Eating Outside the Sukkah on Shimini Atzeret

In the diaspora we eat in the sukkah on Shimini Atzeret, at night and during the day, for it is possibly truly the seventh day of Sukkot And we do not recite a blessing on sitting in the sukkah. And we do say a "she'hechiyanu" blessing during kiddush on Shimini Atzeret night since it is a distinct holiday. And, indeed this is the conclusion of the Gemara (Sukkah 47a) that we sit in the sukkah on the eigth day but do not recite a blessing on sitting in the sukkah. Nonetheless, we find in the halakhic writings many different customs: The Mordechai in the name of Ravyah writes that it is forbidden to sleep in the sukkah on Shimini Atzeret because of "bal tosif" [the prohibition against adding to mitzvot]. For when it comes to eating in the sukkah on Shimini Atzeret there is a means of distinguishing that Sukkot is over in the absense of the blessing on sitting in the sukkah. But when it comes to sleeping in the sukkah, what means of distinguishing could there be? (Magen Avraham). And even though this is not fully "bal tosif" as I wrote above in Siman 666 for "bal tosif" at the wrong time for the original mitzvah requires intention to violate the prohibition nonetheless it looks like "bal tosif." Furthermore, in truth one is sitting in the sukkah to do a mitzvah out of doubt concerning the date and so some sort of distinguishing is needed since we truly do now the date of the month's start. And I will explain this in paragraph 5 with God's help.

And for this reason we leave the sukkah after our morning meal on Shimini Atzeret. And there are some who do not eat in the sukkah on Shimini Atzeret at night but do eat in the sukkah on Shimini Atzeret during the day but this is not a valid practice (Tur). And some will make kiddush and eat a little bit in the sukkah and then go home for their meal. And this practice was loudly criticized by many great scholars since the Gemara concludes that the halakhah is that we do sit in the sukkah on Shimini Atzeret and if so we must sit in the sukkah all night and all day and we should also sleep in the sukkah without any distinction with the other days of Sukkot.

However, according to my humble opinion there is a rationale for the custom of the Jewish people an the matter is all true it just requires explanation. For in truth the Gemara does conclude that we should sit in the sukkah, but our rabbis the Tosafists wrote there, and this is their language, "they did not want to enact that the lulav should be taken as well on Shimini Atzeret out of doubt for Shimini Atzeret is yom tov and the lulav and etrog would be muktzah and taking it would be a problematic weekday activity. But regarding the sukkah, sometimes a sukkah is a pleasant place to eat and one might eat in a sukkah even on yom tov that was not Sukkot." And the Tur writes and this is his language, "it is not relevant to question sitting in the Sukkah on Shimini Atzeret as a problematic weekday activity since many times people sit in the shade of a sukkah." So it is clear that the essential permissibility of sitting in the Sukkah on Shimini Atzeret is due to there being no way to discern that one is sitting in the sukkah for mitzvah purposes but were it apparent that one was only sitting in the sukkah because of the command to sit in the sukkah it would not be permissible to do so on Shimini Atzeret.

And according to this, all is well. For certainly in warm climates like Babylonia, and the western and southern lands, where it is warm and mild during Sukkot, certainly they must eat and sleep in the sukkah on Shimini Atzeret just like on Sukkot itself. But in northern lands like ours, where it is mostly cold on Sukkot, if one did not force oneself into the sukkah despite the cold, one would miss the mitzvah entirely. And we force ourselves to eat and sleep in the sukkah on Sukot and indeed, most avoid sleeping in the sukkah because of the cold as I wrote earlier. However, on Shimini Atzeret, where the sages commanded us to sit in the sukkah in a way that makes it clear we have no mitzvah to sit in the sukkah is something that is nearly impossible in our lands. Heaven forfend that we would ignore the enactment of the sages, but we still have to make it clear that we are not sitting in the sukkah out of obligation. This means that one who sleeps in the sukkah during Sukkot should not sleep in the sukkah on Shimini Atzeret and one who does not sleep in the sukkah on Sukkot would now have no distinguishing feature and so must find some other distinguishing feature such as not eating in the sukkah at night or to eat part of his meal outside of the sukkah. These two distinguishing features are not ideal and it would be best to simply leave the sukkah after the daytime meal to show that the meal was not eaten in the sukkah for a mitzvah. And in this way all of the customs are upheld (and so it seems in my humble opinion).