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Does your husband sleep in the sukka?
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amother
Goldenrod


 

Post Mon, Oct 05 2020, 9:53 pm
amother [ Lilac ] wrote:
I would agree. Someone said that the Shulchan Aruch claims men don't have to sleep in the sukka, and this is the closest I could find. I think only chassidim actually say that you don't have to sleep in the sukka, claiming that the sukka is too holy to sleep in. I'd be interested to know where that comes from, as it directly contradicts what Jews did for so long.

The easiest answer for why Jews stopped sleeping in the sukka is that they were afraid of their neighbors and/or the weather was too harsh for sleeping outside.


Being chabad, I've always struggled with this. This year I read in once upon a chosid a bit of the history behind this minhog

The sukkah represents the Ananei hakavod, and there is a very high level of g-dly revelation called makifin D'bina. Many tzadikim through generations appear to have been able to sleep there regardless, but it bothered the Chabad Rebeim. Though the Alter Rebbe ruled in SA that it is a Mitzvah to sleep in the sukkah, he was unable to, because he was so affected by this strong G-dly revelation. His son, Rabbi Dovber, later the Mitteler Rebbe served as a mentor to the young married men, and when he heard that some of them were sleeping in the sukkah, he expressed shock saying that a Chosid needs to live with honest self awareness as to his level. Even if he does not feel the revelation in the Sukkah, he should still not sleep there since when he is awake he can control himself to act in a manner befiting this level of revelation, when he is sleeping he lacks the self control needed.

...How this jives with the Halachah..? I think it's that if it causes discomfort there is no mitzvah. So I guess the knowledge that there is this revelation that he can't feel would/should bother a chosid to the point of discomfort or inability to sleep, thereby disobligating him.
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amother
Lilac


 

Post Mon, Oct 05 2020, 10:14 pm
amother [ Goldenrod ] wrote:
Being chabad, I've always struggled with this. This year I read in once upon a chosid a bit of the history behind this minhog

The sukkah represents the Ananei hakavod, and there is a very high level of g-dly revelation called makifin D'bina. Many tzadikim through generations appear to have been able to sleep there regardless, but it bothered the Chabad Rebeim. Though the Alter Rebbe ruled in SA that it is a Mitzvah to sleep in the sukkah, he was unable to, because he was so affected by this strong G-dly revelation. His son, Rabbi Dovber, later the Mitteler Rebbe served as a mentor to the young married men, and when he heard that some of them were sleeping in the sukkah, he expressed shock saying that a Chosid needs to live with honest self awareness as to his level. Even if he does not feel the revelation in the Sukkah, he should still not sleep there since when he is awake he can control himself to act in a manner befiting this level of revelation, when he is sleeping he lacks the self control needed.

...How this jives with the Halachah..? I think it's that if it causes discomfort there is no mitzvah. So I guess the knowledge that there is this revelation that he can't feel would/should bother a chosid to the point of discomfort or inability to sleep, thereby disobligating him.


You'd have to believe that:
Hashem gave us a mitzva we weren't meant to keep
No one before the Mittler Rebbe ever felt the kedusha of a sukka
Feeling holiness prevents you from sleeping (see the early life of Shmuel haNavi).

That's a difficult position to take.

I think it's more likely that Lubavitcher chassidim made a virtue of necessity. Just like the Rema wanted to suggest that it was shalom bayis, and not the cold, that kept men from sleeping in the sukka, perhaps Lubavitcher chassidim would rather say they're staying out of the sukka for holiness and not the cold.
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amother
Goldenrod


 

Post Tue, Oct 06 2020, 3:41 am
amother [ Lilac ] wrote:
You'd have to believe that:
Hashem gave us a mitzva we weren't meant to keep
No one before the Mittler Rebbe ever felt the kedusha of a sukka
Feeling holiness prevents you from sleeping (see the early life of Shmuel haNavi).

That's a difficult position to take.

I think it's more likely that Lubavitcher chassidim made a virtue of necessity. Just like the Rema wanted to suggest that it was shalom bayis, and not the cold, that kept men from sleeping in the sukka, perhaps Lubavitcher chassidim would rather say they're staying out of the sukka for holiness and not the cold.

That logic would work if they generally shyed away from being in the sukkah. Chabad chassidim won't so much as take a sip of water out of the sukkah. Rain, snow or shine.
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amother
Lilac


 

Post Tue, Oct 06 2020, 4:58 am
amother [ Goldenrod ] wrote:
That logic would work if they generally shyed away from being in the sukkah. Chabad chassidim won't so much as take a sip of water out of the sukkah. Rain, snow or shine.


It's much easier to eat in a sukka in the cold than to sleep there. Again, could it really be that for thousands of years no Jew felt the holiness of the sukka enough to be afraid to keep the mitzva?

I respect what others do, though I think it's fair to ask for logical explanations when a behavior deviates from the accepted practice.
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amother
Goldenrod


 

Post Tue, Oct 06 2020, 5:08 am
amother [ Lilac ] wrote:
It's much easier to eat in a sukka in the cold than to sleep there. Again, could it really be that for thousands of years no Jew felt the holiness of the sukka enough to be afraid to keep the mitzva?

I respect what others do, though I think it's fair to ask for logical explanations when a behavior deviates from the accepted practice.

Totally. I dont have an answer to your question, but I do appreciate your respectful tone.

(I could conjecture, that it did affect some tzadikim but was never a practice adopted by the general public until the time of the Mitteler Rebbe.)
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amother
Teal


 

Post Tue, Oct 06 2020, 5:15 am
Raisin wrote:
No, Chabad doesn't. And its pretty cold and wet in any case. But my husband and son only eat and drink in a sukkah. Was quite challenging in the rain storm yesterday, my son put his soup under a chair on the table so it wouldn't get too diluted with rain.


There is a clear, explicit halacha that you are patur from eating in the sukkah when rain dilutes the soup...

So this would enter in the category of "chassid shoteh", sorry to say...
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amother
Purple


 

Post Tue, Oct 06 2020, 11:22 am
We live in a warm climate, but my husband said that since every time he would sleep in the succah he would get sick, he stopped. I used to feel bad about this but Covid changed my mind. Your health is paramount.
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