GEMARA

Rav: An Avel (mourner) is obligated to be in the Sukah.

Objection: This is obvious!

Answer: Rav taught that one who is pained is exempt from Sukah. One might have thought that an Avel is also exempt, for he is pained. Rav teaches that this is not so. One is exempt when the pain comes by itself. An Avel causes himself to feel pain. He should settle his mind (and not feel pain)!

Rav permitted Rav Acha Bardela to sleep in a Kilah in a Sukah because flies were bothering him.

Rava permitted R. Acha bar Ada to sleep outside the Sukah because the smell of the dirt lining the floor bothered him;

This is like Rava taught, that one who is pained is exempt from Sukah.

Question (Mishnah): Cholim and their Meshamshim (those who attend to them) are exempt from Sukah.

Inference: Cholim are exempt, but not one who has a mere pain!

Answer: Cholim and their Meshamshim are exempt. One who is in pain is exempt, but his Meshamshim are obligated.

RISHONIM

The Rif brings all these teachings verbatim.

Rambam (Hilchos Sukah 6:2): One who is in pain is exempt, but his Meshamshim are obligated. This refers to one who cannot sleep in the Sukah due to the wind or flies or similar things or due to odors.

Hagahos Maimoniyos (1): If one estimates that he would leave his house due to such an annoyance, he may leave the Sukah for it. This is only if the Sukah was built so it would be proper to eat, drink and sleep, and the problem arose later.

Hagahos Maimoniyos (2): One who is exempt but does not leave does not receive reward for this. He is called a 'commoner'.

Source (R. Mano'ach): We expound (26a) "Teshvu", the way you live. This is why one who is pained is exempt from Sukah, unlike other Mitzvos. This applies only on the first night, for the obligation is not (only) from Teshvu, rather, (also) from the Gezeirah Shavah to Pesach. The Gemara (27a) says so regarding the Chiyuv to eat in the Sukah.

Rambam (3): Rav: An Avel is obligated to be in the Sukah.

Rosh (2:7): One might have thought that an Avel is exempt because he feels more pain in the Sukah than in the house. This is because an Avel wants to sit alone in the dark and be occupied with his pain.

Rebuttal (Taz OC 640:8): If an Avel wants to be alone, why do we console him? Rather, the Hava Amina was that an Avel is exempt because he is distracted and the Sukah will not remind him "Ki Va'Sukos Hoshavti Es Benei Yisrael". The conclusion is that pain exempts from Sukah only if leaving will lessen the pain.

Rosh (2:12): Rava permitted R. Acha bar Ada to sleep outside the Sukah because the odor of the dirt bothered him. We must say that Rav Acha was a guest in another's Sukah. One may not make a Sukah in which he will be pained to sleep there and exempt! Alternatively, it rained and this caused the dirt to smell. Sefer ha'Mitzvos says that the Heter is regarding sleeping, but not regarding eating. This is unreasonable. One is more pained by odors at the time of eating than at the time of sleeping! The Gemara teaches a Chidush that it is permitted even to sleep outside the Sukah. We are more stringent about sleeping outside a Sukah than eating. There is a Heter of Achilas Arai outside the Sukah, but not regarding sleeping.

Ran (12a DH Sarcha): We must say that the odor did not bother everyone, for if so the Sukah is Pasul. The Gemara (12b) disqualified fern and wormwood from being used for Sechach because they smell bad and one might leave the Sukah! Rather, the odor bothered only Rav Acha.

Tur (OC 629): One may not use for Sechach vegetables with a bad odor. B'Di'eved, the Sukah is Kosher.

Hagahos Ashri: Nowadays people do not sleep in the Sukah. They say that they are pained by the cold.

POSKIM

Shulchan Aruch (OC 640:4): One who is in pain is exempt, but his Meshamshim are obligated.

Mishnah Berurah (14): If all year round Reuven is paid to Meshamesh Shimon and he eats by Shimon, also now it is permitted (even if Shimon eats outside the Sukah). This is like people who guard fields, who are exempt.

Rebuttal (Kaf ha'Chayim): If a Shomer entered the Sukah, perhaps thieves will immediately steal. This does not apply to a Meshamesh. The Levush obligates Meshamshim because they are not engaged in a Mitzvah. It seems that the same applies here.

Rema: On the first night even one who is in pain must eat a k'Zayis in the Sukah.

Mishnah Berurah (15): The Rema similarly requires eating a k'Zayis in the Sukah on the first night even if it is raining. Those who exempt there would also exempt here.

Shulchan Aruch (ibid.): This refers to one who cannot sleep in the Sukah due to the wind or flies or similar things or due to odors. This is only if the problem arose later. One may not build a Sukah where he will be bothered by odors or wind and say that he is exempt.

Rema: If he built it in a place where it will be painful to eat, drink or sleep, or where he will be afraid to do so due to robbers, he was not Yotzei in the Sukah even when doing what is comfortable. This is because it is not a Dirah fit for all his needs.

Mishnah Berurah (18): In cold climates the Sukah need not be fit to sleep in. It is impossible to make it fit! Also, if he had enough blankets it would be fit to sleep in.

Magen Avraham (7): We are concerned for robbers only if there is bodily danger. If one is worried only about his property, he can bring his valuables into the house at night.

Mishnah Berurah (20): Some say that if the Sukah is not fit for all his needs, nevertheless b'Di'eved he is Yotzei what is comfortable.

Kaf ha'Chayim (33): 'Teshvu k'Ein Taduru' refers to how one dwells in the Sukah, not to the Sukah itself. Therefore, one may eat in a Sukah that is unfit for sleeping if he has another Sukah fit to sleep in.

Note: This is unlike the Taz, Magen Avraham and Gra (brought below) who say that a minimal size Sukah must be fit for sleeping.

Rema (ibid.): If the Neros extinguished in the Sukah on Shabbos and he has Neros in the house, he may leave the Sukah to eat in the house. He need not go to eat in a neighbor's Sukah if it is very hard.

Beis Yosef (DH v'Chosav Od): The Terumas ha'Deshen says that one is pained if he must eat in another's Reshus. However, perhaps if it is not hard to do so he must.

Mishnah Berurah (22): On the first night one must eat (a k'Zayis) in a Sukah. One may not bless Leshev ba'Sukah if he is in pain. The Chayei Adam says that one can overcome this 'pain' (of being in another's Sukah) by deciding to be happy, and bless. This is not such a clear pain, so it is better to be stringent unless it is an exertion to take what he needs to the other Sukah.

Mishnah Berurah (24): If one cannot build a Sukah near his house, he is not exempt because of exertion. It is normal to move from house to house!

Rema (ibid.): If there is not room to stretch out his limbs while sleeping, this is not considered pain, and he may not sleep outside the Sukah.

Source (Beis Yosef DH Kasuv bi'Srumas and Taz 5): The Terumas ha'Deshen says that a Sukah seven by seven is Kosher, even though it is too small to stretch out one's limbs. People sometimes sleep with their limbs bent.

Rebuttal (Taz 5): If one built a Sukah in which he cannot sleep comfortably, he was not Yotzei even eating there! If he made a proper Sukah and later the area was diminished, the proof from a minimal Sukah is not a proof. There, he made the Sukah knowing that he will have to sleep bent! It is no Chidush that one may build a small Sukah. We know that the Shi'ur is seven by seven! Rather, having to sleep bent is a pain that exempts, unless he built the Sukah like this from the beginning.

Defense (Gra DH Mi and Magen Avraham 9): A Sukah seven by seven is Kosher, even though the diagonal is less than 10 Tefachim. Since a person is three Amos (18 Tefachim) excluding the head (Tosfos Shabbos 92a), he must bend to fit Rosho v'Rubo. A Sukah not fit to sleep in is Pasul. This shows that sleeping bent is not called pain.

Note: The Bach (OC 634 DH u'Mah she'Chosav) says that the Rambam allows a Sukah whose area equals that of a square seven by seven. Rosho v'Rubo fits easily in a minimal long thin Sukah, especially if one sleeps on his side, which is proper (Mishnah Berurah 239:6). Even a minimal square Sukah fits Rosho v'Rubo of a 13-year old or a short adult without bending. However, the Shi'ur of seven by seven is based on adults of average size, and it connotes that a Sukah of these exact dimensions is valid.

Mishnah Berurah (26,27): If one who knows that sleeping bent is painful for him, he is exempt. Sleeping with one's legs outside the Sukah is not called pain. We do not decree lest his majority leave the Sukah, even though we require the table to be in the Sukah (when eating) due to this concern.

Rema: One may leave only due to things that normally bother people, and if by leaving the pain will cease.

Question: Rav Yosef left the Sukah because the wind made chips of Sechach drop, even though this bothers only a finicky person (29a)!

Answer #1 (Taz 6): All finicky people are bothered by this. They are like a Rabim, so we do not say Batlah Da'ato Etzel Kol Adam.

Answer #2 (Magen Avraham 9): A finicky person may leave if it is known that he is finicky.

Sha'ar ha'Tziyon (61): A small amount fell on Rav Yosef. If much chips fall on one or in the food, this is like rain which spoils porridge, and anyone may leave.

Mishnah Berurah (31): One may leave if heat, flies or the cold ruins the food. One may finish the meal in the house, even if the last foods would be fine in the Sukah. Bechori Yakov says that if it is easy to protect the food, e.g. to put it on a pot of hot water (to keep it from congealing), one is not exempt from Sukah.

Kaf ha'Chayim (69): If later in the meal one will eat foods that would be ruined in the Sukah, he may not leave until he is ready to eat them, unless he himself is in pain.