Sukkah 021

1:
From the last couple of mishnahs that we have studied in this chapter it is clear that we are required to take our meals in the sukkah (with the exception of informal, chance meals and snacks). Many of the positive commandments of the Torah (i.e. "thou shalt" do something) can be measured. That is to say that when we have performed the mitzvah it is done — at least for a set period of time. For instance, we are required to eat matzah at the Seder service on Pesaḥ; but having eaten an olive-bulk of matzah we have fulfilled the obligation for that year and we do not have to go on constantly and endlessly eating matzah throughout the festival. (On the other hand, a command such as "honour your father and mother" is not limited and no one can ever say that he or she has now fulfilled that mitzvah and can ignore it from now on.) So, how many meals are we required to eat in the sukkah during the festival?

2:
It was customary in the time of the sages for people to eat two meals a day. One was mid-morning and the other during the evening. (Perhaps today we would speak of brunch and supper.) People would start their workday — without breakfast — and take a break during the morning for a meal. At the beginning of the evening, soon after nightfall, they would have a second meal.

3:
Rabbi Eli'ezer is of the opinion that all fourteen meals must be eaten in the sukkah — two meals a day for all seven days of the festival. There is a certain logic to his thinking. The Torah [Leviticus 23:42] says

We have already established that "residence" in the sukkah was understood by the sages as implying eating, drinking and sleeping — and most especially eating. So Rabbi Eli'ezer is saying that not only must one eat one's meals in the sukkah but it is obligatory to eat two meals in the sukkah every day. Additional snacks may be eaten outside the sukkah, but they cannot replace any of the obligatory meals.

4:
Rabbi Eli'ezer was one of the most prominent rabbis in the generation that lived through the destruction of the second Bet Mikdash (August 70 CE) and played a major part in the task of reconstruction after the débacle. He was greatly respected by his colleagues, but was also recognized as holding heterodox opinions in halakhah. By that I do not mean to imply heresy; he just toed a different line than most of his colleagues. He was called a 'Shamuti', meaning that he leaned towards the teachings of the school of Shammai rather than the more prevalent teachings of the school of Hillel. He was very conservative in his religious views.

5:
You may recall that the school of Hillel represented the urban working classes whereas the school of Shammai represented those who were more wealthy and rural. (I accept here the description of Louis Finklestein on this matter.)

6:
The rest of the sages do not accept the view of Rabbi Eli'ezer. Despite the fact that his view is a reasonable understanding of the command of the Torah it ignores the fact that ritual mitzvot must have some definable terminus ad quem. That is to say that in ritual matters one must be able to say that the mitzvah has been performed.

7:
The sages draw a parallel between the festivals of Pesaḥ and Sukkot. As we have noted above the command to eat matzah is limited to the first night of Pesaḥ alone. In his commentary on our mishnah Rambam explains:

Just as on Pesaḥ one is excused from eating matzah after the Seder service if one chooses not to, so on Sukkot one is excused from eating in the sukkah after the first night of the festival if one so chooses. (The sages would agree that even so, only a snack can be eaten outside the sukkah; so if someone wants to live on snacks for the rest of the festival rather than take his meals in the sukkah he is at liberty to do so.)

8:
Rabbi Eli'ezer also holds that if the mitzvah of eating in the sukkah was — for some reason or another — not fulfilled on the first night of the festival it must be 'made up' or compensated for by eating in the sukkah on what he calls the last night of the festival, which is, in fact, the separate festival of Shemini Atzeret. This is indeed strange! There is no requirement at all to reside on the sukkah on Shemini Atzeret! The Torah is very specific that the festival of Sukkot lasts seven days.

9:
The rest of the sages again disagree. Unlike Pesaḥ, there is no YomTov on the last — seventh — day of Sukkot: it is Ḥol ha-Mo'ed, a working day of the festival. So, even if the sages were to accept the idea of Rabbi Eli'ezer of compensation (which they do not) there is no way that the omission from the first night can be compensated for on the last night; and we specifically refrain from eating in the sukkah on Shemini Atzeret in order to demonstrate that it is a different festival.

10:
The sages apply to such a situation a verse from the book of Kohelet (which is traditionally read during the festival of Sukkot):

The meal in the sukkah on the first night of the festival has been missed and that's all there is to it: it cannot be replaced. (Of course, one can continue eating in the sukkah for the rest of the festival.)