Eating in the Sukkah: Difference between revisions

#If one ate more than a [[Measurements#KeBaytzah|KeBaytzah]] of [[Pas Haba Bikisnin]] (cookies and cakes) one must eat it in the [[Sukkah]] and the Ashkenazic minhag is to make a bracha of LeShev BaSukkah. If one eating it as a snack and not a meal then it is preferable to establish one's residence in the [[Sukkah]] for a brief time before or after eating and have in mind when making the bracha that it should cover the eating and the sitting in the [[Sukkah]].<ref>Mishna Brurah 639:16, [http://www.hebrewbooks.org/pdfpager.aspx?req=20231&pgnum=604 Maamar Mordechai 639:3], [http://www.hebrewbooks.org/pdfpager.aspx?req=46442&pgnum=245 Natai Gavriel 49:1-3]. Both the Maamar Mordechai and Nitai Gavriel clarify that there's no distinction between Pat Haba Bkisnin and other cooked mezonot dishes. Divrei Dovid 1:40 agrees and writes that if someone has a meal of noodles they must eat it in the sukkah. Rav Ovadia is quoted in Mshiurei Maran Rishon Letzion v. 1 p. 110 that one can eat up to 55 grams of noodles out of a sukkah.

*Based on Tosfot and Rosh, Tur and Shulchan Aruch O.C. 639:2 conclude that for cooked mezonot dishes require a Sukkah if one establishes them as a meal. What is a keviyut seudah? The Maamar Mordechai 639:3 learns from the Magen Avraham 639:6 that keviyut seudah depends on a person's intention to have a meal as opposed to have a snack and not on any objective amount. Aruch Hashulchan 639:9 and Biur Halacha 639:2 s.v. im agree. The Magen Avraham 639:6 disagrees with the Rosh that keviyut seudah isn't whatever a person has for a meal but anything more than a Kbeytzah. The Mishna Brurah 639:15 is concerned for the Rosh but doesn't require a bracha of leshev.

*Cooked Dish: Maamar Mordechai 639:3, Aruch Hashulchan 639:9, and Nitai Gavriel 49:1-3 hold that there is no distinction between a cooked dish and Pat Haba Bkisnin.

*However, Nitai Gavriel Sukkot 49:3 argues that if one eats more than a Kbeytzah of any mezonot food the Ashkenazic minhag is to recite a Leshev Bsukkah.</ref>

##If one is going to stay a short in the sukkah and eat a kebeytzah of pat haba bkisnin one should recite a bracha of leshev bsukkah before the mezonot. Some poskim that one can recite it between the mezonot and eating.<ref>Piskei Hahalachot 639:30 quotes a dispute between Rav Shlomo Zalman Auerbach (Shemirat Shabbat Kehilchata ch. 45 fnt. 45) and Rav Nissim Karelitz (Chut Shani p. 250) whether one should recite leshev bsukkah in advance of reciting mezonot so that it isn't an interruption between the mezonot and eating since the bracha isn't upon the eating exclusively. Rav Karelitz argues that one can recite leshev between the mezonot and eating as usual since the bracha of lshehev is primarily for the eating.</ref>

#If one ate more than a [[Measurements#KeBaytzah|KeBaytzah]] of a cooked dish made out of the five grains (such as noodles) one must eat in the Sukkah. If one establishes it as a meal one should recite a Leshev Basukkah. If one is just eating it as a snack, according to Ashkenazim, there is a dispute if one should recite a Leshev Basukkah.<ref>See footnotes to the previous halacha.</ref>

#Sephardim hold that even though one must eat it in a [[Sukkah]] (if one eats more than a [[Measurements#KeBaytzah|KeBaytzah]]), one doesn't make the bracha of LeShev BaSukkah unless one ate 162 grams of a [[Pat Haba Bkisnin]] food, and it's preferable to eat 216 grams in order to make the bracha according to all opinions. For cooked dish mezonot foods there is no bracha of leshev basukkah.<ref>Chazon Ovadyah ([[Sukkot]] pg 132-6), Yalkut Yosef (Moadim pg 142-3) </ref> If one made a meal out of the noodles with 162 grams one must eat it in the sukkah and recite the bracha of Leshev Bsukkah even according to Sephardim.<ref>Shulchan Aruch O.C. 639:2, Chazon Ovadia p. 136. Yalkut Yosef (Sukkah, 5775, p. 690) holds that we recite a bracha like the Shoel Vnishal 3:95 and 3:165 and Etz Shatul 49 unlike the Ben Ish Chai (Yedey Chaim p. 93). </ref>

===If One Is Not Eating===

#If one plans to sit or sleep in the sukkah for a significant period of time without eating foods that require a sukkah, one should not recite a bracha of leshev ba’sukkah. Some poskim, however, assume that one can recite leshev ba’sukkah.<ref>

*The Gemara (Sukkah 45b) records a dispute whether one should recite one bracha of leshev ba’sukkah for all of Sukkot or for each day. Tosfot (s.v. echad) explains that the opinion who says to make it each day really holds one should recite a bracha each time one enters the sukkah. The Rosh (Sukkah 4:3), Rif (22a), and Rambam (Sukkah 6:12) hold like the opinion who holds one should make it each time one enters the sukkah.

# Some poskim hold woman shouldn't answer amen to the bracha of Leshev Bsukkah in the kiddush if they plan to drink wine or grape juice since it could be a hefsek,<ref>[https://www.torahanytime.com/#/lectures?a=125962 Rav Dovid Yosef (Mitzvat Yeshiva Bsukkah 5781 min 9)] citing his father, Rav Ovadia Yosef, holds that it is forbidden for the women to answer amen. [https://www.yutorah.org/sidebar/lecturedata/1076067/Piskei-Rav-Schachter:-Rain-on-the-First-Two-Nights-of-Sukkos Rav Hershel Schachter (Teshuva Tishrei 5784)] agrees that they shouldn't answer amen.</ref> while others allow them to answer amen.<ref>Rav Moshe Feinstein (Igrot Moshe OC 4:101:1) explains that it isn't a hefsek for a woman to answer amen to shehechiyanu in kiddush even though she already said that bracha when she lit candles. The reason is that since the one making kiddush needs to recite that bracha for himself she may answer amen.</ref>

# Women may answer amen to the bracha of Leshev Basukkah at the end of kiddush even according to Sephardim that they may not recite the bracha themselves. The amen isn't considered an interruption between the kiddush and drinking wine or grape juice.<ref>Igrot Moshe OC 4:101:1</ref>

##According to Ashekenazim, one is not exempt from the [[Sukkah]]. Some poskim hold that one should wait an hour or two for the rain to stop. If it does, one should eat in the [[Sukkah]] with a bracha of Leshev Basukkah. But if it doesn't, one should recite [[Kiddush]] and eat a [[kezayit]] of bread in the [[Sukkah]] without the bracha of Leshev Basukkah.<ref>Rama 639:5, Mishna Brurah 639:35  

*Practically, the Rama 639:5 writes, that if it rains one should remain in the sukkah for kiddush and eating of the first kezayit of bread.

#If one recited [[Kiddush]] and ate a [[keyazit]] of bread in the [[Sukkah]] while it was raining and then one wakes up in the middle of the night and sees that it is not raining, some poskim hold that one does not have to get up to eat in the [[Sukkah]],<ref>Mishna Brurah 639:36</ref> while others hold that one should get up to eat more than a kebeytzah of bread in the [[Sukkah]].<ref>[http://www.yutorah.org/lectures/lecture.cfm/749248/Rabbi_Zvi_Sobolofsky/_Eating_In_The_Succah_The_first_Night_Of_Succos_and_Hilchos_Mitztaer# Rabbi Tzvi Sobolovsky in a shiur on yutorah.org (min 30-5)] quotes Rabbi Mordechai Willig as having ruled that if it rains on the first night of [[Sukkot]] and one ate in the [[Sukkah]], and then fell asleep, if one wakes up and sees that it stopped raining, one should get up and eat a [[Kezayit]] in the [[Sukkah]] in order to be certain that one fulfilled this mitzvah deoritta. [https://www.yutorah.org/sidebar/lecturedata/1076067/Piskei-Rav-Schachter:-Rain-on-the-First-Two-Nights-of-Sukkos Rav Hershel Schachter (Teshuva Tishrei 5784)] agrees that he should eat again in the Sukkah. He adds that someone who woke up should even wake others up in order to fulfill this mitzvah. </ref>

#It is permissible for the men to make Kiddush in the Sukkah and the women and those who are exempt from Sukkah to listen to the Kiddush while staying inside.<ref>Shulchan Aruch O.C. 273:6, Mishna Brurah 273:28. [https://www.yutorah.org/sidebar/lecturedata/1076067/Piskei-Rav-Schachter:-Rain-on-the-First-Two-Nights-of-Sukkos Rav Hershel Schachter (Teshuva Tishrei 5784)] writes that in such a situation the women should make kiddush for themselves inside.</ref>

#If the rain stops but your Sukkah is still too wet to sit in, and someone else has a Sukkah which had a shlok (roof) on their Sukkah to protect it from the rain on the first two nights of Sukkot he must go and eat in his friends Sukkah that is dry.<ref>[https://www.yutorah.org/sidebar/lecturedata/1076067/Piskei-Rav-Schachter:-Rain-on-the-First-Two-Nights-of-Sukkos Rav Hershel Schachter (Teshuva Tishrei 5784)] explains that the type of mista'er (pain that exempts a person from Sukkah) to have to go to his friend's Sukkah only exempts him the other days of Sukkot but not the first two nights of Sukkah since at the time when he's sitting in the Sukkah he won't be mista'er. </ref>

 

=== If it rains the second night of [[Sukkot]] ===

 

# If it rains the second night of Sukkot, according to Ashkenazim, it isn't necessary to wait to see if the rain is going to stop. He should just recite Kiddush inside and at the end of the meal eat a kezayit of bread in the Sukkah, even if the rain has not yet stopped. If it is still raining he should not recite Leshev Basukkah. If afterwards it stopped raining he should return to the Sukkah to eat more than a Kebaytzah with a bracha of Leshev Basukkah. This is the strict halacha, however, some poskim hold that it is proper even on the second night to wait a little bit to see if the rain is going to stop.<ref>Mishna Brurah 639:36. In Shaar Hatziyun 639: 71 he cites Magen Avraham who is lenient not to require sitting in the Sukkah at all on the second day if it is raining, but rejects that opinion because Radvaz and Eliya Rabba argue that the second day is like the first day for this matter. </ref>

## Some poskim argue that it isn't necessary to sit in the rain in the Sukkah on the second day of Sukkot. If someone wants to be strict they may eat a kezayit of bread in the Sukkah in the middle or end of the meal.<ref>Magen Avraham 639:15, Shulchan Aruch Harav 639:19, Aruch Hashulchan 639:18</ref>

Taz 639:14 explains that davening which is usually outside one's house can be in a shul since it is always outside the house. However, those who generally do havdalah at their house should do it in the sukkah. Pri Megadim M"Z 639:14 writes that the minhag is to do havdalah in the sukkah. The Taz and Mishna Brurah seem to be understanding that the reason to do havdalah in the sukkah is because one should spend one's time and do all of one's normal household activities in one's sukkah. Since one normally does havdalah at home one should do it in the sukkah. Hilchot Chag Bchag ch. 13 fnt. 30 and Shoshanat Yisrael p. 113 understand the Mishna Brurah this way. However, the Shevet Halevi 6:42 understands that the reason to do havdalah in the sukkah seems only to be because havdalah is an established way to drink wine and that requires a sukkah (see Magen Avraham 639:5). If that is the case, in fact, Rav Ovadia (Chazon Ovadia Sukkaot p. 140) disagrees and thinks that there's no obligation to do havdalah in the sukkah since even drinking wine in an established way doesn't need a sukkah according to the Rama 639:2. Additionally, Shoshat Yisrael cites Rav Shlomo Miller as holding that the only reason to do havdalah in the sukkah is because of the drinking.</ref> If one does it in the succah there is a discussion if you should recite the beracha.<ref>Shevet HaLevi 6:42 writes that no beracha of leshev basuccah is recited upon havdalah because it isn't a keviat seuda. However, Chazon Ish quoted in Rivevos Efrayim 1:428 and 3:424 rules that since it is wine for [[havdala]] it elevates the level of drinking to keviat seuda, and therefore would require the beracha. Rav Shlomo Zalman Auerbach (Shemirat Shabbat Kehilchata ch. 58 fnt. 103 cited by Dirshu 639:36) agrees. Rav Elyashiv in Succas Chayim page 202 rules that this applies only to wine and not to grape juice. The Steipler in Orchos Rabbeinu 2: page 228 as well as Shemirat Shabbat Kehilchita 58:22 recommend eating bread immediately after [[havdala]] to avoid any doubts, and recite leseh basuccah Shemirat Shabbat kihilchita recommends reciting the leshev basuccah before the boreh pri hagefen. Sh"t Minchat Yitzchak 9:163 says that one should have in mind when eating seudat shlishit to have in mind specifically, that the leshev basukkah recited then will not cover [[havdala]], then when reciting [[havdala]] say the beracha and immediately start eating melaveh malka. </ref>

# Some say that the if it is difficult to hear for a man to hear havdalah in the sukkah it is permissible for him to listen to havdalah from someone who is exempt from the sukkah because he is pained by going to the sukkah and is saying it outside the sukkah.<ref>Shoshat Yisrael p. 113 quoting Rav Shlomo Miller because there's no reason the one listening to the havdalah needs to be in the sukkah, just the one drinking.</ref>