“A Good Night’s Sleep…or Not”
A Moral Dilemma for the Yom Tov Table
By Rabbi Yitzi Weiner
As we all know, it is a mitzva to spend as much time as possible in a succah. This includes eating, sleeping and even socializing in the succah. However if one is mitztaer, if one is uncomfortable in the succah because of the weather, insects or another persistent annoyance, one is exempt from the mitzva. In fact when one is exempt from the succah, there is no mitzva at all to stay in the succah. (click here for some inspirational stories about Succos.)
This brings us to the following interesting moral dilemma.
There were four Jewish college students who shared an apartment. They were going to be in their apartment for Succos so they decided to pool their resources and build a succah together. Each student contributed $250 and together they had $1000 to purchase a nice succah. They were all equal partners with regard to owning the Succah.
On the first night of Succos, the four friends were excited to eat in and use their new succah. The weather was perfect and they all brought sleeping bags into the succah and planned to sleep in the succah, as is required.
All four of them went to bed peacefully. However an hour after they went to sleep, three of the friends were woken up. Yair, their friend, had a deviated septum. This caused him to snore very loudly. All three friends were woken up and they were unable to fall asleep again because of Yair’s loud snoring.
Not being able to fall asleep, and therefore being mitztaer, uncomfortable, the three friends laughed about it and went to bed inside. At that point they were exempt from sleeping in the succah. Yair stayed asleep peacefully.
The next day all four friends laughed about what happened. Yair sincerely apologized for waking his friends and causing them to leave the succah.
The next night, after they all finished their meal, they considered what they should do about sleeping in the succah. The three friends suggested to Yair that tonight, perhaps he should sleep inside so that the other three could sleep in the succah.
Yair fully understood their argument and was happy to comply. However he raised the following potential halachic objection.
“I slept peacefully last night and I was not mitztaer, not uncomfortable. I therefore have an obligation and mitzva to sleep in the succah tonight. You three are mitztaer so you are patur, exempt. You can’t ask me to leave, because I have an obligation to sleep in the succah tonight. You don’t have a mitzva so perhaps you should leave”.
The three friends responded that they were the majority and it is not fair that one person should force the majority to leave the succah. They said he should sleep out of the succah to allow them to get the mitzva of sleeping in the succah.
Who is right, Yair, or the three friends?
See Veharev Na Volume Three page 486
Answer to last week’s moral dilemma
This story is discussed in Veharev Na Volume One page 358
The first drawing was null and void because it was missing one of the paying “clients”
Therefore the prize should go to the winner of the second drawing.
Have a wonderful Succos!
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