By Rabbi Yair Hoffman for 5tjt.com
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Before we get into the question – let us note that tonight, the third night of Chol HaMo’ed is the Vilna Gaon’s yartzeit. This The latest rage in some of the “non-lower-scale” homes in our communities is to make indoor Sukkos in the house itself. These Sukkos use skylights that are either retractable or can be lifted up with a long pole and hook. Underneath the skylights are permanently installed bamboo poles. These Sukkos are found in the bedrooms of homes, the breakfast nooks, and also in the dining rooms. Some of them have both an electric opener for Chol HaMoed and a manual method for Yom Tov itself.
THE COMPLAINT
Recently, this author had received a number of emails questioning the propriety of such Sukkos. [The reason the emails were sent to me is because I recently discussed a shiur delivered by Rav Daniel Asher Kleinman in Agudath Israel of Long Island about a stuck skylight in just such a Sukkah]. They pointed out that we are told to “leave our home and enter the Sukkah” and this is not fulfilling that!
THE COUNTER-ARGUMENT
On the other hand, let’s consider a response to the complaint, “We are leaving the “house part” of our home and entering the “Sukkah part” of the home. And what is wrong with that?! These people complaining are just motivated by jealousy!”
THE TUR
In truth, it would be possible to respond to the complaint in this manner. However, the language of the Tur would be hard to reckon with.
The Rokayach (Hilchos Sukkah 218) asks why it is that Sukkos is observed in Tishrei as opposed to when Yetzias Mitzrayim actually happened in the month of Nissan six months later!
- The Rokayach answers that Tishrei is the beginning of winter and all beginnings belong to Hashem.
- The Tur (OC 625) provides a different answer. He explains that in the summer time it is not recognizable that the construction of the Sukkah is on account of the Mitzvah of Hashem. For many people do enter booths [or gazebos] during this time. Therefore, Hashem commanded that it be observed during the rainy season because then it is recognizable that he is doing it solely for observance of the Mitzvah of Hashem. He also writes this in his comments to parshas Emor 23:42. He writes, v’anachnu yotzim min habayis laishev baSukkah BaZeh yareh lakol sheMitzvas HaMelech hi.”
- Fascinatingly enough, however, the Vilna Gaon, who’s Yartzeit is tonight – the 19th of Tishrei (1797), gives us a third answer. He writes in his commentary to Shir HaShirim that the Clouds of Glory of which we commemorate when we sit in the Sukkah were there on the 15th of Tishrei specifically and NOT DURING NISSAN. He writes that when we did the Aigel the clouds disappeared not to re-appear until we began to make the Mishkan. Moshe came down on Yom Kippur and he gathered them on the next day – the 11th. They brought a nedavah for 2 more days the 12th and the 13th. Then they took the gold from Moshe on the next day – the 14th. They started the malacha of the Mishkan on the 15th (suggestion: It was only the measuring that they started on the Mishkan because medidah shel Mitzvah is permitted).
SO THE COMPLAINERS CAN HOLD LIKE THE TUR
Those who complain can hold like the Tur that the reason is to show that we are leaving our homes to perform the Mitzvah only because of the ratzon Hashem and to show it to everyone. The home Sukkos do not fully do that.
THE SKYLIGHT SUKKAH DWELLERS CAN HOLD LIKE THE VILNA GAON
The skylight Sukkah dwellers who have the Sukkos inside the homes can hold like the Vilna Gaon that the reason was to commemorate the return of the Ananei HaKavod which happened after we started the Mishkan.
JEALOUSY OR LISHMA
To address the, “They are just jealous” point, let us look at a fascinating Kochvei Ohr.
Rav Yisroel Salanter, the founder of the Mussar Movement delivered shiurim in Yeshivos throughout Russia. At the start of the mussar movement, there were those that erroneously thought that Mussar was only for those who could not handle the depth and profundity of deep Talmud study. A prankster decided to change the list to a number of unrelated random sources. Rav Yisroel took ten minutes to create a new shiur and proceeded to deliver a masterful Talmudic lecture.
His prime student, Rav Yitzchok Blazer, writes in his Sefer the Kochvei Ohr that Rav Salnater did not actually use the full ten minutes to formulate his Talmudic Shiur. Rav Salanter’s mind was sheer lightning and he had a thorough mastery of Shas. Rav Blazer explained that of the ten minutes, he used two
minutes to formulate the shiur. The remaining eight minutes he used to work on his motivations. He wanted to make sure that he was motivated only by the truest and most proper of intentions – to promote the study of Mussar and not to show off his learning skills.
Every Shabbos we daven to Hashem vetaher libeinu l’avdecha b’emes – we ask Hashem to purify our hearts – in our motivations as to why we serve Hashem. And there is no limit to the kavannah that we can place in the performance of our Mitzvos.
POINT FROM RAV HENOCH LEIBOWITZ
We should also be aware that there is no limit to the heights and growth we can accomplish in our ruchniyus – indeed in any Mitzvah. This can be seen from a passage of the Targum Yonasan on Sefer Rus. Boaz tells Rus that he is aware of both how she came and joined up the nation of Israel, and also of all the Chessed that she had performed with her mother-in-law. The Targum Yonasan on this Pasuk explains that because they were written next to each other and said in the same breath, these two Mitzvos were equal to each other.
This is somewhat mind-boggling. Rus was a princess of Moav, a very powerful nation. It is a remarkable notion that one of the top women in society would give it all up to become a lowly member of the Jewish nation that must take Tzedakah. Is this lofty Mitzvah equal to the mere Chessed that she does with her mother-in-law?
The answer, according to Rav Henoch Leibowitz zt”l. is that there is no spiritual limit to any Mitzvah that we perform. If we do a Mitzvah or chessed, any Mitzvah or any chessed, with the right intentions and Kavannah – it can be equal to the greatest of Mitzvos.
Let’s keep this in mind in all that we do especially over Yom Tov!
The author can be reached at [email protected]
What’s worse: the complete amoratzus or bal tosif?! Learn the actual sugya, and you will not find any rishon or acharon who would prohibit the skylight sukkahs. Whatever people did or didn’t do historically is irrelevant to issues of halacha; only the poskim on pages of Tur and Shulchan Oruch matter. The problem is not just that the author is looking for problems when there are none, but it is a fundamental problem of misrepresentation of Toras Hashem.
The mishnah in Sukkah discusses different cases where someone is using the beams of their home for a sukka…. the musar haskel is a nice one but the halachik aspect is a non issue.
Rav Zevin brings that The Tzemach Tzedek was known to have two sukkahs, one of which was indoors under a removable roof.
It’s a Mishna. Shamai made a skylight so his newborn grandson could sleep in a sukkah.
This author takes a nice pshat from the tur and makes up halachos from it.
Yes according to the tur as well there is no problem with a skylight sukkah! You can’t make up new halachos! Halacha says clearly the walls of the sukkah can be made from anything
Abaye said to him: But if that is so, then if
he constructed a sukka with steel partitions
and placed roofing over them, so too, there,
say that it would not be a fit sukka, as any
sukka constructed as a permanent residence
would be unfit. However, there is no opinion
that deems a sukka of that sort unfit.
Rava said to him in response that this is
what I am saying to you: In a case where one
constructs a sukka up to twenty cubits high, a
height that a person typically constructs a
temporary residence, when he constructs a
structure of that height that is sturdy like a
permanent residence, he also fulfills his
obligation. However, in a case where one
constructs a sukka more than twenty cubits
high,
a height that a person typically
constructs a permanent residence,
even
when he constructs it in a less sturdy fashion
like a temporary residence, he does not fulfill his obligation
Building , decorating , and visiting other people’s succahs soon a thing of the past. No children excited to decorate , no yomtov spirit of seeing interesting ones on streets , porches or fire escapes. Hottest thing will be to visit homes with skylight succahs.
When mentioning the Vilna Gaon , you omitted the opinion that bnei yisroel sat in actual sukkos , ananei hakavod were another thing.
I heard from a wealthy individual that the Klausenburger Rav Ztz’l instructed him not to have an indoor succah for this reason.
So let’s get practical. It’s starts drizzling – what do you do ? Close the skylight of course. Then how long do you wait ? Forever ? You don’t want the carpeting ruined. In an ordinary succah you might tough it out for a bit longer and even get the meal all in if rain persists. And under skylight ? It’s 1st Succah night and you’re an ehrlicher yid – what you going to do ?
Built in homes where they kvetch about how high their yeshiva tuition is. Yawn.
It’s cute and everything , but that’s not a lechatchila ? Otherwise , jews would have built their modest homes in Eretz Yisrael thousands of years ago with open roofs for a sukkah. There is no record of this in chazal .