On TB Sukkah 27-8 we first learn about Rabbi Eliezer’s complete commitment to Sukkot and then afterwards he shares his background so we can understand him better. I’m going to reverse the order so we get to learn about the man first and then learn about his total commitment to Sukkot.
“The Sages taught: There was an incident involving Rabbi Eliezer, who stayed in the Upper Galilee, and the people there asked him thirty halakhot in the halakhot of sukka. In response to twelve, he said to them: I heard an answer from my teachers, and he related what he heard. In response to the other eighteen, he said to them: I did not hear an answer. Rabbi Yosei, son of Rabbi Yehuda, says: It was the reverse of these matters. In response to eighteen he said to them: I heard an answer; in response to the other twelve he said to them: I did not hear an answer.
“They said to him: Are all the matters that you know only from what
you heard? Don’t you say any matters on your own? He said to them:
Now you forced me to say a matter that I did not hear from my teachers,
as I must describe my character traits and the manner in which I conduct
myself. In all my days, no person ever preceded me into the study
hall, as I am always first to arrive; and I never slept in the study
hall, neither substantial sleep nor a brief nap; and I never left anyone in the
study hall and exited, as I was always last to leave; and I never
engaged in idle conversation; rather, I discussed only necessary matters or
matters of Torah; and I never said anything that I did not hear from my
teacher. That is why he did not answer those questions that his teacher did
not address.”
(Sefaria.org translation)
His
teacher was none other than Rabban Yoḥanan
ben Zakkai! Why does Rabbi Eliezer give all this background? Rashi explains
that the reason that Rabbi Eliezer didn’t answer some questions was not due to
a lack of due diligence or laziness. Rabbi Eliezer study long and hard, but had
the custom of never saying anything he did not hear from his teacher. In other
words, he refused to innovate.
Upfront
I want to say that the halakha doesn’t follow him in the following three issues.
He
first rules that a person is obligated to eat 14 meals in his sukkah. “MISHNA: Rabbi
Eliezer says: A person is obligated to eat fourteen meals in the sukka
over the course of the seven days of the festival of Sukkot, one
during the day each day and one at night each night.” (Sefaria.org translation) In the land of Israel Sukkot is
celebrated for seven days. Back in Talmudic times, people ate two meals a day.
That would have been 14 meals. “The steward [apotropos] of King Agrippas asked Rabbi
Eliezer: For
someone like me, who is accustomed to eat only one meal a day, what is
the halakha? Is it sufficient that I eat one meal and exempt
myself from the obligation to eat any more that day? Rabbi
Eliezer said to him: Each day you continue eating and taste
various kinds of appetizers in deference to your own desires, and now
you do not continue eating even one appetizer in deference to your
Maker?” (Sefaria.org translation) The
Gemara does relate that Rabbi Eliezer changes his mind and says that person is
only obligated to eat the first two meals in the sukkah on the first day of the
holiday.
A person has to commit to
only one sukkah during the holiday. He cannot sukkah hop. “It is taught
in a baraita that Rabbi Eliezer says: One may not depart from
one sukka to another sukka; he must reside in the
same sukka for the entire Festival. And one may not establish
a sukka during the intermediate days of the Festival if he failed to
do so before the Festival. And the Rabbis say: One may depart from
one sukka to another sukka, and one may establish
a sukka on the intermediate days of the Festival. And they all, even
Rabbi Eliezer, agree that if a sukka that one constructed before
the Festival collapsed, he may rebuild it during the intermediate
days of the Festival.
“The Gemara asks: What is the rationale for the opinion of Rabbi
Eliezer that it is prohibited to move from one sukka to another
during the Festival? The Gemara explains it is as the verse says: “You shall
prepare for yourself the festival of Sukkot for seven days”
(Deuteronomy 16:13); this is interpreted to mean: Establish a sukka
that is suitable for seven days. It is considered a sukka suitable
for the mitzva only if it is established for seven days...
“It is taught in the baraita: And they agree that if a sukka
that one constructed before the Festival collapsed, he may rebuild it during
the intermediate days of the Festival. The Gemara asks: That is obvious;
why would it be prohibited? The Gemara answers: Lest you say that
according to Rabbi Eliezer this rebuilt sukka is
considered a different one and is not a sukka established for seven
days, therefore, the baraita teaches us that Rabbi Eliezer agrees
that it is considered to be the same sukka.” (Sefaria.org translation)
A
man with more than one problem asks whether he Eliezer about this issue. “And the steward further
asked Rabbi Eliezer: For someone like
me, who has two wives, one in Tiberias and one in Tzippori, and has two sukkot,
one in Tiberias and one in Tzippori, what is the halakha? Can I
depart from one sukka to another sukka and exempt
myself from the obligation? In other words, is it permitted to fulfill the
mitzva in one sukka for part of Sukkot and in another for the
rest of the Festival? Rabbi Eliezer said to him: No, as I
say that anyone who departs from one sukka to another sukka
has negated the mitzva of the first. The obligation is to reside in the
same sukka for all seven days.”
(Sefaria.org translation)
His
last ruling is that each person who was obligated to dwell in a sukkah must
have his own sukkah. “It
is taught
in another baraita that Rabbi Eliezer says: Just as a person
does not fulfill his obligation on the first day of the Festival with the lulav
of another, as it is written: “And you shall take for yourselves on the first
day the fruit of a beautiful tree, branches of a date palm” (Leviticus 23:40), and
the Sages derive from the phrase: Shall take for yourselves, that it must be
taken from your own and not from that of someone else, so too, a
person does not fulfill his obligation with the sukka of another, as it
is written: “You shall prepare for yourself the festival of Sukkot for
seven days” (Deuteronomy
16:13), and the Sages derive from the term “for yourself” that it must be
taken from your own.”
(Sefaria.org translation) Tosefot just can’t wrap their heads around what Rabbi
Eliezer was teaching. According to his logic every male child over the age of
13 living in his house would need to have his own sukkah. I am sure you can
think of so many reasons why this would be impossible to maintain.
Even
though the halakha does not follow
Rabbi Eliezer in any of these rulings, we can admire his complete and absolute
commitment.
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