23 Sep TRAVELING ON CHOL HAMOED SUKKOT

Although our Sages
praised those who
remain in their
homes on Yom Tov
and Chol HaMoed,
one is nevertheless
permitted to go on

an outing with his family.
The Gemara (Sukkah 27b) states: “Rabbi
Eliezer says: I praise the lazy people who do
not leave their homes on the festival, as it is
written, ‘You shall rejoice, you and your
household.’” Rashi explains: “Even though
they do not remain at home specifically
because of the festival—for they do not
leave their homes throughout the year
because of their laziness—even so, I praise
them.”
The Gemara explains that this statement
applies when one leaves and does not return
that same day. However, if he leaves and
returns that same day, there is no deficiency
in his going. Rashi explains that in such a
case, he rejoices in the festival together with
his wife. We therefore learn that when one
travels together with his wife and family,
this concern does not apply.
The sefer Maggid Meisharim questioned
how the Sages at the Passover Seder could
have been reclining in Bnei Brak, among
them Rabbi Eliezer, who was the author of
the statement cited above. He answered that
perhaps those Sages went together with all
the members of their households. From
these we learn that when one goes on an
outing together with his family, there is no
deficiency in leaving the home.
Although one is permitted to go on an outing
during Chol HaMoed, he should be careful
to preserve the sanctity of the festival. That
means wearing Yom Tov clothing, eating a
Yom Tov meal, avoiding places that are
inappropriate, and making an effort to spend
some time studying Torah. The Yerushalmi
already warned about this (cited in the
Mishnah Berurah, 530:2): “If there were
someone who would join me, I would permit
them to perform work on Chol HaMoed. Is
work forbidden merely so that they should
eat, drink, and toil in Torah? Yet now they
eat, drink, and engage in frivolity.”
The Kol Bo writes: “It appears from this that
frivolity is a greater prohibition than work,
for the intention of Hashem in giving the
festival was that one should cleave to His
fear and engage in His perfect Torah.”A
person is permitted to go on outings during
Sukkot and eat outside the sukkah when
doing so is necessary for relaxation or for
the sake of shalom bayit.

The Gemara (Sukkah 26a) teaches that
travelers are exempt from the sukkah. This
is derived from the pasuk, “You shall dwell
in sukkot for seven days,” which our Sages
interpreted to mean, “Dwell [in the sukkah]
as you dwell [in your home].” In other
words, the mitzvah of sukkah is meant to
resemble a person’s dwelling in his home.
Just as a person does not refrain from
leaving his home throughout the year for
business and similar needs, so too,
throughout Sukkot, the Torah did not require
a person to refrain from traveling (Rashi).
Accordingly, it would seem that there is no
prohibition against going on an outing. This
was indeed the view of Rabbi Yosef Shalom
Elyashiv and Rabbi Nissim Karelitz (Chut
HaShani, Sukkah, p. 267), as well as Rabbi
Moshe Sternbuch (Teshuvot VeHanhagot,
Vol. 6, no. 146).
However, several other halachic authorities
ruled that this is prohibited, including Rabbi
Moshe Feinstein (Igrot Moshe, O.C., Vol. 3,
no. 93), Rabbi Shlomo Zalman Auerbach
(cited in HaSukkah, Vol. 2, p. 605), and
Rabbi Ovadiah Yosef (Yechaveh Da’at, Vol.
3, no. 47). They understood that the
exemption for travelers applies only to
someone who leaves for a necessary
purpose, but not to someone who leaves
merely for pleasure and recreation.
Nevertheless, even those who permit going
on outings maintain that one should not
forego this important mitzvah merely for the
sake of a recreational trip. Therefore, one
should make an effort before leaving to
determine where there will be a sukkah
along the way in which he can eat.
It is worth considering the reality of our
times, when large numbers of families go on
outings during Chol HaMoed. Although
these outings are certainly undertaken for
pleasure, they often serve an important
purpose: providing an opportunity to rest,
recharge, and spend meaningful time with
one’s wife and children.
It would seem that circumstances have
indeed changed. In previous generations,
people often enjoyed remaining at home or
visiting friends and family. Today, however,
there is often a genuine need for families to
go on outings. Otherwise, family harmony
may sometimes be affected, as the children
become bored, the wife strongly desires to
go out, and the person himself may need to
take a break from the pressures of everyday
life.
Indeed, this can be inferred from the
language of the authorities who prohibit
going on outings, who wrote that there is no

need to leave for trips undertaken
merely for pleasure. Accordingly,
when an outing serves a genuine
need, there is room to say that even
they would agree that it is permitted.
This was cited in Kovetz Noam
(Vol. 24, p. 244), that for some
people, an outing is considered a
need for physical or emotional rest.
It may also constitute fulfillment of
the mitzvah of “You shall rejoice on
your festival,” and at times it may
also serve the purpose of shalom
bayit.
Rabbi Moshe Sternbuch wrote:
“In my humble opinion, according to what
the Yereim (no. 427) wrote, that one fulfills
the mitzvah of the festival through anything
that brings him joy and satisfaction, if so,
since he enjoys going on an outing, he
fulfills through this the mitzvah of rejoicing
on Yom Tov. Therefore, it is permissible to
go on an outing during the festival and be
exempt from the sukkah, when he cannot
postpone the outing until before or after the
festival, but rather it is necessary for him
specifically to go on an outing during the
festival in order to fulfill his mitzvah of
rejoicing on the festival. And certainly this
applies when, as is common, his wife and
young children strongly desire to go on an
outing with him, in which case it is a mitzvah
for him to go out with them, as he thereby
also fulfills his obligation to gladden his
wife and household, which is a fundamental
obligation of the joy of Yom Tov…
Furthermore, it can be suggested that I saw
it cited that there was someone who made a
practice never to leave the sukkah, and the
Chazon Ish questioned this practice, since
this is not ‘as you dwell,’ for it is comparable
to a prison.”
Nevertheless, one should be careful not to
spend the majority of his time outside the
sukkah, as doing so diminishes the character
of the festival and turns these important
days into ordinary weekdays.
A traveler can make a sukkah from his car
and eat there as needed.
There are several ways to transform a car
into a sukkah, provided that certain
conditions are met. The following are the
possibilities:
A. If there are two cars, they can be parked
close to one another, with the sides of the
cars serving as two walls. Since a kosher
sukkah requires three walls, the door of one
of the cars can be opened to serve as the
third wall, after which schach can be placed
on top.

However, it is important to know that a wall
beneath which there is a gap of three
tefachim (24 cm / approximately 9.5 inches)
is invalid. Since there is generally a gap of
three tefachim or more beneath a car, one
should place something there to close the
gap, or park the car next to a raised curb so
that the gap is less than three tefachim.
Another point that must be considered is the
height of the space beneath the schach. In a
sukkah constructed as described above, the
roof will generally be low, so one must
ensure that the schach does not descend
below ten tefachim, since the sukkah would
then be invalid.
B. When there is only one car, it can be
parked next to a fence or wall. The fence
and the car can then serve as two walls, and
by opening the car door, a third wall is
created. Here too, one must ensure that there
is no gap of three tefachim beneath the door.
C. In a car that has both a front door and a
rear door, both doors can be opened, thereby
creating three walls.
D. In a car with a sunroof that opens, one
can place schach over the opening after
opening the sunroof, and then sit beneath it
and eat. One must ensure that the opening is
at least seven tefachim (56 cm /
approximately 22 inches) in both length and
width. There must also be at least ten
tefachim of open space beneath the sunroof,
since the minimum height of a sukkah is ten
tefachim.
Although the walls of the car may be some
distance away from the place of the schach,
this can nevertheless be permitted based on
the halachah of dofen akumah, which is a
halachah leMoshe miSinai. The principle of
dofen akumah allows us to consider a
section of an invalid roof extending from the
wall toward the schach as part of the wall,
up to a distance of four amot, on all four
sides.