October 03, 2004
In Sukkos You shall Blog Seven Days
Biur Chametz is concerned that the main mitzvah (commandment) of dwelling in the Sukkah is the sleeping not the eathing. He wonders why that is.
I don't have a definitive answer, but unless I'm very wrong 30 to 40 years ago, people generally didn't have Sukkahs. It's only since the 1970's that they have become commonplace in America. Granted I was a child at the start of the time in question, but when we lived in Springfield Mass, I'm pretty certain that we were one of only a few families who had their own Sukkah. I'm pretty certain that when we moved to Baltimore in 1968 that the same held true.
That doesn't answer Biur's question. But if one was introducing a new practice, what would meet with less resistance? Eating or sleeping? I suspect the latter. (Also going to the time when there were fewer Sukkahs and the Shul -synagogue - had one, what would the Shul offer? For people to eat or sleep in the Sukkah. Maybe that got transferred to private Sukkah owners too.)
But if Biur's friend enjoys the Mitzvah of sleeping in the Sukkah, he has nothing on Aishel, who's bloging in his!
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I can only speak for myself, but I personally think that its easier to eat in the sukkah than to sleep in it. With food, you're only there for a few minutes, not to hard. For sleeping, you have to rearrange furniture, carry out a bed, blanket, etc. Its much harder.
Oh and btw, its quite the party in my sukkah. Both my father and I are both on our laptops working :) If only my mother was in town, we'd have three laptops in here!
Posted by: aishel at October 3, 2004 05:30 PM