[Avodah] FW: Sleeping in the Sukkah

[Rich, Joel]

[The following Hebrew is a quote from the Rama, OC, Hilkhos Sukkah,
639:2 You can follow along on WikiSource at <http://j.mp/1gUyd9Q>.
-micha]

שולחן ערוך אורח חיים הלכות סוכה סימן תרלט סעיף ב

הגה: ומה שנוהגין להקל עכשיו בשינה, שאין ישנים בסוכה רק המדקדקין במצות, י"א (יז) ז משום צנה, דיש צער לישן במקומות הקרים (מרדכי פ' הישן); <ט> ולי נראה משום דמצות סוכה איש וביתו, ח איש ואשתו כדרך שהוא דר כל השנה, ובמקום שלא יוכל לישן עם אשתו, שאין לו סוכה מיוחדת, (יח) פטור; וטוב להחמיר ולהיות שם עם אשתו כמו שהוא דר כל השנה, אם אפשר להיות לו סוכה מיוחדת.

Would be interested in discussing how to view the Rama's being "mchadeish"
a reason for a seemingly well established practice of not sleeping in
the sukkah. IIUC the usual approach (e.g. by kapparot) is to assume that
older and greater Rabbis had a reason for establishing the practice. It
also seems clear that there was not a Mesorah as to the reason or
the Rama would have known and stated it. It would then seem one has a
number choices:

1. do an actuarial analysis of a few winters and determine whether the
practice seems driven by cold, marital status or something else (just
kidding, I know that's not what's done)

2. keep the practice as a chok (i.e. admit we don't know reason and
simply continue the practice unabated)

3. Guess as to the reason (i.e. as a prescriptive not a descriptive
reason -- siman vs. sibah) and act on it even though it may be incorrect.

4. reject the hypothesis that the minhag was accepted by greater Rabbis
and just trash it

How do poskim decide?

Moadim Lsimcha
Joel Rich