We (edited) are thinking of replacing the skylight in our sun-room with one that will open so that we may be able to use it on Sukkos. The size is 36"x36", so I think that one person could easily eat under it.
My question is re: sleeping in the room. Unless I roll up into a ball, I won't be able to fit under it while sleeping. I'm just wondering if, for the purposes of Sukkos, there is any legitimacy to sleeping under such a small area of schach if only part of my body will not be under it.
Thanks for any clarity you can shed on this.
A. 36” corresponds to 91.44 cm. and meets the minimum standards for the seven by seven tefachim required for a suka, according to all opinions. (See answer 900 and 908.)
This minimal amount is based on the fact that for the majority of people, it permits having most of their bodies (rosho verubo) inside the suka, even when sleeping.
Remoh (O.H. 640: 4) rules that one who finds it hard to sleep in a suka because he has to bend his feet or hands to fit inside, is not granted the exemption of a “miztaer.” Mishna Berura (ibid. 26) explains that often people adopt such bended (fetal) positions even when lying on a regular bed inside the house. He proves his point from the fact that a small suka of seven by seven tefachim is kosher. He also quotes the opinion of Nahar Sholom that if one is truly in pain (miztaer) because of his finicky constitution, he is exempt from sleeping therein, but he still has to eat in the suka. In note 27 he writes that the feet can be outside the suka.
Care should be taken that the cot be placed directly under the suka area, especially on the head side.
Rabbi A. Bartfeld as revised by Horav Shlomo Miller Shlit”a
Important Numbers
