Is a binyon shel simcha a building that one has pleasure in building it, or does it mean a building whose use is for pleasure?
And the same question regarding planting. Does the pleasure come from planting it or does the pleasure come from using it?
Thank you
alex lebovits, Toronto, Canada
The latter - a building whose use is for pleasure. The clear proof of this comes from a statement in the Talmud Yerushalmi, which is quoted by the Shulchan Aruch (OC 551:2): "if the the wall is leaning and about to fall then one may repair it even if it is one of Simchah". Repairing a building that is about to fall is usually not pleasureable, therefore "Simchah" here must be referring to the type of building it is.
The same is true of planting.
Kol Tuv,
Yonasan
Dear Yonasan,
Thank you for taking the time to answer.
As a house owner it actually gives me more pleasure to repair an item in our house than to go out and buy a new one. Repairing/renovating a Binyan shel Simcha for the arrival of a special personality should give one pleasure if we say that the building of it gives one pleasure!
But more than the above the Gem. in Brochos 6b says that kol hamesameach choson vekala....R' Nachman Bar Yitzchok omar keilu banah achas mechurvois Yerushalayim. I have heard a number of times why the word churvois was used rather than just the rebuilding of Yerushalaim. But if this Gem does compare rebuilding churvois to being mesameach choson vekalah obviously there is a simcha involved in doing so!
Thank you for listening and reading
Alex Lebovits
I won't take issue with your enjoyment of home repair. I have friends that like to unwind from their day job by laying a new floor in the house they're renovating. But I stick to my Pshat in the Yerushalmi. The person who is repairing his leaning wall is trying to prevent a financial loss - or worse (see Mishnah Berurah end of 551:13). There's no fun in racing the clock to avoid the loss of the wall and more.
Regarding the Gemara in Berachos: all we see from there is that it is a great Mitzvah to rebuild the ruins of Yerushalayim - not necessarily a Simchah. Even if it is a Simchah, one could distinguish between rebuilding something which is already destroyed (the loss has already been suffered) and repairing something to prevent a loss; or, alternatively, between Yerushalayim and any other building project.
Kol Tuv,
Yonasan