anan] would be obligated [in sukka], excluding travelers and guards of produce and a mitzta’er [one in discomfort] and the like. And all that which we said in every place teishevu ke-ein taduru [you shall dwell—as you reside] emerges from here…
A person must dwell in the sukka as one refreshed or well-rooted. Therefore, the mitzta’er, and some others for whom dwelling in the sukka would create conflict or difficulty, are exempt.
Women’s Exemption
The Mishna teaches us that women, children, and bondsmen (who share an exemption from positive time-bound commandments) are fully exempt from the mitzva of dwelling in a sukka.
משנה סוכה ב:ח
נשים ועבדים וקטנים פטורים מן הסוכה.
Mishna Sukka 2:8
Women and bondsmen and minors are exempt from sukka.
Initially, the Talmud lists sukka as a classic example of a positive time-bound mitzva, from which a woman is exempt. Women’s exemption from sukka would thus seem to be a straightforward application of this type of exemption.
קידושין לג:
[מת’] כל מצות עשה שהזמן גרמא [אנשים חייבין ונשים פטורות] וכו’. ת”ר [=תנו רבנן]: איזוהי מצות עשה שהזמן גרמא? סוכה, ולולב. . ..Kiddushin 33b
[Mishna] ‘Every positive time-bound commandment [men are obligated and women are exempt]” etc. Our rabbis taught in a baraita: Which is a positive time-bound commandment? Sukka, lulav….
Surprisingly, the Talmud explores alternative ways to derive this halacha, not taking the exemption from positive time-bound commandments as the sole explanation. This discussion is important to our general understanding of positive time-bound commandments, since it demonstrates that an interplay of text and tradition—as opposed to mere rule application—often accounts for women’s exemptions.
The Talmud first suggests that the definite article in the word ha-ezrach exempts women, but acknowledges that that reading is unclear, because the genders to which the term “ezrach” refers are not consistent throughout the Torah.
סוכה כח.
דתנו רבנן: “אזרח” זה אזרח, “האזרח” להוציא את הנשים. למימרא דאזרח בין נשים בין גברי משמע?..אמר רבה: הלכתא נינהו, ואסמכינהו רבנן אקראי…קרא למה לי, הלכתא למה לי? הא סוכה מצות עשה שהזמן גרמא, וכל מצות עשה שהזמן גרמא נשים פטורות… אמר אביי: לעולם סוכה הלכתא, ואיצטריך…
Sukka 28a
For our sages taught in a baraita: “ezrach” is an ezrach [native]. “ -ezrach” excludes women. Is that to say that “ezrach” [without the definite article] implies both men and women?…Rabba said: It is a received tradition, and our sages connected it to verses…Why do I need a verse? Why do I need received tradition? Behold sukka is a positive time-bound commandment, and women are exempt from positive time-bound commandments…Abbaye said: [Women’s exemption from] sukka is always a received tradition, and it [that tradition] is necessary…
The Talmud concludes that women’s exemption from dwelling in the sukka is learned from an oral tradition.
Why would text or tradition be needed here when we could have applied the standard exemption of women from positive time-bound commandments? There must be reason to think that women would otherwise be obligated in sukka, even though it falls under this category of mitzvot. Tosafot, for example, consider the possibility that the principle of af hen, inclusion in the miracle, could obligate women in sukka, since the mitzva entails miracle-consciousness.
תוספות פסחים קח:
והא דאמרינן דפטורות מסוכה אף על גב דאף הן היו באותו הנס כי בסוכות הושבתי התם בעשה דאורייתא.
Tosafot Pesachim 108b
That which we say that they [women] are exempt from sukka, even though they [women] were indeed included in the miracle is because “in sukkot you will dwell.” There, that is a Torah-level positive commandment.
Tosafot here conclude that af hen cannot obligate women in Torah-level mitzvot such as sukka, only in rabbinic mitzvot such as lighting Chanuka candles. (Learn more here.)
In the continuation of the passage above, the Talmud itself suggests two additional reasons why women might have been obligated in sukka:
סוכה כח:
אמר אביי: לעולם סוכה הלכתא, ואיצטריך: סלקא דעתך אמינא תשבו כעין תדורו, מה דירה – איש ואשתו, אף סוכה – איש ואשתו, קמשמע לן. רבא אמר: איצטריך, סלקא דעתך אמינא יליף חמישה עשר, חמשה עשר מחג המצות, מה להלן נשים חייבות – אף כאן נשים חייבות, קמשמע לן.
Sukka 28b
Abbaye said: In reality, [women’s exemption from] sukka is a received tradition, and it is needed. It might arise in your mind to say “teishevu” ke-ein taduru [“you will dwell” as you reside] Just as residing is a man and his wife, so sukka is a man and his wife. It [the received tradition] comes to teach us [otherwise]. Rava said: it is needed. It might arise in your mind to learn the “fifteenth” – the “fifteenth” from Pesach. Just as there women are obligated [to eat matza on the fifteenth of Nissan], so here women are obligated [to dwell in the sukka on the fifteenth of Tishrei]. It [the received tradition] comes to teach us [otherwise].
According to Rava, were it not for the oral tradition that women are exempt from sukka, we might have extended the connection between the first nights of Pesach and Sukkot to obligate women to eat in the sukka, just as women are obligated to eat matza.4
Although it leads to the same halachic conclusion as Rava’s suggestion,5 Abbaye’s thought that we might have considered women obligated based on teishevu ke-ein taduru demands more attention.
Marital Dwelling
If teishevu ke-ein taduru entails moving home life into the sukka, how can women not be included in the mitzva? Shouldn’t a married woman have an obligation to dwell in the sukka, since her presence is essential to the couple’s home life? (See more here.)
Abbaye’s argument, like Rava’s, yields to a tradition from Sinai that women are exempt. The importance of facilitating teishevu ke-ein taduru does not ultimately obligate women in sukka. At the same time, another Talmudic passage raises a related idea:
ערכין ג:
הכל חייבין בסוכה, כהנים לוים וישראלים. פשיטא. אי הני לא מחייבי, מאן מיחייבי? כהנים איצטריכא ליה, סד”א [=סלקא דעתך אמינא]: הואיל וכתיב בסוכות תשבו, ואמר מר: תשבו שבעת ימים – כעין תדורו, מה דירה איש ואשתו אף סוכה איש ואשתו, והני כהנים הואיל ובני עבודה נינהו לא ליחייבו, קא משמע לן נהי דפטירי בשעת עבודה בלא שעת עבודה חיובי מיחייבי מידי דהוה אהולכי דרכים דאמר מר הולכי דרכים ביום פטורין מן הסוכה ביום וחייבים בלילה:
Arachin 3b
Everyone is obligated in sukka: Kohanim, Levi’im, and Yisraelim. That is simple; if these were not obligated, who would be obligated? [This teaching] is needed [for] Kohanim. It might have arisen in your mind to say: since “in sukkot shall you dwell” is written, and master said teishevu ke-ein taduru [you shall dwell as you reside], just as residing is a man and his wife, so sukka is a man and his wife. And these Kohanim, since they are eligible to perform service [in the Mikdash], one should not obligate them. It [the mishna] teaches us [otherwise]. Given that they are exempt at the time of service, when it is not at the time of service, they are obligated; this is comparable to travelers, for master said travelers during the day are exempt from sukka during the day and obligated at night.
According to this passage, one might have thought that Kohanim would be exempt from dwelling in the sukka because they are responsible for the avoda (Temple service) over the festival. Kohanim are expected to maintain ritual purity – including the avoidance of seminal emissions – throughout Sukkot because they may be called upon to perform avoda on any day. Thus, Kohanim would be unable to dwell normally with their wives in the sukka, and would have trouble fulfilling teishevu ke-ein taduru.
We’ve already seen that the importance of husband and wife dwelling together in fulfillment of teishevu ke-ein taduru does not obligate women in sukka. Here, however, the Talmud raises the possibility that the importance of husband and wife dwelling together would suffice to exempt men !
The Talmud ultimately rejects this suggestion. Rather, the mishna teaches us that Kohanim are indeed obligated in sukka whenever they are free from avodat Ha-mikdash. This means that Kohanim can fulfill the mitzva of sukka even when their ability to dwell with their wives is limited. It’s not clear, however, if this conclusion altogether rejects the relevance of a wife’s presence to a man’s fulfillment of teishevu ke-ein taduru, or simply limits it.
Historically, many Jews in Ashkenaz did not to sleep in the sukka at all. Mordechai defends this practice based on the weather. Cold Autumn weather would render a person who would otherwise wish to sleep in the sukka a mitzta’er or even akin to one who is sick, and thus exempt.
מרדכי סוכה תשמא
מסקינן בשמעתין שאסור לישן חוץ לסוכה אכן סומכין העולם על דבר זה שיראים מן הצנה והוי כחולה שאין בו סכנה דפטור מן הסוכה או כמי שמצטער דפטור מן הסוכה:
Mordechai Sukka 741
We conclude in our learning [in the Talmud] that it is prohibited to sleep outside of the sukka. Indeed, everyone relies on this matter, that they are afraid of the cold, and it is like one with a non-life-threatening illness, who is exempt from sukka, or like one who is mitzta’er [in discomfort], who is exempt from sukka.
Maharil nevertheless emphasizes the importance of a married couple sleeping in the sukka together, presumably as an expression of teishevu ke-ein taduru:
ספר מהרי”ל (מנהגים) הלכות סוכות
אמר מהר”י סג”ל עיקר המצוה לישן אשתו עמו בסוכה, וכן אמר שהוא נהג כן בימי בחורותיו.
Maharil Minhagim, Sukkot
Maharil said the fundamental mitzva is for his wife to sleep with him in the sukka, and so he said he practiced thus in the days of his youth.
Still, the reference to “his youth” implies that Maharil slept in the sukka in later years without his wife, and that this was halachically acceptable to him.
In his efforts to justify men of his day not sleeping in the sukka, Rema goes farther than Maharil in viewing a wife’s presence as relevant to her husband’s fulfillment of the mitzva. For Rema, sleeping in a sukka is the preferred course of action. Still, the Talmud’s discussion of teishevu ke-ein taduru provides some grounds to exempt men from sleeping in the sukka when their wives do not. Rema writes this most clearly in his Darchei Moshe:6
דרכי משה תרלט:ג
והמרדכי פרק הישן כתב אבל העולם סמכו על דבר זה שיראים מצנה (עיין ב”י סימן תר”מ) ואפשר מזה נתפשט המנהג שרבים מקילים בשינת הסוכה ואף על גב דהטעם אינו מספיק…ול”נ [=ולי נראה] שנהגו להקל כי מצות סוכה לישן בה כמו שישן בביתו איש עם אשתו וכמו שדרשו חז”ל (סוכה כו.) תשבו כעין תדורו וכמ”ש [=וכמו שכתב] במהרי”ל שהיה ישן עם אשתו בסוכה ובזמן הזה שאין לכל אחד סוכה מיוחדת אלא רבים אוכלים ושותים בסוכה אחת אי אפשר להם לישן עם נשותיהן בסוכה כאחת ואם יניחו נשותיהן בביתן והאנשים ישנים בסוכה לפעמים הוי מצטער ולא מקרי כעין תדורו וכבר אמרו בעירובין (סג:) את נשי עמי תגרשון מבית תענוגיה [מיכה ב:ט] זה הישן בחדר שאיש ואשתו ישינים שם ואפי[לו] אשתו נדה ואף יבטל עי”ז [=על ידי זה] מצות עונה לפעמים או יבטל מה שנאמר ושמחת אתה וביתך כי לפעמים אשתו מצטערת ע”ז [=על זה] ועי”ז [=ועל ידי זה] נשתרבב המנהג להקל בדבר אך החרד אל דבר ה’ ישתדל לו מקום שיוכל לישן שם בלא צער וישן שם ויעבוד את ה’ בשמחה וכן נוהגין המדקדקים וכן אמרינן רפ”ק [=ריש פרק קמא] דערכין (ג:) בהדיא דבמקום שלא יוכל להיות עם אשתו לא מיקרי כעין תדורו ופטור מן הסוכה וכ”מ [=וכך מפורש] פרק הישן (שם) גבי חתן שפטור מן הסוכה וגבי נשים פטורות מן הסוכה (שם כה:) אף שיש לדחוק מ”מ [=מכל מקום] מזה נשתרבב המנהג סברא גדולה היא.
Darchei Moshe 639:3
Mordechai Sukkot ch. 4 wrote: but everyone relies on this matter, that they are fearful of the cold. And it is possible that from this the custom spread that many are lenient regarding sleeping in the sukka, even though this rationale is insufficient…And it seems to me that they adopted the practice to be lenient because the mitzva of the sukka is to sleep in it as one sleeps in his home, a man with his wife, as our sages expounded teishevu ke-ein taduru. And as Maharil wrote that he would sleep with his wife in the sukka. And nowadays when not everyone has a private sukka, but rather many eat and drink in one [shared] sukka, it is impossible for them to sleep with their wives in the sukka as one, and if they leave their wives in their homes and the men sleep in the sukka, sometimes he will be a mitzta’er and it will not be called ke-ein taduru. And they already said in Eiruvin 63b, “The women of My people you chase out from the house of their pleasure” [Micha 2:9], this is one who sleeps in a room in which a man and his wife sleep even if his wife is in nidda. And even through this [sleeping in the sukka, apart from his wife] he will sometimes nullify the mitzva of ona [regular marital relations] or will nullify what was said “and you shall rejoice, you and your household.” For sometimes his wife is distressed [mitzta’eret] over this. And through this the custom to be lenient in the matter made its way in, but one who trembles at the word of God will try to make a place where he can sleep there without discomfort and sleep there and serve God with joy, and thus do those who are careful [with mitzvot]. And so we say explicitly at the beginning of the first chapter of Arachin (3b), that in a place where he would not be able to be with his wife is not called ke-ein taduru and he is exempt from the sukka. And so is explained in chapter four of Sukka regarding a groom who is exempt from sukka and regarding women who are exempt from sukka (25b), even though one can push aside [this reading], in any case from this the custom worked its way in and this is a substantial rationale.
Rema enlists two additional considerations to explain why a wife’s absence could be decisive in determining the fundamental halacha: First, a husband sleeping separately from his wife may be considered a mitzta’er (someone whose distress exempts them from sukka) irrespective of whether it is a time of month when relations are permitted. Second, sleeping in the sukka without his wife might conflict with a man’s conjugal obligations towards his wife or with his wife’s rejoicing on the festival.
Other authorities pick up on each of these additional considerations. Magen Avraham accepts Rema’s ultimate ruling, but rejects his reading of the Talmud. Rather, Magen Avraham simply argues that a husband is exempt from sleeping in the sukka when the inability to be with his wife there causes him tza’ar:
מגן אברהם תרלט:ח
…וצ”ע [=וצריך עיון] דבסוכה דף כ”ח סד”א [=סלקא דעתך אמינא] תשבו כעין תדורו מה דירה איש ואשתו אף סוכה איש ואשתו קמ”ל [=קא משמע לן] דנשים פטורות וי”ל דמ”מ [=ויש לומר דמכל מקום] הבעל אינו חייב בסוכה אלא במקום שיכול לדור שם עם אשתו ואם לאו ה”ל [=הוה ליה] מצטער ופטור לישן שם
Magen Avraham 639:8
…It requires study, for in Sukka 28, “It might arise in your mind to say teishevu ke-ein taduru [you will dwell as you reside]. Just as residing is a man and his wife, so sukka is a man and his wife. It [the received tradition] comes to teach us [otherwise],” that women are exempt. And one can say that in any case the husband isn’t obligated in sukka except in a place in which he can dwell there with his wife, and if not he is a mitzta’er and exempt from sleeping there.
For his part, Taz highlights the importance of spouses sleeping in the same space to enhance the experience of rejoicing on the festival:
ט”ז או”ח תרלט:ט
וה”נ [=והכי נמי] למי שנשוי אשה שחייב לשמח את אשתו ברגל כדלעיל סימן תקנ”ט ונשים פטורות מן הסוכה א”כ [=אם כן] אם אינו רוצה לפרוש מאשתו מקרי דבר מצוה וע”כ [=ועל כן] פטור מן הסוכה בלילה בשינה ואפי[לו] אם אשתו איננה טהורה מ”מ [=מכל מקום] שייך שמחה כשבעלה עמה בחדר
Taz OC 639:9
Here too for one who is married to a wife, that he is obligated to cause his wife to rejoice on the festival as above 558, and women are exempt from sukka. If so, if he does not want to separate from his wife it is called a matter of mitzva [to remain with her] and therefore he is exempt from sukka at night for sleeping and even if his wife is not ritually pure [for relations], in any case rejoicing applies when her husband is with her in the room.
As Rema notes, the preference is for the couple to have an appropriate sukka to sleep in together. It follows that for a husband and wife with a sufficiently private sukka, marital relations also fall under the category of teishevu ke-ein taduru:
משנה ברורה תרלט:א
ותשמיש המטה לא מקרי תשמיש בזוי דהוא בכלל תשבו כעין תדורו וגם בעצם לא מקרי תשמיש בזוי במה שהוא מקיים מ”ע [=מצות עשה] של פו”ר [=פרו ורבו] ועונה [אחרונים[
Mishna Berura 639:1
Marital relations are not considered a debasing use [of the sukka] for it is included in teishevu ke-ein taduru and also in itself is not considered a debasing use in so far as it fulfills the positive mitzvot of procreating and of marital relations.
When a couple don’t have a private sukka, or when the wife is not interested in sleeping in the sukka, a strong halachic argument can be made for the husband to sleep in the sukka without her. And in this case, on occasions when they have relations inside the house, the husband need not return to the sukka to sleep afterwards.
משנה ברורה תרלט:יח
ומשמע מכמה אחרונים דמאן דא”א [=דאי אפשר] לו לישן עם אשתו בסוכה דאין לו סוכה מיוחדת לא יבטל זמן עונה וליל טבילה ואין לחייבו לאחר שנזדווג עם אשתו שיחזור לסוכתו אלא ישן בביתו עד עמוד השחר:
Mishna Berura 639:18
It sounds from a number of later authorities that one who is not able to sleep with his wife in the sukka, for he does not have a private sukka, should not nullify the time for relations or [relations] on the night of immersion, and one should not obligate him after copulating with his wife to return to his sukka, but rather he should sleep in his home until dawn.
Though a man’s sleeping in the sukka, with or without his wife, remains the fundamental halacha, a number of chassidic communities have a custom, drawing on kabbalistic conceptions of the sanctity of the sukka, to be more restrictive of behavior within it. For example, Chabad practice is not to sleep in the sukka at all, out of concern for its sanctity.7
In communities in which men sleep in the sukka, a married woman is clearly encouraged, but not obligated, to sleep in the sukka to help facilitate her husband’s mitzva observance. A woman might have another reason to choose to sleep and eat in a sukka, though—so that she can fulfill the mitzva of sukka herself.
Women in the Sukka
We can glean clues from early sources about the prevalence of women voluntarily dwelling in the sukka in different time periods. The mishna on women’s exemption implies that in the mishnaic era a mother would not usually voluntarily sleep in the sukka, since a child needing his mother would not have access to her there.
משנה סוכה ב:ח
…קטן שאינו צריך לאמו חייב בסוכה. מעשה וילדה כלתו של שמאי הזקן ופיחת את המעזיבה וסיכך על גבי המטה בשביל קטן:
Mishna Sukka 2:8
…A minor who does not need his mother is obligated in sukka. There was a story that Shammai’s daughter-in-law gave birth and he opened up the ceiling and placed sechach above the bed for the little one.
The story of Shammai removing the roof to create a sukka “for the minor” further supports this implication. Although the baby’s mother is present in the makeshift sukka, Shammai is not concerned with facilitating her voluntary mitzva fulfillment.
At the same time, another tannaitic tradition relates that Queen Heleni made and dwelled in a sukka of her own, notwithstanding her exemption from the mitzva (though the section she was in was reportedly too tall and thus unfit).
סוכה ב:
מיתיבי: סוכה שהיא גבוהה למעלה מעשרים אמה – פסולה, ורבי יהודה מכשיר עד ארבעים וחמשים אמה. אמר רבי יהודה: מעשה בהילני המלכה בלוד, שהיתה סוכתה גבוהה מעשרים אמה, והיו זקנים נכנסין ויוצאין לשם, ולא אמרו לה דבר…ועוד: כל מעשיה לא עשתה אלא על פי חכמים.
Sukka 2b
A response was brought from a baraita: A sukka which is higher than twenty cubits is unfit. And Rabbi Yehuda considers it fit up to forty or fifty cubits. Rabbi Yehuda said: A story of Heleni the Queen in Lud, whose sukka was taller than twenty cubits, and the elders would come in and go out of there and they said nothing to her [about it]…And further, all her deeds she only did in accordance with the sages.
Even if this sukka, too, was chiefly oriented toward Heleni’s sons, it was still known as Heleni’s and she still chose to dwell in it. In the twelfth century, Ra’avan explains that even Rabbi Yehuda, the tanna who told this story of Heleni but also objected to women voluntarily performing mitzvot, permitted women to dwell in a sukka without a beracha, as fulfillment of teishevu ke-ein taduru:8
שו”ת ראב”ן פז
מה שנהגו אבותינו שלא למחות בנשים הנוטלות לולב ומברכות עליו, וכן לישב בסוכה מברכות …ואי קשיא לך דרבי יהודה אדרבי יהודה דהכא [ביחס לסמיכה על קרבן] קאמר דמוחין בנשים ובמסכת סוכה אמר רבי יהודה מעשה בהילני המלכה… לרבי יהודה בלא ברכה יתבה [הילני] ולהכי לא מיחו, ואי משום ישיבה הא אמרי[נן] תשבו כעין תדורו ודירה איש ואשתו ומה אשה אגב בעלה ישבה אף הילני אגב בניה ישבה
Responsa Ra'avan 87
That which our forefathers were accustomed not to protest women taking lulav and reciting a beracha over it, and similarly dwelling in the sukka and reciting a beracha…And if it is difficult for you to reconcile the positions of Rabbi Yehuda, for here [regarding leaning on a korban] he said we protest women [voluntarily performing the mitzva] and in Tractate Sukka Rabbi Yehuda said there was a story of Heleni the queen…According to Rabbi Yehuda, she [Queen Heleni] dwelled [in the sukka] without reciting a beracha and therefore they did not protest. And if one were to raise an issue regarding dwelling [itself] because of what we say teishevu ke-ein taduru and residing is a man and his wife. Just as a wife dwells along with her husband, so Heleni dwelled along with her sons.
As Ra’avan reports at the beginning of his responsum, by the early medieval era in Ashkenaz, many women voluntarily accepted the mitzva of sukka, much as we saw in here. There we quote Rashi’s teacher, who permitted women to recite a beracha over taking arba’at ha-minim and dwelling in the sukka. Here, too, Rabbeinu Tam cites reciting this beracha as an example of his general ruling in favor of women reciting berachot over voluntary mitzva performance:
תוספות חולין קי:
שאומר ר”ת [=רבינו תם] דנשים מברכות אסוכה אף על גב דפטורות דהוי אינה מצווה ועושה
Tosafot Chullin 110b
For Rabbeinu Tam says that women recite a beracha over sukka even though they are exempt, for it is a case of one who is not commanded and performs [a mitzva voluntarily].
We discuss the broader question of women reciting a beracha over voluntary mitzva performance here. Even a woman who does recite the beracha over sukka, however, may not recite it for a man, or have a man recite the beracha just for her, since she is exempt.
משנה ברורה תרמ:א
נשים ועבדים וכו’ – משום דהו”ל מ”ע [=דהוה ליה מצות עשה] שהזמן גרמא ונשים פטורות…ולענין ברכה כשרוצין לישב בסוכה עיין לעיל סי”ז דנוהגין הנשים לברך אכן אחרים לא יברכו להן אפילו אין יודעין בעצמן אם לא כשמברכין לעצמן:
Mishna Berura 640:1
Women and bondsmen etc. Since it is a positive time-bound commandment and women are exempt…and for the matter of a beracha when they want to dwell in the sukka see above 17, that women have the practice to recite a beracha. Indeed others [men] should not recite a beracha [just] for them [women] even if they [women] don’t know it for themselves if it is not when they [the men] are reciting a beracha for themselves.
הליכות ביתה כב:ו
אין האשה יכולה להוציא את האיש בברכת “לישב בסוכה.” הערה י: דכל הפטור ממצוה אינו מוציא את החייב.
Halichot Beitah 22:6
A woman cannot discharge a man in the beracha of “leishev ba-sukka.” Note 10: For anyone exempt from a mitzva cannot discharge one obligated.
If a woman makes kiddush at a Shabbat or Yom Tov meal in the sukka, and her custom is to recite berachot over voluntary mitzva performance, she recites the beracha “leishev ba-sukka” and exempts any women and girls present. Men and boys, however, should recite their own “leishev ba-sukka” before drinking the wine.
While halachic authorities debate women’s reciting a beracha, women’s dwelling in the sukka, whether for meals or to sleep, is widely embraced, as befits efforts to fulfill teishevu ke-ein taduru. In the Middle Ages, Ra’aviya defends the practice, offering two reasons why it does not constitute yuhara, spiritual aggrandizement.
First, it does not appear exceptional or unusual, since it is normal for people to be in the sukka on Sukkot:
ראבי”ה ב מגילה תקצז
וגבי נשים כי מקיימו מצות עשה ליכא יוהרא לכולי עלמא כיון דכולי עלמא יתבי בסוכה ותקעי שופר ונטלי לולב.
Ra'aviyah II Megilla 597
Regarding women when they fulfill a positive time-bound commandment there is no yuhara [spiritual aggrandizement] according to everyone, for everyone sits in the sukka and blows shofar and takes lulav.
Second, and perhaps more important, a woman choosing to dwell in the sukka fulfills a mitzva:
ראבי”ה ב סוכה תרמ
דנשים הן מברכות על כל מצות עשה שהזמן גרמא ואינו יוהרא, כמו שהן יושבות בסוכה, דנהי שגדול המצווה ועושה ממי שאינו מצווה, מכל מקום מצוה הוי
Ra'aviyah II Sukka 640
For women recite berachot over all positive time-bound commandments and it is not yuhara [spiritual aggrandizement], as when they [women] dwell in the sukka, for granted that one who is commanded and does is greater, in any case it is a mitzva
It is more common for women to eat in the sukka than to sleep in it. Each act of eating in the sukka is a distinct mitzva fulfillment, so women typically choose to fulfill the mitzva as much as is convenient. Some women who feel strongly about fulfilling the mitzva take care to eat in the sukka more regularly, even taking that into account for holiday planning. But that is a personal decision, and the exemption still grants women a fundamental level of flexibility with the mitzva beyond that which is available to men.
Kaf Ha-chayyim summarizes why efforts to eat in the sukka are worthwhile and why we all, regardless of gender, should ideally dwell in the sukka—to feel God’s presence, remember Divine kindness to our people, and develop love and fear of Heaven:
כף החיים תרמ:ה
ומיהו מצוה על כל איש ישראל להושיב אשתו ובני ביתו עמו בסוכה להיותם מסתופפים בצלא דמהימנותא לטהר את נפשותם ולהודיע אליהם חסדי ה’ עם ישראל עמו ונחלתו תמיד כל הימים בעבור תהיה יראתו ואהבתו על פניהם לבלתי תחטאו
Kaf Ha-chayyim 640:5
Nevertheless it is a mitzva upon every man of Israel to cause his wife and household members to dwell with him in the sukka, that they shelter under the tzila de-mehemnuta [kabbalistic term for sukka (lit., the shadow of faith)] to purify their soul and to let them know the kindnesses of God with Israel, His people and eternal portion, all the days, in order that awe of Him and love of Him be before them, that they not sin.
Although Kaf Ha-chayyim addresses himself to a married man, the principle that all Jews should dwell in the sukka applies to women and men in all types of households.
Can a woman construct a sukka as well as dwell in it? The Talmud indicates that any booth built for shade that meets the halachic parameters for a sukka is fit for use, and includes a sukka made by a woman in its list of examples.
סוכה ח:
תנו רבנן: גנב”ך—סוכת גוים, סוכת נשים, סוכת בהמה, סוכת כותים, סוכה מכל מקום–כשרה.
Sukka 8b
Our rabbis taught in a baraita: Ganba”ch—a sukka of Goyyim [non-Jews], a sukka of Nashim [women], a sukka for a Beheima [animal], a sukka of Kutim [Samaritans], a sukka from any place—is fit.
Rav Moshe Feinstein rules that there need be no practical hesitation about a woman making a sukka.
שו”ת אגרות משה או”ח ה:מ
ולע”ד [=ולפי עניות דעתי] משמע דאף ר”ת [=רבינו תם]…מודה דלסכך סוכה מותר אף לכתחילה ע”י [=על ידי] אשה. דלכן לא הזכיר רק הא דאין אשה אוגדת לולב ועושה ציצית, ולא גם דאינה מסככת סוכה, ולכן לא קשה עליו מסוכת גנב”ך שכשרה … והוא מטעם שאין במעשה הסיכוך עניין עשיית מצווה, אלא יצירת סוכה שיוכל לקיים בה המצווה…שלכן אם איכא סוכה שעשאוה גנב”ך, שנזדמן שסיככוה בסכך כשר כדין, ובדפנות כדין, ושנתנו לו רשות לאכול ולישן שם, ליכא שום חיסרון…
Responsa Iggerot Moshe OC 5:40
In my humble opinion, it implies that even Rabbeinu Tam…admits that to place sechach [the roof covering] on a sukka is permissible even le-chatchila by a woman. For therefore, he only mentions that a woman does not bundle a lulav or make tzitzit, and not also that she does not place sechach on the sukka. And therefore it is not difficult for him that the sukka of Ganba”ch is fit for use… And it is because there is no matter of performing a mitzva in the act of placing the sechach, but rather creating a sukka in which one will be able to fulfill the mitzva…For therefore, if there is a sukka that was made by Ganba”ch, which became available, on which they had placed fit sechach in accordance with the halacha, and with walls in accordance with halacha, and that they gave him permission to eat and sleep there, there is nothing lacking….
Ruchama King Feuerman describes what it meant to her to build her own sukka as a single woman.9
Ruchama King Feuerman, 'Sukkot and the Single Woman: A Holiday of Thankfulness and Self-Invention,' Tablet, September 16, 2013
Sukkot is the holiday of harvesting, of thankfulness. Every time I went to someone else’s house with her Talmudic scholar husband and her precocious kids, I was reminded again and again how richly they had harvested in life, and I hadn’t…Sukkot has always been a family-oriented holiday. Singles, especially single women, at least in Brooklyn, are expected to attach themselves to other families’ sukkahs. I couldn’t find any other Jewish woman who, like me, wanted a hut of her own…But that fall more than 20 years ago, I knew in my marrow that something had to change…. All in all more than 50 people passed through my sukkah. A couple got engaged in that sukkah (though they later divorced). Songs were sung, lulavs shaken, meals eaten, and blessings made. Inside these four walls, I felt generous, not pinched and deprived. Somehow here I had found my expression. In the sukkah, I felt contained by the four walls, enveloped, just as a fetus is held and contained by its mother. As though the sukkah was pregnant—with me….And I discovered that if I could build a sukkah, just maybe I could build a self.
For many women, participating in sukka-building adds another dimension to the joy of fulfilling the mitzva to dwell in the sukka.
Is a sukka a woman's space?
Whether the sukkot in which God settled us after the Exodus were physical booths or clouds of Glory, women dwelled in them and thus took part in the original sukka experience. Furthermore, on Sukkot the sukka becomes the home, and women play a central role in creating a Jewish home. So, though women aren’t obligated in sukka, a sukka should be a woman-friendly space.
Unfortunately, limited sukka resources can leave a woman who wishes to fulfill the mitzva scrambling for room of her own: A woman may struggle to find a sukka that accommodates her. When a sukka is too small to accommodate everyone, a woman might find herself in a pasul patch of sukka or altogether outside of it.
In light of these challenges, a community should be sensitive to those who might need open access to a sukka, extending invitations and encouraging interested women to build sukkot for themselves. Whenever possible, a sukka should be planned to accommodate all household members, and guests should be apprised of any sukka limitations upon invitation. Similarly, a communal sukka should ideally be designed to have room for the entire community.
Even a woman with space in a sukka may find herself wishing for more female representation there, a feeling which may be experienced more sharply when she invites male ushpizin into her sukka night after night, or observes pictures of only male religious figures decorating the sukka .
To address these feelings, we can invite one of the seven female prophets—Sara, Miryam, Devora, Chana, Avigayil, Esther, and Chulda—into the sukka each night, following the invitation to each of the ushpizin (like this), or can make special mention of women associated with the traditional male ushpizin: the imahot, Yocheved, Miryam, and Avigayil (like this). Hanging up pictures of one’s own teachers or of female Torah figures can enhance one’s sense of connection to the sukka and add to its general atmosphere.
We pray for the ultimate, redemptive sukka of peace. Our sukkot, like that one, should be spaces in which all Jews feel completely welcomed and at home.
Further Reading
- Rav David Auerbach, Halichot Beitah, ch. 22.
Notes
משנה סוכה א:א, ד
סוכה שהיא גבוהה למעלה מעשרים אמה פסולה …ושאינה גבוהה עשרה טפחים ושאין לה שלשה דפנות ושחמתה מרובה מצילתה פסולה
…זה הכלל…וכל דבר שאינו מקבל טומאה וגידולו מן הארץ מסככין בו:
Mishna Sukka 1:1,4
A sukka taller than twenty cubits is unfit….And that is not ten handbreadths tall or that doesn’t have three walls, or whose sun is greater than its shade is unfit.
This is the rule…anything that is not susceptible to ritual impurity and that grows from the ground, one can use for sechach.
רמב”ם הלכות שופר וסוכה ולולב ד:א
…ורחבה אין פחות משבעה טפחים על שבעה טפחים
Rambam Shofar Ve-sukka Ve-lulav 4:1
The measure of a sukka…its area is no less than seven tefachim by seven tefachim.
משנה סוכה ב:א
הישן תחת המטה בסוכה לא יצא ידי חובתו…
Mishna Sukka 2:1
One who sleeps underneath the bed in the sukka did not discharge his obligation…
4. Tosafot seem to adopt Rava’s understanding of the sugya:
תוספות קידושין לד:
השתא דחזינן דחייבות במצה מכל שישנו בבל תאכל חמץ א”כ ע”כ [אם כן על כרחך] האזרח למעוטי אתא דלרבות לא איצטריך דמג”ש [=דמגזרה שווה] דט”ו ט”ו נפקא.
Tosafot Kiddushin 34b
Now that we have seen that they [women] are obligated in matza based on [the principle that] whoever is included in the prohibition of eating chametz [is included in the obligation to eat matza]…if so perforce “ha-ezrach” comes in order to exclude, for it is not needed in order to include, for [inclusion] would be derived from the gezeira shava of “fifteenth” -“fifteenth.”
שולחן ערוך או”ח תרמ:א
נשים, ועבדים, וקטנים פטורים מן הסוכה;
Shulchan Aruch OC 640:1
Women, bondsmen and minors are exempt from the sukka.
6. Cf. his gloss on Shulchan Aruch:
רמ”א או”ח תרלט:ב
הגה: ומה שנוהגין להקל עכשיו בשינה, שאין ישנים בסוכה רק המדקדקין במצות, י”א [=יש אומרים] משום צנה, דיש צער לישן במקומות הקרים (מרדכי פ’ הישן); ולי נראה משום דמצות סוכה איש וביתו, איש ואשתו כדרך שהוא דר כל השנה, ובמקום שלא יוכל לישן עם אשתו, שאין לו סוכה מיוחדת, פטור; וטוב להחמיר ולהיות שם עם אשתו כמו שהוא דר כל השנה, אם אפשר להיות לו סוכה מיוחדת.
Rema OC 639:2
That which they have the custom nowadays to be lenient with sleeping, that only those who are particular with mitzvot sleep in the sukka, there are those who say it is because of the cold, since there is discomfort in sleeping in cold places (Mordechai). And to me it seems because the mitzva of sukka is a man and his household, a man and his wife in the way that he resides all year, and in a place where he would not be able to sleep with his wife, for he does not have a private sukka, he is exempt. And it is good to be stringent and to be there with his wife as he resides all year, if it is possible for him to have a private sukka.
7. The Rebbe justifies this practice at length in a sicha, translated to Hebrew here. Here are some key lines:
רב מנחם מענדל שניאורסאהן, שערי הלכה ומנהג או”ח ב “שינה בסוכה”, עמ’ רסח-רמט
ידוע פתגמו של כ”ק אדמו”ר האמצעי בנוגע לשינה בסוכה–“כיצד אפשר לישון במקיפים דבינה”. הכוונה: בסוכה מאיר אור אלוקי גדול מאד…ומכיון ששם מאיר אור אלוקי נעלה שכזה–איך אפשר בכלל לישון שם!…ופשיטא שזה ע”פ [=על פי] הלכה ובפשטות: בשכבו לישון בסוכה ואינו יכול להירדם בשום אופן, א”כ ע”פ שו”ע [=אם כן על פי שלחן ערוך] בפשטות שהוא הולך לישון בביתו. ואם הדבר בטוח אצלו בודאות שלא יוכל להירדם בסוכה–אינו זקוק מלכתחילה לנסות זאת…שאדמו”ר האמצעי תבע ענין זה מן החסידים…אין הוא (השייך לרבותינו נשיאינו) יכול לישון בסוכה בשקט ובמנוחה. כי אע”פ [=אף על פי] ש”אור” הסוכה אינו מבלבל את שנתו–הרי הוא מצטער מכך גופא…ואפילו מי שלא מפריע לו מדוע איננו מרגיש את האור שבסוכה–הרי הוא מצטער מדוע אימרתו של אדמו”ר האמצעי אינה פועלת עליו כדבעי: ומצד זה השינה בסוכה גורמת לו צער…והמצטער פטור מן הסוכה.
Rav Menachem Mendel Schneersohn, 'Sleeping in the Sukka.' Sha'arei Halacha U-minhag OC II, pp. 268-249.
The saying of his honor the holy Mitteler Rebbe regarding sleeping in the sukka is known–“How is it possible to sleep in the surrounding of bina.” The intent: In a sukka lit up with a very great Divine light…And since such an elevated Divine light illuminates there–how is it possible at all to sleep there!…It is clear that this is in simple accordance with halacha: when he lies down to sleep in the sukka and cannot fall asleep at all, if so according to Shulchan Aruch it is clear that he should go to sleep in his house. And if the matter is absolutely certain to him that he will not be able to fall asleep in the sukka–he does not need from the outset to try this…For the Mitteler Rebbe demanded this matter from the Chassidim…One (belonging to our Rabbis and leaders) is unable to sleep in the sukka in quiet and peace. For even though the “light” of the sukka does not disturb his sleep–behold he is distressed [mitzta’er] about that itself…And even one who isn’t disturbed about why he does not sense the light that is in the sukka–behold he is distressed [mitzta’er] why the statement of the Mitteler Rebbe does not work for him as it should: And from this perspective, sleeping in the sukka causes him distress…and a mitzta’er is exempt from the sukka.
Sources
Yeshiva Ba-Sukka
ויקרא כג:מב-מג
בַּסֻּכֹּת תֵּשְׁבוּ שִׁבְעַת יָמִים כָּל הָאֶזְרָח בְּיִשְׂרָאֵל יֵשְׁבוּ בַּסֻּכֹּת: לְמַעַן יֵדְעוּ דֹרֹתֵיכֶם כִּי בַסֻּכּוֹת הוֹשַׁבְתִּי אֶת בְּנֵי יִשְׂרָאֵל בְּהוֹצִיאִי אוֹתָם מֵאֶרֶץ מִצְרָיִם אֲנִי ה’ אֱלֹקיכֶם:
Vayikra 23:42-43
In sukkot shall you dwell for seven days. Every native of Israel will dwell in sukkot. So that your generations will know that I caused the children of Israel to dwell in sukkot when I took them out of the Land of Egypt, I am the Lord your God.
סוכה דף יא:
דתניא: “כי בסכות הושבתי את בני ישראל” ענני כבוד היו דברי רבי אליעזר רבי עקיבא אומר סוכות ממש עשו להם
Sukka 11b
For it is taught in a baraita: “that I caused the children of Israel to dwell in sukkot.” They were clouds of Glory, the words of Rabbi Eliezer. Rabbi Akiva says, they made for themselves real [physical] booths.
טור או”ח תרכה
בסוכות תשבו שבעת ימים וגו’…תלה הכתוב מצות סוכה ביציאת מצרים וכן הרבה מצות לפי שהוא דבר שראינו בעינינו ובאזנינו שמענו ואין אדם יכול להכחישנו והיא המורה על אמיתת מציאות הבורא יתעלה שהוא ברא הכל לרצונו והוא אשר לו הכח והממשלה והיכולת בעליונים ובתחתונים לעשות בהן כרצונו ואין מי שיאמר לו מה תעשה כאשר עשה עמנו בהוציאו אותנו מארץ מצרים באותות ובמופתים והסוכות שאומר הכתוב שהושיבנו בהם הם ענני כבודו שהקיפן בהם לבל יכה בהם שרב ושמש ודוגמא לזה צונו לעשות סוכות כדי שנזכור נפלאותיו ונוראותיו ואע”פ [=ואף על פי] שיצאנו ממצרים בחדש ניסן לא צונו לעשות סוכה באותו הזמן לפי שהוא ימות הקיץ ודרך כל אדם לעשות סוכה לצל ולא היתה ניכרת עשייתנו בהם שהם במצות הבורא יתברך ולכן צוה אותנו שנעשה בחדש השביעי שהוא זמן הגשמים ודרך כל אדם לצאת מסוכתו ולישב בביתו ואנחנו יוצאין מן הבית לישב בסוכה בזה יראה לכל שמצות המלך היא עלינו לעשותה …
Tur OC 625
“In sukkot shall you dwell for seven days” etc….The verse attributes the mitzva of sukka to Yetziat Mitzrayim, and so [for] many mitzvot, because it [the Exodus] is a matter that we saw with our eyes and heard with our ears, and a person cannot deny it, and it demonstrates the truth of the existence of the Creator, may He be exalted, that He created everything in accordance with His will and it is He who has the might and the rule and the power in the upper and lower realms, to make them in accordance with His will and no one can say to Him what to do, as He did with us in taking us out of the Land of Egypt with signs and with wonders. And the sukkot in which Scripture says that He caused us to dwell are His clouds of Glory, with which He surrounded them, that the hot wind and sun not strike them. And on this model He commanded us to make sukkot in order that we remember His wonders and His awesome deeds. And even though we went out of Egypt in the month of Nissan, He did not command us to make a sukka at that time because those are the days of the summer and the way of every person is to make a sukka for shade, and our making them as a commandment of the Creator, may He be blessed, would not have been recognizable. And therefore He commanded us to make it in the seventh month, which is a time of rain and the way of every person is to leave his sukka and dwell in his house, and we go out of the house to dwell in the sukka. Through this, it will be apparent to all that this is the commandment of the King upon us to do…
ב”ח או”ח תרכה:א
בסכת תשבו וגו’ תלה הכתוב וכו’. איכא למידק בדברי רבינו שאין זה מדרכו בחיבורו זה לבאר הכונה לשום מקרא שבתורה כי לא בא רק לפסוק הוראה או להורות מנהג ופה האריך לבאר ולדרוש המקרא דבסכת תשבו ויראה לי לומר בזה שסובר דכיון דכתיב למען ידעו וגו’ לא קיים המצוה כתיקונה אם לא ידע כוונת מצות הסוכה כפי פשטה ולכן ביאר לפי הפשט דעיקר הכוונה בישיבת הסוכה שיזכור יציאת מצרים…
Bach OC 625:1
In sukkot shall you dwell etc. The verse attributes etc. One can derive precisely from the words of our Rav [Tur], for in this work he does not normally explain the intention of any verse in the Torah, but comes only to make a ruling or to teach a custom, and here he explained at length and expounded the verse “in sukkot you shall dwell” and it seems to me to say regarding this that he thinks that, since it is written “in order that they know” etc., that one does not fulfill the mitzva properly if he did not have awareness of the intention of the mitzva of sukka according to its straightforward meaning, and therefore he explained in accordance with a straightforward reading [of the verse] that the fundamental intention for dwelling in the sukka is that one remember the Exodus from Egypt.
משנה ברורה תרכה:א
וכתבו האחרונים שיכוין בישיבתה שצונו הקדוש ברוך הוא לישב בסוכה זכר ליציאת מצרים וגם זכר לענני כבוד שהקיפן אז עלינו להגן עלינו מן השרב והשמש. וכל זה לצאת ידי המצוה כתקונה הא דיעבד יוצא כל שכיון לצאת לבד [פמ”ג]:
Mishna Berura 625:1
The later halachic authorities wrote that one should have in mind while dwelling in it that God commanded us to dwell in the sukka in commemoration of leaving Egypt and also in commemoration of the clouds of Glory that then surrounded us to protect us from the hot wind and sun. And all this is to discharge the mitzva properly, for after the fact anyone who intends only to discharge the obligation discharges it.
סוכה כח:
משנה. כל שבעת הימים אדם עושה סוכתו קבע וביתו עראי…. גמרא… דתנו רבנן: )ויקרא כג( “תשבו”—כעין תדורו. מכאן אמרו: כל שבעת הימים עושה אדם סוכתו קבע וביתו עראי. כיצד? היו לו כלים נאים – מעלן לסוכה, מצעות נאות – מעלן לסוכה, אוכל ושותה ומטייל בסוכה, ומשנן בסוכה.
Sukka 28b
Mishna: All seven days, a person makes his sukka permanent and his house temporary…Gemara:… As our rabbis taught in a baraita: “Teishevu”- ke-ein taduru [“you shall dwell” – as you (usually) reside] From here they said: All seven days a man makes his sukka permanent and his house temporary. How? If he has nice vessels, he brings them up to the sukka, nice bedding, he brings it up to the sukka, he eats and relaxes in the sukka, and reviews Torah in the sukka.
משנה סוכה ב:ד-ה
…אוכלין ושותין עראי חוץ לסוכה: מעשה והביאו לו לרבן יוחנן בן זכאי לטעום את התבשיל ולרבן גמליאל שני כותבות ודלי של מים ואמרו העלום לסוכה וכשנתנו לו לרבי צדוק אוכל פחות מכביצה נטלו במפה ואכלו חוץ לסוכה…
Mishna Sukka 2:4-5
…We eat and drink casually outside of the sukka. A story: They brought to Rabban Yochanan ben Zakkai a cooked dish to taste, and to Rabban Gamliel two dates and a pail of water, and they [the rabbis] said: Bring them up to the sukka. But when they gave to Rabbi Tzadok food less than a ke-beitza [an egg’s volume], he took it with a cloth and ate it outside of the sukka…
שולחן ערוך או”ח תרלט:ב
אוכלים ושותים וישנים בסוכה כל שבעה…אבל מותר לאכול אכילת עראי חוץ לסוכה. וכמה אכילת עראי, כביצה מפת ומותר לשתות מים ויין ולאכול פירות (ואפי[לו] קבע עלייהו) (ד”ע) חוץ לסוכה; ומי שיחמיר על עצמו ולא ישתה חוץ לסוכה אפי[לו] מים, הרי זה משובח; ותבשיל העשוי מחמשת מינים, אם קובע עליו חשיב קבע וצריך סוכה.
Shulchan Aruch OC 639:2
We eat and drink and sleep in the sukka all seven days…but it is permissible to eat casually outside of the sukka. And how much is casual eating? A ke-beitza [an egg’s volume] of bread. And it is permissible to drink water and wine and to eat produce (even if he established a meal over it) outside of the sukka. And one who is stringent with himself and does not drink even water outside of the sukka, this is praiseworthy. And a cooked dish made from the five species [of grain], if he establishes a meal over it is considered fixed eating and requires a sukka.
סוכה כז.
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…גמרא. מאי טעמא דרבי אליעזר? תשבו כעין תדורו, מה דירה, אחת ביום ואחת בלילה, אף סוכה, אחת ביום ואחת בלילה. ורבנן: כדירה. מה דירה, אי בעי אכיל אי בעי לא אכיל, אף סוכה נמי, אי בעי אכיל אי בעי לא אכיל. 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.
Sukka 27a
Mishna: Rabbi Eliezer says: A person is obligated to eat fourteen meals in the sukka, one during the day and one at night [for seven days]. And our sages say: There is no set amount, aside from the first night of Yom Tov of Sukkot only…Gemara: What is the rationale of Rabbi Eliezer? “Teishevu” – ke-ein taduru. [“You shall dwell” – as you reside]. Just as residing [at home, we eat] one [meal] in the morning and one at night, so in the sukka, one in the morning and one at night. And our sages: Like residing. Just as residing [at home], if he wants, he eats and if he wants, he doesn’t eat, so in the sukka, if he wants, he eats and if he wants, he doesn’t eat. If so, even the night of the first Yom Tov also [should be optional]. Rabbi Yochanan said in the name of Rabbi Shimon son of Yehotzadak: It is said here the “fifteenth,” and the “fifteenth” is said regarding Chag Ha-matzot…Just as there the first night [eating matza] is obligatory and from here onwards it is optional, so too here the first night [eating in the sukka] is obligatory and from here onwards is optional.
סוכה מג.-מג:
דתנו רבנן: בסכות תשבו שבעת ימים – ימים ואפילו לילות…תשבו תשבו לגזרה שוה. נאמר כאן תשבו ונאמר במלואים תשבו, מה להלן ימים ואפילו לילות – אף כאן ימים ואפילו לילות.
Sukka 43a-43b
For our rabbis taught in a baraita: “In sukkot shall you dwell for seven days,” days and even nights…”Teishevu” – “teishevu” (You shall dwell – you shall dwell) is a gezeira shava [expounding by a textual comparison]. Here is written “teishevu” and regarding the days of consecration [to serve in the Mishkan (Tabernacle)] is written “teishevu.” Just as there [refers to] days and even nights, so too here days and even nights.
סוכה כו.
תנו רבנן: אוכלין אכילת עראי חוץ לסוכה, ואין ישנים שינת עראי חוץ לסוכה… רבא אמר: אין קבע לשינה.
Sukka 26a
Our rabbis taught in a baraita: We eat casual eating [snacks] outside the sukka, but we don’t sleep casual sleeping [naps] outside the sukka…Rava said: There is no [measure of] fixed sleep [distinct from casual sleep].
סוכה מו.
נכנס לישב בה אומר אשר קדשנו במצותיו וצונו לישב בסוכה. וכיון שבירך יום ראשון שוב אינו מברך…תנאי היא; דתניא: תפילין, כל זמן שמניחן מברך עליהן, דברי רבי. וחכמים אומרים: אינו מברך אלא שחרית בלבד…ואנן נמי כרבי עבדינן, ומברכין כל שבעה.
Sukka 46a
He enters to dwell in it, he says “…Who has sanctified us with His commandments and commanded us to dwell in the sukka.” And since he recited the beracha on the first day, he does not recite the beracha again…This is a Tannaitic dispute, for we learn in a baraita: Tefillin, every time that one lays them, he recites the beracha over them, the words of Rabbi [Yehuda Ha-nassi]. And our sages say: He only recites a beracha in the morning…And we also do like Rabbi [Yehuda Ha-nassi] and recite a beracha all seven days [over sukka].
רמב”ם הלכות שופר וסוכה ולולב ו:יב
כל זמן שיכנס לישב בסוכה כל שבעה מברך קודם שישב אשר קדשנו במצותיו וצונו לישב בסוכה, ובלילי יום טוב הראשון מברך על הסוכה ואחר כך מברך על הזמן, ומסדר כל הברכות על הכוס, נמצא מקדש מעומד ומברך לישב בסוכה ויושב ואחר כך מברך על הזמן, וכזה היה מנהג רבותי ורבני ספרד לקדש מעומד בליל ראשון של חג הסוכות כמו שבארנו…א”א [=אמר אברהם (ראב”ד)] מנהג מקומנו לא היה מעולם כזה, והטעם כי הישיבה אינה אלא על דעת האכילה וכל זמן שאינו אוכל, הברכה עובר למצוה היא באמת.
Rambam Shofar Ve-sukka Ve-lulav 6:12
Every time that one enters to sit in the sukka all seven [days], one recites the beracha before he sits: “…Who has sanctified us with His commandments and commanded us to sit [alt. dwell] in the sukka.” And on the night of the first Yom Tov one recites the beracha over the sukka and afterwards recites the beracha over the occasion [she-hechiyyanu], and one says all the berachot in order over the cup [of kiddush]; it works out that one recites kiddush standing and recites the beracha of leishev ba-sukka and sits, and afterwards recites the beracha of she-hechiyyanu, and the custom of my Rabbis and the Rabbis of Spain is like this, to recite kiddushstanding on the first night of the festival of Sukkot as we have explained. Ra’avad: The custom of our place was never like this, because theyeshiva (sitting/dwelling) is only having in mind to eat and as long as one has not eaten, the beracha is truly prior to [performing] the mitzva.
תוספות הרא”ש סוכה מה: ד”ה אחד זה
…סוכה בכל פעם ופעם שנכנס בה לאכול ואפילו עשרה פעמים ביום מברך על כל פעם ופעם מידי דהוה אתפילין שמברך כל פעם שמניחן, והיינו טעמא דסוכה דאי מתרמי ליה סעודתא אי אפשר לו לאכול חוץ לסוכה אף על פי שכבר אכל בו ביום בסוכה… ומה שאין מברכין על השינה בסוכה … ומפרש ר”ת [=רבינו תם] משום דעיקר חובת סוכה היינו אכילה וכשהוא מברך בשעת אכילה נפטר באותה ברכה כל מה שיקיים מצות סוכה בין סעודה לסעודה כגון בשינה בשינון ובטיול, ברכה לישב בסוכה שבירך בשעת אכילה פוטרתן…
Tosafot Ha-Rosh Sukka 45b s.v. Echad zeh
…A sukka – every single time that one enters it to eat, and even ten times in one day, he recites a beracha on each and every time, as with tefillin, that one recites a beracha every time that he puts them on. And this is the reason for sukka, for if one chances upon a meal it is impossible for him to eat outside of the sukka even though he already ate in the sukka that day …That we do not recite a beracha over sleeping in the sukka …Rabbeinu Tam explains it is because the fundamental obligation of sukka is eating, and when one recites a beracha at the time of eating, he has become exempt through that beracha for any way he fulfills the mitzva of sukka between meals, as with sleep and study and relaxation, the beracha “leishev ba-sukka” that he recited at the time of eating exempts them…
שולחן ערוך או”ח תרמג:ג
…ונוהגים לברך על הסוכה אחר ברכת המוציא, קודם שיטעום. הגה: הכי נוהגין בחול, אבל בשבת ויום טוב שיש בהן קידוש, מברך לאחר קידוש (מהרי”ו);
Shulchan Aruch OC 643:3
We have the practice to recite the beracha over sukka after the beracha of Ha-motzi, before one tastes [the food]. Rema: So we practice on chol [ha-mo’ed], but on Shabbat and Yom Tov, which have a kiddush, one recites the beracha after kiddush.
Situational Exemptions
סוכה כה.
משנה. שלוחי מצוה פטורין מן הסוכה. חולין ומשמשיהן פטורין מן הסוכה גמ’…והעוסק במצוה פטור מן המצוה…
Sukka 25a
Mishna. Messengers performing a mitzva are exempt from the sukka. The ill and their attendants are exempt from sukka. Gemara…And one who is occupied with a mitzva is exempt from [performing another] mitzva…
רב חיים בכרך, מקור חיים תרמ:ג
חולים ומשמשיהם—ה”ה [=הוא הדין] תינוק שצריכים תמיד לנדנדו בעריסתו גם המשמשו בזה פטור, ולעולם טוב בנשים זה. בן קטן שיש לו געגועים על אביו וא”א [=ואי אפשר] להיות זולתו בהיותו בביתו אם לא בבכיה וצעקה רבה וא”א להביאו לסוכה צ”ע [=צריך עיון].
Rav Chayyim Bacharach, Mekor Chayyim 640:3
The ill and their attendants—so is the law regarding an infant whom they need to continuously rock in his cradle, that one who attends him in this is also exempt [from sukka], but it is always good for women to do this. [The case of] a young son who longs for his father, and cannot be at home without him without much crying and screaming, and who cannot be brought to the sukka, requires study.
סוכה כו.
תנו רבנן: הולכי דרכים ביום – פטורין מן הסוכה ביום, וחייבין בלילה. הולכי דרכים בלילה – פטורין מן הסוכה בלילה, וחייבין ביום. הולכי דרכים ביום ובלילה – פטורין מן הסוכה בין ביום ובין בלילה. הולכין לדבר מצוה – פטורין בין ביום ובין בלילה.
Sukka 26a
Our rabbis taught in a baraita: Travelers during the day are exempt from sukka during the day and are obligated at night. Travelers at night are exempt from sukka at night, and obligated during the day. Travelers during the day and at night – are exempt from sukka both day and night. If they are on their way to do a mitzva, they are exempt both day and night.
סוכה כה:
ואמר רבי אבא בר זבדא אמר רב: מצטער פטור מן הסוכה
Sukka 25b
Rabbi Abba son of Zavda said Rav [said]: A mitzta’er [one who is in discomfort] is exempt from the sukka
סוכה כה:
ואמר רבי אבא בר זבדא אמר רב: חתן והשושבינין וכל בני החופה פטורין מן הסוכה כל שבעה, מאי טעמא?…ורבא אמר: משום צער חתן.
Sukka 25b
Rabbi Abba bar Zavda said Rav [said]: A groom and his groomsmen and all the members of the wedding party are exempt from sukka all seven days [after the wedding]. What is the reason?…And Rava said: because of the distress of the groom.
רש”י סוכה כה:
צער חתן – שהמקום צר ופתוח שאין לה אלא שלש דפנות ובוש לשחק עם כלתו:
Rashi Sukka 25b
The distress of the groom: For the place [in the sukka] is narrow and open, for it only has three walls, and he is embarrassed to have intimate play with his bride.
ויקרא כג: מב
בַּסֻּכֹּת תֵּשְׁבוּ שִׁבְעַת יָמִים כָּל הָאֶזְרָח בְּיִשְׂרָאֵל יֵשְׁבוּ בַּסֻּכֹּת:
Vayikra 23:42
In sukkot you shall dwell for seven days. Every native [kol ha-ezrach] of Israel will dwell in sukkot.
תהלים לז:לה
רָאִיתִי רָשָׁע עָרִיץ וּמִתְעָרֶה כְּאֶזְרָח רַעֲנָן:
Tehillim 37:35
I have seen an evildoer powerful and spreading like an ezrach ra’anan [a well-rooted/refreshed tree (or native)].
חידושי הריטב”א סוכה כח:
ויש לשאול למה נכתב “האזרח,” כלל, שמעתי בשם רבינו הגדול הרמב”ן ז”ל שבא לומר שלא יתחייב בסוכה אלא מי שהוא “כאזרח רענן”, פרט להולכי דרכים ושומרי פירות ומצטער וכיוצא בהן, וכל מאי דאמרינן בכל דוכתא תשבו כעין תדורו מהכא נפקא לן…
Ritva Sukka 28b
One can ask why “ha-ezrach” was written at all. I heard in the name of our great Rav Ramban that it comes to say that only one who is “like a refreshed (or well-rooted) native” [ke-ezrach ra’anan] would be obligated [in sukka], excluding travelers and guards of produce and a mitzta’er [one in discomfort] and the like. And all that which we said in every place teishevu ke-ein taduru [you shall dwell—as you reside] emerges from here…
Women’s Exemption
משנה סוכה ב:ח
נשים ועבדים וקטנים פטורים מן הסוכה.
Mishna Sukka 2:8
Women and bondsmen and minors are exempt from sukka.
קידושין לג:
[מת’] כל מצות עשה שהזמן גרמא [אנשים חייבין ונשים פטורות] וכו’. ת”ר [=תנו רבנן]: איזוהי מצות עשה שהזמן גרמא? סוכה, ולולב. . ..Kiddushin 33b
[Mishna] ‘Every positive time-bound commandment [men are obligated and women are exempt]” etc. Our rabbis taught in a baraita: Which is a positive time-bound commandment? Sukka, lulav….
סוכה כח.
דתנו רבנן: “אזרח” זה אזרח, “האזרח” להוציא את הנשים. למימרא דאזרח בין נשים בין גברי משמע?..אמר רבה: הלכתא נינהו, ואסמכינהו רבנן אקראי…קרא למה לי, הלכתא למה לי? הא סוכה מצות עשה שהזמן גרמא, וכל מצות עשה שהזמן גרמא נשים פטורות… אמר אביי: לעולם סוכה הלכתא, ואיצטריך…
Sukka 28a
For our sages taught in a baraita: “ezrach” is an ezrach [native]. “ -ezrach” excludes women. Is that to say that “ezrach” [without the definite article] implies both men and women?…Rabba said: It is a received tradition, and our sages connected it to verses…Why do I need a verse? Why do I need received tradition? Behold sukka is a positive time-bound commandment, and women are exempt from positive time-bound commandments…Abbaye said: [Women’s exemption from] sukka is always a received tradition, and it [that tradition] is necessary…
תוספות פסחים קח:
והא דאמרינן דפטורות מסוכה אף על גב דאף הן היו באותו הנס כי בסוכות הושבתי התם בעשה דאורייתא.
Tosafot Pesachim 108b
That which we say that they [women] are exempt from sukka, even though they [women] were indeed included in the miracle is because “in sukkot you will dwell.” There, that is a Torah-level positive commandment.
סוכה כח:
אמר אביי: לעולם סוכה הלכתא, ואיצטריך: סלקא דעתך אמינא תשבו כעין תדורו, מה דירה – איש ואשתו, אף סוכה – איש ואשתו, קמשמע לן. רבא אמר: איצטריך, סלקא דעתך אמינא יליף חמישה עשר, חמשה עשר מחג המצות, מה להלן נשים חייבות – אף כאן נשים חייבות, קמשמע לן.
Sukka 28b
Abbaye said: In reality, [women’s exemption from] sukka is a received tradition, and it is needed. It might arise in your mind to say “teishevu” ke-ein taduru [“you will dwell” as you reside] Just as residing is a man and his wife, so sukka is a man and his wife. It [the received tradition] comes to teach us [otherwise]. Rava said: it is needed. It might arise in your mind to learn the “fifteenth” – the “fifteenth” from Pesach. Just as there women are obligated [to eat matza on the fifteenth of Nissan], so here women are obligated [to dwell in the sukka on the fifteenth of Tishrei]. It [the received tradition] comes to teach us [otherwise].
Marital Dwelling
ערכין ג:
הכל חייבין בסוכה, כהנים לוים וישראלים. פשיטא. אי הני לא מחייבי, מאן מיחייבי? כהנים איצטריכא ליה, סד”א [=סלקא דעתך אמינא]: הואיל וכתיב בסוכות תשבו, ואמר מר: תשבו שבעת ימים – כעין תדורו, מה דירה איש ואשתו אף סוכה איש ואשתו, והני כהנים הואיל ובני עבודה נינהו לא ליחייבו, קא משמע לן נהי דפטירי בשעת עבודה בלא שעת עבודה חיובי מיחייבי מידי דהוה אהולכי דרכים דאמר מר הולכי דרכים ביום פטורין מן הסוכה ביום וחייבים בלילה:
Arachin 3b
Everyone is obligated in sukka: Kohanim, Levi’im, and Yisraelim. That is simple; if these were not obligated, who would be obligated? [This teaching] is needed [for] Kohanim. It might have arisen in your mind to say: since “in sukkot shall you dwell” is written, and master said teishevu ke-ein taduru [you shall dwell as you reside], just as residing is a man and his wife, so sukka is a man and his wife. And these Kohanim, since they are eligible to perform service [in the Mikdash], one should not obligate them. It [the mishna] teaches us [otherwise]. Given that they are exempt at the time of service, when it is not at the time of service, they are obligated; this is comparable to travelers, for master said travelers during the day are exempt from sukka during the day and obligated at night.
מרדכי סוכה תשמא
מסקינן בשמעתין שאסור לישן חוץ לסוכה אכן סומכין העולם על דבר זה שיראים מן הצנה והוי כחולה שאין בו סכנה דפטור מן הסוכה או כמי שמצטער דפטור מן הסוכה:
Mordechai Sukka 741
We conclude in our learning [in the Talmud] that it is prohibited to sleep outside of the sukka. Indeed, everyone relies on this matter, that they are afraid of the cold, and it is like one with a non-life-threatening illness, who is exempt from sukka, or like one who is mitzta’er [in discomfort], who is exempt from sukka.
ספר מהרי”ל (מנהגים) הלכות סוכות
אמר מהר”י סג”ל עיקר המצוה לישן אשתו עמו בסוכה, וכן אמר שהוא נהג כן בימי בחורותיו.
Maharil Minhagim, Sukkot
Maharil said the fundamental mitzva is for his wife to sleep with him in the sukka, and so he said he practiced thus in the days of his youth.
דרכי משה תרלט:ג
והמרדכי פרק הישן כתב אבל העולם סמכו על דבר זה שיראים מצנה (עיין ב”י סימן תר”מ) ואפשר מזה נתפשט המנהג שרבים מקילים בשינת הסוכה ואף על גב דהטעם אינו מספיק…ול”נ [=ולי נראה] שנהגו להקל כי מצות סוכה לישן בה כמו שישן בביתו איש עם אשתו וכמו שדרשו חז”ל (סוכה כו.) תשבו כעין תדורו וכמ”ש [=וכמו שכתב] במהרי”ל שהיה ישן עם אשתו בסוכה ובזמן הזה שאין לכל אחד סוכה מיוחדת אלא רבים אוכלים ושותים בסוכה אחת אי אפשר להם לישן עם נשותיהן בסוכה כאחת ואם יניחו נשותיהן בביתן והאנשים ישנים בסוכה לפעמים הוי מצטער ולא מקרי כעין תדורו וכבר אמרו בעירובין (סג:) את נשי עמי תגרשון מבית תענוגיה [מיכה ב:ט] זה הישן בחדר שאיש ואשתו ישינים שם ואפי[לו] אשתו נדה ואף יבטל עי”ז [=על ידי זה] מצות עונה לפעמים או יבטל מה שנאמר ושמחת אתה וביתך כי לפעמים אשתו מצטערת ע”ז [=על זה] ועי”ז [=ועל ידי זה] נשתרבב המנהג להקל בדבר אך החרד אל דבר ה’ ישתדל לו מקום שיוכל לישן שם בלא צער וישן שם ויעבוד את ה’ בשמחה וכן נוהגין המדקדקים וכן אמרינן רפ”ק [=ריש פרק קמא] דערכין (ג:) בהדיא דבמקום שלא יוכל להיות עם אשתו לא מיקרי כעין תדורו ופטור מן הסוכה וכ”מ [=וכך מפורש] פרק הישן (שם) גבי חתן שפטור מן הסוכה וגבי נשים פטורות מן הסוכה (שם כה:) אף שיש לדחוק מ”מ [=מכל מקום] מזה נשתרבב המנהג סברא גדולה היא.
Darchei Moshe 639:3
Mordechai Sukkot ch. 4 wrote: but everyone relies on this matter, that they are fearful of the cold. And it is possible that from this the custom spread that many are lenient regarding sleeping in the sukka, even though this rationale is insufficient…And it seems to me that they adopted the practice to be lenient because the mitzva of the sukka is to sleep in it as one sleeps in his home, a man with his wife, as our sages expounded teishevu ke-ein taduru. And as Maharil wrote that he would sleep with his wife in the sukka. And nowadays when not everyone has a private sukka, but rather many eat and drink in one [shared] sukka, it is impossible for them to sleep with their wives in the sukka as one, and if they leave their wives in their homes and the men sleep in the sukka, sometimes he will be a mitzta’er and it will not be called ke-ein taduru. And they already said in Eiruvin 63b, “The women of My people you chase out from the house of their pleasure” [Micha 2:9], this is one who sleeps in a room in which a man and his wife sleep even if his wife is in nidda. And even through this [sleeping in the sukka, apart from his wife] he will sometimes nullify the mitzva of ona [regular marital relations] or will nullify what was said “and you shall rejoice, you and your household.” For sometimes his wife is distressed [mitzta’eret] over this. And through this the custom to be lenient in the matter made its way in, but one who trembles at the word of God will try to make a place where he can sleep there without discomfort and sleep there and serve God with joy, and thus do those who are careful [with mitzvot]. And so we say explicitly at the beginning of the first chapter of Arachin (3b), that in a place where he would not be able to be with his wife is not called ke-ein taduru and he is exempt from the sukka. And so is explained in chapter four of Sukka regarding a groom who is exempt from sukka and regarding women who are exempt from sukka (25b), even though one can push aside [this reading], in any case from this the custom worked its way in and this is a substantial rationale.
מגן אברהם תרלט:ח
…וצ”ע [=וצריך עיון] דבסוכה דף כ”ח סד”א [=סלקא דעתך אמינא] תשבו כעין תדורו מה דירה איש ואשתו אף סוכה איש ואשתו קמ”ל [=קא משמע לן] דנשים פטורות וי”ל דמ”מ [=ויש לומר דמכל מקום] הבעל אינו חייב בסוכה אלא במקום שיכול לדור שם עם אשתו ואם לאו ה”ל [=הוה ליה] מצטער ופטור לישן שם
Magen Avraham 639:8
…It requires study, for in Sukka 28, “It might arise in your mind to say teishevu ke-ein taduru [you will dwell as you reside]. Just as residing is a man and his wife, so sukka is a man and his wife. It [the received tradition] comes to teach us [otherwise],” that women are exempt. And one can say that in any case the husband isn’t obligated in sukka except in a place in which he can dwell there with his wife, and if not he is a mitzta’er and exempt from sleeping there.
ט”ז או”ח תרלט:ט
וה”נ [=והכי נמי] למי שנשוי אשה שחייב לשמח את אשתו ברגל כדלעיל סימן תקנ”ט ונשים פטורות מן הסוכה א”כ [=אם כן] אם אינו רוצה לפרוש מאשתו מקרי דבר מצוה וע”כ [=ועל כן] פטור מן הסוכה בלילה בשינה ואפי[לו] אם אשתו איננה טהורה מ”מ [=מכל מקום] שייך שמחה כשבעלה עמה בחדר
Taz OC 639:9
Here too for one who is married to a wife, that he is obligated to cause his wife to rejoice on the festival as above 558, and women are exempt from sukka. If so, if he does not want to separate from his wife it is called a matter of mitzva [to remain with her] and therefore he is exempt from sukka at night for sleeping and even if his wife is not ritually pure [for relations], in any case rejoicing applies when her husband is with her in the room.
משנה ברורה תרלט:א
ותשמיש המטה לא מקרי תשמיש בזוי דהוא בכלל תשבו כעין תדורו וגם בעצם לא מקרי תשמיש בזוי במה שהוא מקיים מ”ע [=מצות עשה] של פו”ר [=פרו ורבו] ועונה [אחרונים[
Mishna Berura 639:1
Marital relations are not considered a debasing use [of the sukka] for it is included in teishevu ke-ein taduru and also in itself is not considered a debasing use in so far as it fulfills the positive mitzvot of procreating and of marital relations.
משנה ברורה תרלט:יח
ומשמע מכמה אחרונים דמאן דא”א [=דאי אפשר] לו לישן עם אשתו בסוכה דאין לו סוכה מיוחדת לא יבטל זמן עונה וליל טבילה ואין לחייבו לאחר שנזדווג עם אשתו שיחזור לסוכתו אלא ישן בביתו עד עמוד השחר:
Mishna Berura 639:18
It sounds from a number of later authorities that one who is not able to sleep with his wife in the sukka, for he does not have a private sukka, should not nullify the time for relations or [relations] on the night of immersion, and one should not obligate him after copulating with his wife to return to his sukka, but rather he should sleep in his home until dawn.
Women in the Sukka
משנה סוכה ב:ח
…קטן שאינו צריך לאמו חייב בסוכה. מעשה וילדה כלתו של שמאי הזקן ופיחת את המעזיבה וסיכך על גבי המטה בשביל קטן:
Mishna Sukka 2:8
…A minor who does not need his mother is obligated in sukka. There was a story that Shammai’s daughter-in-law gave birth and he opened up the ceiling and placed sechach above the bed for the little one.
סוכה ב:
מיתיבי: סוכה שהיא גבוהה למעלה מעשרים אמה – פסולה, ורבי יהודה מכשיר עד ארבעים וחמשים אמה. אמר רבי יהודה: מעשה בהילני המלכה בלוד, שהיתה סוכתה גבוהה מעשרים אמה, והיו זקנים נכנסין ויוצאין לשם, ולא אמרו לה דבר…ועוד: כל מעשיה לא עשתה אלא על פי חכמים.
Sukka 2b
A response was brought from a baraita: A sukka which is higher than twenty cubits is unfit. And Rabbi Yehuda considers it fit up to forty or fifty cubits. Rabbi Yehuda said: A story of Heleni the Queen in Lud, whose sukka was taller than twenty cubits, and the elders would come in and go out of there and they said nothing to her [about it]…And further, all her deeds she only did in accordance with the sages.
שו”ת ראב”ן פז
מה שנהגו אבותינו שלא למחות בנשים הנוטלות לולב ומברכות עליו, וכן לישב בסוכה מברכות …ואי קשיא לך דרבי יהודה אדרבי יהודה דהכא [ביחס לסמיכה על קרבן] קאמר דמוחין בנשים ובמסכת סוכה אמר רבי יהודה מעשה בהילני המלכה… לרבי יהודה בלא ברכה יתבה [הילני] ולהכי לא מיחו, ואי משום ישיבה הא אמרי[נן] תשבו כעין תדורו ודירה איש ואשתו ומה אשה אגב בעלה ישבה אף הילני אגב בניה ישבה
Responsa Ra'avan 87
That which our forefathers were accustomed not to protest women taking lulav and reciting a beracha over it, and similarly dwelling in the sukka and reciting a beracha…And if it is difficult for you to reconcile the positions of Rabbi Yehuda, for here [regarding leaning on a korban] he said we protest women [voluntarily performing the mitzva] and in Tractate Sukka Rabbi Yehuda said there was a story of Heleni the queen…According to Rabbi Yehuda, she [Queen Heleni] dwelled [in the sukka] without reciting a beracha and therefore they did not protest. And if one were to raise an issue regarding dwelling [itself] because of what we say teishevu ke-ein taduru and residing is a man and his wife. Just as a wife dwells along with her husband, so Heleni dwelled along with her sons.
תוספות חולין קי:
שאומר ר”ת [=רבינו תם] דנשים מברכות אסוכה אף על גב דפטורות דהוי אינה מצווה ועושה
Tosafot Chullin 110b
For Rabbeinu Tam says that women recite a beracha over sukka even though they are exempt, for it is a case of one who is not commanded and performs [a mitzva voluntarily].
משנה ברורה תרמ:א
נשים ועבדים וכו’ – משום דהו”ל מ”ע [=דהוה ליה מצות עשה] שהזמן גרמא ונשים פטורות…ולענין ברכה כשרוצין לישב בסוכה עיין לעיל סי”ז דנוהגין הנשים לברך אכן אחרים לא יברכו להן אפילו אין יודעין בעצמן אם לא כשמברכין לעצמן:
Mishna Berura 640:1
Women and bondsmen etc. Since it is a positive time-bound commandment and women are exempt…and for the matter of a beracha when they want to dwell in the sukka see above 17, that women have the practice to recite a beracha. Indeed others [men] should not recite a beracha [just] for them [women] even if they [women] don’t know it for themselves if it is not when they [the men] are reciting a beracha for themselves.
הליכות ביתה כב:ו
אין האשה יכולה להוציא את האיש בברכת “לישב בסוכה”. הערה י: דכל הפטור ממצוה אינו מוציא את החייב.
Halichot Beitah 22:6
A woman cannot discharge a man in the beracha of “leishev ba-sukka.” Note 10: For anyone exempt from a mitzva cannot discharge one obligated.
ראבי”ה ב מגילה תקצז
וגבי נשים כי מקיימו מצות עשה ליכא יוהרא לכולי עלמא כיון דכולי עלמא יתבי בסוכה ותקעי שופר ונטלי לולב.
Ra'aviyah II Megilla 597
Regarding women when they fulfill a positive time-bound commandment there is no yuhara [spiritual aggrandizement] according to everyone, for everyone sits in the sukka and blows shofar and takes lulav.
ראבי”ה ב סוכה תרמ
דנשים הן מברכות על כל מצות עשה שהזמן גרמא ואינו יוהרא, כמו שהן יושבות בסוכה, דנהי שגדול המצווה ועושה ממי שאינו מצווה, מכל מקום מצוה הוי
Ra'aviyah II Sukka 640
For women recite berachot over all positive time-bound commandments and it is not yuhara [spiritual aggrandizement], as when they [women] dwell in the sukka, for granted that one who is commanded and does is greater, in any case it is a mitzva
כף החיים תרמ:ה
ומיהו מצוה על כל איש ישראל להושיב אשתו ובני ביתו עמו בסוכה להיותם מסתופפים בצלא דמהימנותא לטהר את נפשותם ולהודיע אליהם חסדי ה’ עם ישראל עמו ונחלתו תמיד כל הימים בעבור תהיה יראתו ואהבתו על פניהם לבלתי תחטאו
Kaf Ha-chayyim 640:5
Nevertheless it is a mitzva upon every man of Israel to cause his wife and household members to dwell with him in the sukka, that they shelter under the tzila de-mehemnuta [kabbalistic term for sukka (lit., the shadow of faith)] to purify their soul and to let them know the kindnesses of God with Israel, His people and eternal portion, all the days, in order that awe of Him and love of Him be before them, that they not sin.
סוכה ח:
תנו רבנן: גנב”ך—סוכת גוים, סוכת נשים, סוכת בהמה, סוכת כותים, סוכה מכל מקום–כשרה.
Sukka 8b
Our rabbis taught in a baraita: Ganba”ch—a sukka of Goyyim [non-Jews], a sukka of Nashim [women], a sukka for a Beheima [animal], a sukka of Kutim [Samaritans], a sukka from any place—is fit.
שו”ת אגרות משה או”ח ה:מ
ולע”ד [=ולפי עניות דעתי] משמע דאף ר”ת [=רבינו תם]…מודה דלסכך סוכה מותר אף לכתחילה ע”י [=על ידי] אשה. דלכן לא הזכיר רק הא דאין אשה אוגדת לולב ועושה ציצית, ולא גם דאינה מסככת סוכה, ולכן לא קשה עליו מסוכת גנב”ך שכשרה … והוא מטעם שאין במעשה הסיכוך עניין עשיית מצווה, אלא יצירת סוכה שיוכל לקיים בה המצווה…שלכן אם איכא סוכה שעשאוה גנב”ך, שנזדמן שסיככוה בסכך כשר כדין, ובדפנות כדין, ושנתנו לו רשות לאכול ולישן שם, ליכא שום חיסרון…
Responsa Iggerot Moshe OC 5:40
In my humble opinion, it implies that even Rabbeinu Tam…admits that to place sechach [the roof covering] on a sukka is permissible even le-chatchila by a woman. For therefore, he only mentions that a woman does not bundle a lulav or make tzitzit, and not also that she does not place sechach on the sukka. And therefore it is not difficult for him that the sukka of Ganba”ch is fit for use… And it is because there is no matter of performing a mitzva in the act of placing the sechach, but rather creating a sukka in which one will be able to fulfill the mitzva…For therefore, if there is a sukka that was made by Ganba”ch, which became available, on which they had placed fit sechach in accordance with the halacha, and with walls in accordance with halacha, and that they gave him permission to eat and sleep there, there is nothing lacking….
Ruchama King Feuerman, 'Sukkot and the Single Woman: A Holiday of Thankfulness and Self-Invention,' Tablet, September 16, 2013
Sukkot is the holiday of harvesting, of thankfulness. Every time I went to someone else’s house with her Talmudic scholar husband and her precocious kids, I was reminded again and again how richly they had harvested in life, and I hadn’t…Sukkot has always been a family-oriented holiday. Singles, especially single women, at least in Brooklyn, are expected to attach themselves to other families’ sukkahs. I couldn’t find any other Jewish woman who, like me, wanted a hut of her own…But that fall more than 20 years ago, I knew in my marrow that something had to change…. All in all more than 50 people passed through my sukkah. A couple got engaged in that sukkah (though they later divorced). Songs were sung, lulavs shaken, meals eaten, and blessings made. Inside these four walls, I felt generous, not pinched and deprived. Somehow here I had found my expression. In the sukkah, I felt contained by the four walls, enveloped, just as a fetus is held and contained by its mother. As though the sukkah was pregnant—with me….And I discovered that if I could build a sukkah, just maybe I could build a self.
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Hashkafic Q&A
Is a sukka a woman's space?
Whether the sukkot in which God settled us after the Exodus were physical booths or clouds of Glory, women dwelled in them and thus took part in the original sukka experience. Furthermore, on Sukkot the sukka becomes the home, and women play a central role in creating a Jewish home. So, though women aren’t obligated in sukka, a sukka should be a woman-friendly space.
Unfortunately, limited sukka resources can leave a woman who wishes to fulfill the mitzva scrambling for room of her own: A woman may struggle to find a sukka that accommodates her. When a sukka is too small to accommodate everyone, a woman might find herself in a pasul patch of sukka or altogether outside of it.
In light of these challenges, a community should be sensitive to those who might need open access to a sukka, extending invitations and encouraging interested women to build sukkot for themselves. Whenever possible, a sukka should be planned to accommodate all household members, and guests should be apprised of any sukka limitations upon invitation. Similarly, a communal sukka should ideally be designed to have room for the entire community.
Even a woman with space in a sukka may find herself wishing for more female representation there, a feeling which may be experienced more sharply when she invites male ushpizin into her sukka night after night, or observes pictures of only male religious figures decorating the sukka .
To address these feelings, we can invite one of the seven female prophets—Sara, Miryam, Devora, Chana, Avigayil, Esther, and Chulda—into the sukka each night, following the invitation to each of the ushpizin (like this), or can make special mention of women associated with the traditional male ushpizin: the imahot, Yocheved, Miryam, and Avigayil (like this). Hanging up pictures of one’s own teachers or of female Torah figures can enhance one’s sense of connection to the sukka and add to its general atmosphere.
We pray for the ultimate, redemptive sukka of peace. Our sukkot, like that one, should be spaces in which all Jews feel completely welcomed and at home.
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