Greetings again. I am curious why it seems that the requirement to eat a kezayis matzah on Pesach is stricter than eating a kezayis on the first night of Sukkos (as a drash from Pesach) according to the chachamim. For example, a person who is old or weak is asked to swallow at least one kezayis of softened matzah, yet if it merely rains in the sukkah one is not obliged to eat the kezayis on the first night. After all, how long does it take to eat a kezayis altogether? 30 second? 1 minute?
S"A 639:3-5 rules like the Rashba that one is not obligated to eat in the Sukkah besides the first night and one is not obligated to eat in the Sukkah on the first night if it rains. Chazon Ovadia (p. 100 and 122) rules like S"A in both instances.
For that matter, since the Mishna requires sleeping and eating comfortably and safely in a sukkah, there are be additional reasons why a person wouldn't do it on the first night, which essentially makes the first night of Sukkos very different from the first night of Pesach. Furthermore, why does the halacha even need the concept of "mitzta'er" when it could simply rely on the halachic concept of oyness?
Thank you,
David Goldman
Shalom David,
We learn from the Gezerah Shavah of Chamishah Asar - Chamishah Asar that there is a Chiyuv to eat in Sukah on the first night like the Chiyuv to eat Matzah on the first night of Pesach, but the two Chiyuvim differ, as you say. In fact, Rav Chaim of Brisk said that whereas the the Chiyuv on Pesach is a Chiyuv Achilah, the Chiyuv of the first night of Sukos is not a Chiyuv Achilah but a Chiyuv Yeshivah b'Sukah. We fulfil the Chiyuv Yeshivah b'Sukah by eating a k'Zayis Pas.
A practical difference is that, unlike Erev Pesach where one may not eat Matzah, one is permitted to eat bread on Erev Sukos.
There are Rishonim that understand that when it's raining it's not a Sukah because a person wouldn't normally live in a house with rain entering. In that case Mitzta'er of rain is not merely a Petur like Oness.
Avraham Phillips