[Avodah] Hekker for Sukkah on Shmini Azteres

[kennethgmiller at juno.com]

The Gemara Sukkah 47a discusses what to do on Shmini Atzeres, and seems to come to the conclusion: "V'Hilchasa: Maysav yasvinan, bruchi lo m'varchinan - And the halacha is that we do sit, but we do not bless."

This statement is the source of all my problems: Why is there a Bal Tosif problem if there's a vadai halacha to eat in the sukkah? Why do I need a hekker if I *do* have kavana to be mekayem this halacha? These problems (bal tosif, hekker) would indeed exist if there was a genuine safek about the status of Shmini Atzeres, but I see no problem, because there is no safek.

In discussing this topic offlist with someone, an idea suddenly occurred to me:

Is it possible that the word "V'hilchasa" in the above-quoted gemara is a recent addition?

Is it possible that Chazal DID NOT actually come to any definitive conclusion about what to do on Shmini Ateres? If the word "v'hilchasa" was not originally part of the gemara, and "maysav yasvinan, bruchi lo m'varchinan" was merely another suggestion on how to deal with this situation, then I can easily understand why the poskim raise issues like Bal Tosif and Hekker.

Does anyone know if this idea was ever suggested by someone other than me? That is to say, by someone who actually knows some Torah?

Akiva Miller

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