The halachah is (Orach Chaim 627:1): “If one sleeps under a bed in the succah, if the bed is ten tefochim high, one doesn’t fulfil his duty.”
What’s the halachah if there is a small succah and a big family with lots of boys who all want to sleep in the succah. Is it ok for them to sleep on bunkbeds, with one on the top and one on the bottom, making sure there is less than ten tefochim between the two beds, or does the person on the top bunk perhaps make an interruption between the sechach and the person on the bottom bunk?
Gemara in Succah
There is a Gemara in Succah (21a-21b) which discusses what creates an ohel [tent] regarding tumah. The halachah is that an ohel blocks tumah.
The Gemara brings the Mishnah in Succah (20b) which says that according to R’ Yehudah one can sleep under a bed in the succah, and the Gemara asks why the bed doesn’t create an ohel and create an interruption between the sechach and the person under the bed. The Gemara answers, that a bed doesn’t create a hefsek [interruption], as it is made for its top, and not its bottom.
The Gemara then asks, that we find that when drawing water for the porah adumah they would use children who would sit on top of oxen, and the oxen served to create a hefsek between any tumah and the child. Surely, oxen are used for their top, yet we find they can be used to create a hefsek?
The Gemara answers: Oxen are also used for their underneath as shepherds rest under them in the rain and in the hot sun.
Last year around Succos time there was a rat infestation in Bnei Brak and R’ Zilberstein wrote about whether one is able to fulfil the mitzvah of succah in a place where it is likely that rats will enter into the succah. R’ Zilberstein (Vovay HoAmudim V’Chasukahem gilyon 116, pg. 21) wrote at length about the shailah and concluded that if one isn’t scared then he can use such a succah, if, however, one is scared then he can’t.
He then added, that if a husband isn’t scared, however, his wife and children are, then he should make a succah in a place where there is no concern of rats entering, as a succah where the wife and children are scared to enter is not considered a succah.
The Gemara then asks: If so, beds are also used to store shoes under? And the Gemara answers: שאני שוורים הואיל ועשוים להגין על בני מעים שלהן- “Oxen are different, as their bodies are designed to protect their innards.”
As proof for this the Gemara cites the pasuk: עור ובשר תלבישני ובעצמות וגידים תסוככני – “With skin and flesh you dressed me, and with bones and sinews you covered me” (Iyov 10:11) (see Gemara inside for a second answer).
Chiddush of the Aruch LaNer
Based on the above Gemara the Aruch LaNer writes, that just like an ox is considered an ohel as it protects its innards, similarly a person is considered an ohel
The Aruch LaNer writes:יצא לנו מזה לענין הלכה דבהמה ואדם בסוכה חשובים הפסק כמו אוהל ולא ראיתי להפוסקים שהזכירו מזה – “It comes out from here a chiddush [novelty] in halachah, that an animal and a person in the succah are considered an interruption like an ohel. Something, I haven’t seen any of the poskim bring.” (The Aruch LaNer proves that this applies according to all answers of the Gemara)
According to the Aruch LaNer it comes out, that if there is a bunkbed in the succah, even if there a gap of less than ten tefochim between the two beds, if there is a person sleeping on the top bunk he creates a hefsek and the person on the bottom is considered to be outside the succah, and he doesn’t fulfil the mitzvah of sleeping in the succah.
Additional Problem
Some suggest that there is another problem with sleeping on the bottom of a bunkbed in the succah.
The Shulchan Aruch (Orach Chaim 627:3) writes: “If there is wood sticking out of a four-poster bed, it’s forbidden to spread a sheet over the top and sleep under it, even if the bed isn’t ten tefochim high.” The Mishnah Berurah explains: Although one is allowed to sleep under a bed which is less than ten tefochim high, that’s because it is not designed to be slept under. If, however, one puts a sheet over four posts, it is designed to be slept under, therefore, even a gap of less than ten tefochim is a problem.
Based on the above, some suggest that a bottom bunk is also a problem, as it is designed to be slept on.
Practically
R’ Shlomah Zalman Auerbach rules that as long as there is a gap of less than ten tefochim between the two beds, one fulfils the mitzvah of succah by sleeping on the bottom bunk, even if there is someone sleeping on the top.
