We discussed the issues you raised in our Insights to the Daf. A copy of our discussion is included below.

Best wishes,

Kollel Iyun Hadaf

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Sukah 25

1) TRAVELING TO LEARN TORAH

QUESTION: The Mishnah teaches that a person who is en route to perform a Mitzvah is exempt from the Mitzvah of Sukah. RASHI gives three examples: one who is traveling to greet his Rebbi, one who is traveling to learn Torah, and who is traveling to redeem captives.

Why is one who is traveling to learn Torah exempt from the Mitzvah of Sukah? The Gemara in Moed Katan (9a) teaches that a person must interrupt his Torah study in order to perform any Mitzvah which cannot be performed by others. Why, then, does the act of traveling to learn Torah exempt a person from the Mitzvah of Sukah? Traveling to learn Torah certainly is not a greater Mitzvah than the learning of Torah itself.

Moreover, the Yerushalmi (Berachos 1:2) says that even Rebbi Shimon bar Yochai would stop learning in order to perform Mitzvos such as Sukah and Lulav, since "if one learns Torah but does not accept upon himself to perform the Mitzvos, it would have been better had he not been created." The same should apply to one who is traveling to learn Torah; he should be required to interrupt his traveling in order to perform the Mitzvah of Sukah.

(The MAHARACH OR ZARU'A #183 says even more than Rashi: even when one has arrived at his place of learning and has started to learn, he is exempt from Mitzvos for the entire time that he learns.)

ANSWERS:

(a) The OR SAME'ACH (Hilchos Talmud Torah 3, and in MESHECH CHOCHMAH, Parshas Ki Savo 28) quotes the RI of KURVEILLE (as cited by Tosfos to Kesuvos 17a, DH Mevatlin), who says that even though the Mitzvah of learning Torah does not exempt one from performing the Mitzvah of Hotza'as ha'Mes (burial of the dead), the Mitzvah of "Shimush Talmidei Chachamim" does override the Mitzvah to bury the dead (even in the case of a "Mes Mitzvah"). "Shimush Talmidei Chachamim" refers to learning the reasons and explanations of the Torah directly from a Rebbi. It is not in the same category as normal Torah study, because it is done only through close interaction with a Rebbi who transmits the tradition that he has received for the reasons and explanations of the Mitzvos. Therefore, it overrides even a Mitzvah which cannot be done by someone else.

The Mishnah here refers to this type of learning. When the Talmidim travel to the home of their Rebbi in order to learn Torah from him, they have the status of those who are fulfilling "Shimush Talmidei Chachamim," which overrides other Mitzvos.

(b) The CHAZON YECHEZKEL quotes the VILNA GA'ON (in the beginning of Pe'ah) who points out that every word of Torah that a person learns is another Mitzvah. This might explain why one must stop learning Torah in order to fulfill another Mitzvah, but one who is on the way to learn Torah does not have to stop traveling in order to perform a Mitzvah. When one is involved in the Mitzvah of learning Torah, he fulfills a Mitzvah with every word that he learns. If the opportunity to perform another Mitzvah arises, he must do that Mitzvah first before he begins to fulfill another Mitzvah of Talmud Torah (by learning the next word). His fulfillment of the second Mitzvah is not an interruption of the Mitzvah of Talmud Torah, because he completed one Mitzvah of Talmud Torah and did not yet start the next, when the other Mitzvah needed to be performed. In contrast, when one travels to learn Torah, the act of traveling itself is one Mitzvah, and therefore he is not required to interrupt it in order to perform another Mitzvah