[Avodah] The sukkah on Shemini Atzeret controversy

[kennethgmiller at juno.com]

R' Micha Berger wrote:

> WADR, you sound like nitpicking, looking for wiggle room when
> there is none.

Nahhhh, "nitpicking" isn't a strong enough word. What I'm doing is clutching at straws  :-(

> We no longer argue whether or not "Vehilkhisa" belongs in shas.
> (Or other savoraic or gaonic additions.) No acharon suggested,
> for example, putting them in parens like other deletions,
> printing them in kesav Rashi, etc... It is accepted in any
> teshuvah today that this is the masqanah of the gemara. And if
> I overlooked exceptions to my "any teshuvah today", we're still
> definitely talking daas yachid territory. ...
>
> You write that there were gedolim who weren't willing to keep
> the insertions. Who?

My [choose one: understanding, presumption, guess, limud zechus, excuse] is that I'm referring to those who eat in the house on Shmini Atzeres. Do you have a better explanation of how they justify themselves? I've been looking for one for years, and this is the best I've found. If anyone can offer a better one, please share it.

I totally admit that I'm working kind of backwards here, taking this practice and building an explanation for it. But it's the best I can do. I've tried to learn other articles which attempt to explain it, but they never seem to offer anything better than excuses for why they're not following the psak of the Gemara. So I've latched onto this idea which explains that *maybe* the Gemara never really did pasken on this issue.

I don't know the history of these manuscripts. Maybe all the gemaras in Tzefas and in Litvishe Europe had the word "v'hilchasa", but there were a minority in Chassidic Europe where the text was different. So perhaps the minhag to eat in the house in Chassidic Europe got strengthened, even though no mention of it ever got printed in the Vilna Shas. Maybe, and maybe not.

Call my logic balabatish if you want; I won't be insulted. But until I see something better, I'm sticking with it.

Akiva Miller

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