DVAR TORAH Chazal [Sukkah 11b] debate the question of what our sukkot commemorate. According to Rabbi Eliezer these booths are a remembrance of Clouds of Glory, with which G-d protected the Jews during their travels in the desert. However, Rabbi Akiva disagrees and explains that these booths remind us of the actual booths that the Jews lived in during their forty years of wandering.
The Aruch HaShulchan [Orech Chayim 625:2-3] asks: According to Rabbi Eliezer who maintains that our sukkot remind us of the miraculous clouds, we can understand the need for a mitzvah. But what was so special about the booths which the Jews built - Rabbi Akiva's explanation - that should merit a special mitzvah?
The answer, he suggested, is that this mitzvah commemorates the greatness of the Jewish people. For their faith in G-d was so complete that they were willing to travel into an uninhabitable desert at G-d's command. Once there, the Jews did not even have permanent dwellings, but merely booths, trusting in G-d that He would care for their every need in the wilderness, which of course, He did.
HALACHA OF THE WEEK: TRAPPING BEES ON SUKKOT The Talmud discusses the prohibition of trapping an animal, one of the 39 melachot of Shabbat. If the purpose of trapping was not to use the animal (i.e. it’s meat or hide) the prohibition is not Biblical in nature, but only Rabbinic because it is a “melacha she’ayna tzricha l’gufo” – an act that is not intrinsically needed.
As a result, the Talmud [Shabbat 106b] teaches that is someone traps a flea on Shabbat, it is only prohibited Rabbinically. However, Tosafot adds that if the flea was biting the person, it is permitted to trap it, because of the pain it would cause. At the same time, the Talmud rules that a non-poisonous snake is allowed to be captured to avoid its bite. Explained the Beur Halacha [Orech Chaim 316] that the difference in law between a snake and a flea is the amount of pain that it inflicts. Since a snake’s bite inflicts a great deal of pain, it can be captured, while a flea’s bite causes minimal pain and therefore, only when it is actually on a person’s skin (or clothing according to Mishna Berura) can it be captured.
What is the status of a bee? Is its sting more like the bite of a snake, or the bite of a flea?
On this there is a debate. However, there are authorities who rule that it a bee sting is much more painful and therefore, a bee can be captured [The 39 Melachos, R’ Ribiat pp. 872-874]. This is especially true if young children are in the sukkah or if a person is allergic to bee stings.
Interestingly, there is a position that maintains that on Yom Tov, since slaughtering of animals is permitted, bees should be killed (“mi’toch sh’hutra l’tzorech hutra nami sh’lo l’tzorech”), while on Shabbat bees should be trapped [Minchat Shlomo 2, 60:28, b’Mareh Bazak 7:54].
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MAZAL TOV * to Robbie and Elisha Rosenwasser on the birth of a son. Mazal Tov to grandparents Jim and Terri Rosenwasser.
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