The Halakhah teaches that just as one is obligated to eat at least an olive-size piece of matzah on the first night of Pesach, so too is one obligated to eat at least an olive-size piece of bread in the sukkah on the first night of Sukkot. These requirements really only apply to the first night of the holiday: during the rest of Pesach, while we may not eat any hametz, we are not required to eat any more matzah. Similarly, on Sukkot, although we may not eat bread or cake products outside of the sukkah, we could refrain from eating at all or we could choose to only eat foods that do not require eating in the sukkah. Our obligation is fulfilled on the first night. So the question arises: if one did not eat in the sukkah on the first night of Sukkot is the mitzvah simply lost forever or is it somehow possible to make it up?
The answer to this question is presented in a dispute in the Mishnah (Sukkah 27a). Rabbi Eliezer states: If a person did not eat a meal in the sukkah on the first night of Sukkot, he may make it up on the night of Shemini Atzeret. He bases this on a parallel case in the Mishnah Hagigah (1:6) that says that if one neglects to bring the sacrifice on the first day of Sukkot, he can make it up on Shemini Atzeret. The Hahamim, however, rule that the missed meal can not be made up, for we read in the book of Kohelet (1:15) that something "which is crooked cannot be made straight; and that which is lacking cannot be counted." This applies as much to one who missed eating matzah on the first night of Pesach, as it does to one who did not eat a meal in the sukkah on the first night of Sukkot. So, the Hahamim hold that in this case a missed mitzvah is lost forever, while Rabbi Eliezer rules that it can be made up.
The gemara asks a predictable yet important question of Rabbi Eliezer: How exactly does one make up this meal on Shemini Atzeret? It is suggested that one may do so simply by eating a nice yuntif meal on that day. But that idea is quickly rejected, because one will eat a nice yuntif meal on Shemini Atzeret regardless of what he did on the first night of Sukkot. How can you make up for something without doing something extra?
The gemara then tries another possibility. The missed Sukkot meal can be made up after the yuntif meal of Shemini Atzeret; the table should be cleared and all types of pastries and dainties and cakes and cookies should be brought out and eaten. Since eating these delicacies makes a person's heart joyous, they are seen as worthy compensation for the first festival meal of Sukkot.
Rashi, however, in his commentary on this piece of gemara points out something quite surprising. He realizes that Rabbi Eliezer's ruling was directed at people living in Israel, where no one eats in the sukkah on Shemini Atzeret. Therefore, the person who needs to make up the missed meal of the first night of Sukkot, does so not in the sukkah but inside their house. This is remarkable! According to Rashi, Rabbi Eliezer rules that one can make up for the lost sukkah meal without ever eating in a sukkah! This seems to make no sense. How could Rabbi Eliezer say such a thing?
To understand this unusual opinion of Rabbi Eliezer, I think one must think about the nature of the holiday on which one may make up the missed meal - Shemini Atzeret. After the month of Elul, a month filled with introspection and the saying of Selichot, Rosh Hashanah with its shofar blasts, tashlich and apples and honey, the Ten Days of Repentance, the fasting of Yom Kippur, and the sukkah-sitting and lulav-holding of Sukkot, the Torah decrees yet another holiday: "Bayom Hashemini Atzeret Teheye Lakhem, Kol Melekhet Avodah Lo Ta'asu -The eighth day shall be a restriction for you; you shall do no work at your occupations" (Bamidbar 29:35). The Midrash explains that after having spent this long holiday period in worship and rejoicing, as we are about to resume our regular daily lives, Hashem says to us: "It is difficult for me to part with you. Tarry a while longer. Stay another day." Therefore the festival is called "Shemini Atzeret," since the word Atzeret means "to tarry" or "to hold back" (Rashi on Vayikra 23:36). Okay Hashem, we will stay one more day, but won't you feel the same hurt tomorrow as we prepare to leave? Shemini Atzeret teaches us more than about Hashem's love for us: it is Hashem's way of telling us how to relate to Him. Hashem's telling us that while all the rituals are important and, of course, halakhicly binding, in the end they are means rather than ends. They are aides to make us feel connected to Hashem, but they are not always necessary. On Shemini Atzeret, Hashem says experience a holiday that is without any of the symbolic rituals. Connect with Me on your own. Shemini Atzeret is about simply being with Hashem. (See Kol Eliyahu on Devarim 16:5).
With this understanding of Shemini Atzeret, it is now possible to understand Rabbi Eliezer's ruling which allows one to make up the first meal of Sukkot on the night of Shemini Atzeret, without even eating in the sukkah. Rabbi Eliezer understood that Shemini Atzeret is about not using rituals to reach Hashem, it is about using yourself. Rabbi Eliezer felt that in the end, your actions alone, and not a ritual must make it up to Hashem. You can replace the meal you missed in the sukkah on Shemini Atzeret, even if you are in Israel, and therefore not in the sukkah because you are reaching out to Hashem with your essence.
Rabbi
Mordechai Friedfertig
Congregation B'nai Shalom
Williamsville,
New York
Email: mordechai at utj.org
Copyright 2001-2003 by Mordechai Friedfertig