By Rabbi Shay Tahan

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.