It's raining on Sukkot. Do I still have to eat in the sukkah?

Here's what you need to know

When rain is heavy enough that it would ruin your food (the classic measure is rain that would spoil a pot of porridge), you are exempt from eating in the sukkah and may eat inside instead. The first night is treated differently: the rule given there is that you eat at least an olive's worth of bread in the sukkah even in the rain, though how long to wait for a lull first, and whether to say the blessing, are questions for your own rabbi.

The specific rule is

If it is raining hard enough that the rain would ruin food sitting on your table, you may eat your meal inside the house rather than in the sukkah (a temporary hut roofed with cut plant material, built for the holiday). That applies to the days and nights of Sukkot from the second night onward. The first night is different: the rule given there is that you still eat at least a kezayit (an olive's worth) of bread in the sukkah and make Kiddush there even while it is raining. How long to wait for a lull first, and whether to say the leishev basukkah blessing when you do eat in the rain, are questions for your own rabbi, because practice genuinely differs on both.

Step by step

• Judge the rain by whether it would ruin food left on the table, not just whether it's uncomfortable.
• If it is that heavy, and it is not the first night of Sukkot, move the meal indoors and eat without saying leishev basukkah.
• Once you have moved inside, finish the meal there; you are not required to carry it back out if the rain stops partway through.
• If you already began the meal in the sukkah and rain starts partway through, you may finish eating inside without repeating any blessings.
• On the first night, wait a while for a lull if that is practical, then make Kiddush and eat at least a kezayit of bread in the sukkah.
• If no break comes on the first night, ask your rabbi how long to wait and whether to say leishev basukkah; this is the point where practice genuinely differs.

Background

There is a striking image in the sources for how to leave when the rain exempts you: not brazenly, but the way a servant leaves after bringing his master a drink and having it poured back in his face. It is a picture of how to take the exemption, not a proof that the sukkah is about comfort. The measure itself is not about discomfort either. The test is whether the rain is heavy enough to spoil a dish of food, which is why a drizzle you happen to find unpleasant does not exempt you and a real downpour does.

The first night is treated more strictly, because eating in the sukkah that night is compared to eating matzah on the first night of Passover, an obligation tied to the night itself rather than one that bends to comfort. The rule given for that night is that one eats at least a kezayit of bread in the sukkah and makes Kiddush there even in the rain. Authorities differ on how long to wait for a lull first, from an hour or two up to midnight, and there is a genuine dispute among the earlier authorities about whether the blessing over sitting in the sukkah is said at a meal eaten that way. Which practice to follow is a question for your own rabbi rather than a default a page should hand you.

Once you are exempt you don't fast or skip the meal, you simply eat inside. And if you went in because of the rain, you finish that meal indoors rather than shuttling back out when it lets up; the obligation picks up again at the next one. The same is true of sleeping: someone who came in because of rain at night sleeps indoors until morning.

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