Aim Away From The Chicken Soup!
It might be cold and rainy but it’s still Sukkos so here’s a halachic question for you. Are you allowed to pee in the Sukkah?
It might sound like a crazy question but let’s go back in time a little. Remember that Torah goes hand in hand with history. Not too long ago there was no such thing as indoor plumbing. People in small towns in eastern Europe lived in houses with dirt floors that were pretty much shacks. Actually if you visit there today you’ll still find people in small towns living in small shacks without indoor plumbing. Even in people’s own houses they sometimes peed into a container rather than making the trek to the outhouse. Kind of like a spitoon but for urine and with a cover for when you’re done so you don’t stink up the place. So the question was asked whether you can do that in a Sukkah just like you do it in your house.
The Chayei Adam said that you can’t because a Sukkah has a certain amount of holiness and that is how the Mishnah Brurah holds. However the Minchas Elazar argues that you can and says that he personally saw great and holy rabbis do it! I’m guessing that it must have been his father and grandfather, both great chassidic rabbis themselves, who he saw because it’s the kind of thing you don’t do around strangers.
To give a little context the Minchas Elazar was Rabbi Chaim Elazar Shapiro (1871-1936, Hungary), the Munkaczer Rebbe. The Chayei Adam was Rabbi Avraham Danzig (1748-1820, Lithuania). And the Mishnah Brurah was Rabbi Yisrael Meir Kagan (1838-1933, Poland).
Please see this weblog entry on a somewhat related topic.
SOURCE http://www.shmoozenet.com/yude…
October 10, 2005
by Reb Yudel
Gil Student wins this year’s prize for inadvertent self parody in the title of a blog entry
With the “why didn’t he post about it sooner” title of Vomiting in Halakhah
This is the first in a series of brief posts about the status of vomiting in halakhah. While this might seem like a somewhat bizarre topic, the issues are actually quite relevant. The current topic — vomiting on Yom Kippur — is hopefully not an issue for most readers. However, the two subsequent topics will probably be issues that arise every once in a while in the average observant Jew’s life (although hopefully not too often).
A close reading will show not only Gil’s typical erudition, but also enough inyana d’yoma to show that Gil wasn’t aiming for shock value with this topic:
On Yom Kippur, the prohibition is a function of affliction rather than eating per se. Therefore, one could say that without the satisfaction of having the food settle in one’s stomach one is not liable.
The Minhas Hinukh (313:2) reaches the conclusion that this is proper but stops short of issuing a lenient ruling on this basis. The Hasam Sofer (Responsa, Orah Hayim 127) writes confidently that the prohibition on Yom Kippur requires enjoyment of the stomach. Therefore, one who eats a ke-zayis and then vomits it before it has a chance to settle is not liable. Similarly, one who eats half a ke-zayis, vomits it, and then shortly eats another half a ke-zayis is not considered as if he has eaten a full ke-zayis.
the minchas elezar was my great uncle
Arieh-Yudel, I take that as a challenge. I bet I can beat him at it especially after his mellowed second post about it.
Is it just me or is it odd to post a comment with a post from another blog that has a post from another blog in it. That’s like three blogs removed.
I doubt Lubavitchers would piss in there, as they reckon the Sukkah is too holy to sleep in.