R. Eliezer dit: Il faut manger quatorze repas dans la souccah, [deux repas par jour pendant sept jours], un le jour et un la nuit. Et les sages disent: Il n'y a pas de montant fixe. [c'est-à-dire, s'il veut manger, il ne peut pas manger en dehors de la souccah; s'il souhaite jeûner, il peut le faire]—sauf la première nuit de la fête seule (quand il doit manger dans la souccah), [ceci étant dérivé (par identité) (Lévitique 23:34): "Le quinzième jour… est la fête du succoth" - (Ibid. 6 ): «Le quinzième jour», à propos de Pessa'h. De même que la consommation de matsa la première nuit de Pessa'h est obligatoire et, les autres jours, facultative; de même, en ce qui concerne (manger dans une) souccah.] R. Eliezer a dit plus loin: Si quelqu'un ne mangeait pas (dans une souccah) les nuits du premier festival, il doit le rattraper les nuits du deuxième festival [c'est-à-dire la nuit de Shemini Atzereth]. Les sages disent: il n'y a pas d'inventivité. De telles (choses) il est écrit (Koheleth 1:15): "Ce qui est tordu ne peut être redressé, et ce qui manque ne peut être compté." [La halakha n'est pas conforme à R. Eliezer dans les deux cas.]
Bartenura on Mishnah Sukkah
ארבע עשרה סעודות – two meals on each days for the seven days [of the Festival].
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English Explanation of Mishnah Sukkah
Introduction
In this mishnah the sages and Rabbi Eliezer debate how many and which meals a person must eat in the sukkah during the festival.
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Bartenura on Mishnah Sukkah
אין לדבר קצבה – if he wanted to eat, he could not eat outside of the Sukkah; if he wanted to fast, he could fast, but it was not necessary for him.
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English Explanation of Mishnah Sukkah
Rabbi Eliezer says: a man is obligated to eat fourteen meals in the sukkah, one on each day and one on each night. But the sages say: there is no fixed number, except on the first night of the festival alone. Rabbi Eliezer says that a person must eat fourteen meals in the sukkah, two each day, one during the day and one at night. In other words, eating in the sukkah is a positive commandment on each and every day. Just as one normally eats two meals a day, so too one is commanded to eat two meals a day in the sukkah. The sages disagree and hold that one is only obligated to eat in the sukkah on the first night of sukkot. On all other days, he may skip meals. Of course, if he wants to eat a meal he must do so in the sukkah. This is similar to the obligation to eat matzah. A person must eat matzah on the first night of Pesah. However, on every subsequent day one need not eat matzah, there is only a prohibition from eating bread.
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Bartenura on Mishnah Sukkah
חוץ מלילי יו"ט הראשון – and we derive it (Leviticus 23:6) “on the fifteenth day” and (Leviticus 23:33) “on the fifteenth day” from the holiday of Unleavened bread. Just as eating Matzah on the first night is obligatory, but from here and onward it is optional, so [dwelling in the] Sukkah as well.
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English Explanation of Mishnah Sukkah
Furthermore Rabbi Eliezer said: if one did not eat in the sukkah on the first night of the festival, he may make up for it on the last night of the festival. But the sages say: there is no compensation for this, and of this was it said: “That which is crooked cannot be made straight, and that which is lacking cannot be counted” (Ecclesiastes 1:15). Rabbi Eliezer holds that one who did not eat in the sukkah on the first night may make up the missed meal by eating a festive meal on the last night of the festival, on the eve of Shmini Atzeret, the eighth day. Although this festive meal is not eaten in the sukkah, it still counts as a replacement for the meal he missed on the first day. In the Talmud, they question Rabbi Eliezer’s opinion. Didn’t he say that one has to eat in the sukkah two meals every day? If so, why does only the first meal need to be made up? The answer seems to be that Rabbi Eliezer agrees with the other sages that the first meal is the most important one, even though the others are obligatory as well. There is also a question as to how one can make up a meal that was supposed to have been eaten in the sukkah, by eating a meal outside of the sukkah, where one eats on Shemini Atzeret. The answer to this seems to be that when it comes to Sukkot, Rabbi Eliezer counts the evening as following the day. Thus what we would call the first meal of Shemini Atzeret is really to Rabbi Eliezer the last meal of Sukkot. The sages respond to Rabbi Eliezer that a missed meal cannot be made up. They quote an often cited verse from Ecclesiastes which shows, according to its midrashic meaning, that some commandments, when not fulfilled in their proper time, cannot be made up.
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Bartenura on Mishnah Sukkah
ישלים בלילי יו"ט האחרון – on the night of Shemini Atzeret/The Eighth Day of Solemn Assembly, but the Halakha is not according to Rabbi Eliezer in both of them.
