Using the sukkah on Sh’mini Atzeret
There are seven days of Sukkot followed by the concluding festival of Sh’mini Atzeret.
In the Gemara, there is a debate about whether this last day belongs to Sukkot or is a festival on its own. If it is a separate festival one need not eat in the sukkah that day.
The Aruch LaNer thinks the issue has to do with whether one may add to the commands of the Torah. Hence eating in the sukkah on Sh’mini Atzeret might be to add to the Torah commands.
Rabbi Yochanan who says that one may not eat in the sukkah in the Diaspora that day says there are two options – eating in the sukkah and thus “adding” to the mitzvah – or not eating in the sukkah and thus possibly reducing the mitzvah of the sukkah.
Rabbi Yochanan preferred the second option since the possible transgression is not particularly definite or active.
