Tuesday, Apr 23, 2024

Chagigah 7: Another Home

On this daf, we find a halacha regarding Yom Tov and Chol Hamoed.

The poskim point out that it is forbidden to leave the sukkah a mess, since it is not fitting. The essential tool for cleaning the sukkah is a broom. During Chol Hamoed, this is certainly not a problem, but what about on Yom Tov or Shabbos? It is obvious that if the floor of the sukkah is a dirt floor, it may not be swept with a broom, and the same is true regarding the area outside the sukkah. It seemed to one talmid chochom that a broom is forbidden on Shabbos or Yom Tov even in a sukkah that was built within a tiled courtyard. He said to himself, “After all, even using a broom in our homes is a question. Although the Biur Halacha rules that in a city where the houses are tiled one may sweep with a broom on Shabbos, why should this extend to one’s yard?”

When this question was presented to Rav Yosef Shalom Elyashiv, he disagreed: “It is permitted to sweep a tiled sukkah on Shabbos Chol Hamoed. Although you certainly may not sweep a tiled courtyard, this is irrelevant to one’s sukkah. Since a sukkah is a kind of home, we relate to it as such; it is no longer considered part of the yard.

He added, “The proof that a sukkah transforms its place into something different is seen in the Biur Halacha in siman 83. There we find that one who builds a sukkah on a place that was a bathroom nullifies its old status as a bathroom. Nevertheless, this only permits one to sweep in the sukkah, not outside of it” (Sukkah K’hilchaso 95).

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