Sleeping in Sukkah: Difference between revisions

==Leaving the table in the Sukkah==

# Even though one major authority states that one must leave the table in the Sukkah while one sleeps, many disagree and say that one doesn’t need to be strict but should be if there’s no need to remove the table and so is the custom. <Ref> Mishna Brurah 640:27 writes that if one takes the table out of the Sukkah in order to sleep one doesn’t fulfill the mitzvah since the Sukkah must be useful for all purposes and if one isn’t able to sleep in it with a table, one doesn’t fulfill the mitzvah of eating it in either. At first glance there appear to be no early sources to corroborate this stringency, however Mikrai Kodesh (Siman 35 pg 155) and Sh”t Shraga Meir 5:55 both try to defend the Mishna Brurah. Moadim UZmanim (Rav Moshe Shternbach; Vol 1, Siman 87) quotes someone who actually saw the Chafetz Chaim act this way in practice. Orchot Rabbenu (Vol 2 pg 229) writes that that the practice of the Steipler would leave a small table in his Sukkah when he slept. Similarly, Sh”t Az Nidabru 14:1 writes once such a holy mouth said such a ruling it’s proper to follow it. On the other hand, many achronim including Rabbi Eliezer Waldenburg in Sh”t Tzitz Eliezer 8:33, Rav Ovadyah Yosef in Chazon Ovadyah (pg 198), Rav Moshe Shternbach in Moadim UZmanim (Vol 1, Siman 87), and Piskei Teshuvot 640:8 argue on the Mishna Brurah saying that there’s no source for such a stringency and conclude that one may remove the tables if there’s a need for room to people to sleep (even a child who reached the age of Chinuch). Chazon Ovadyah and Moadim Uzmanim write the minhag is to remove the tables. </ref>

==Taking a short nap==

# It’s forbidden to sleep outside a Sukkah whether it’s a fixed sleep or a short nap. <Ref> S”A 639:2 </ref> (however, it's not even considered a nap if it's less than 53.7 seconds and many poskim hold that it's permissible while some forbid even that). <ref> Mishna Brurah 639:11 writes that even though one may not take a short nap outside the Sukkah one may take a nap that's less than the time it takes to walk 100 steps. Mishna Brurah 44:4 defines this time as around 1/67 of an hour (which is 53.7 seconds). Kaf HaChaim 639:27, Pri Megadim (M"Z 639:5), and Natai Gavriel 59:2 (as first stam-anonymous opinion) agree with Mishna Brurah. However, Bikurei Yacov 639:12 and Hilchot Chag BeChag (pg 44) argue on Mishna Brurah and forbid for any amount of time. </ref>