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Someone engrossed in one mitzvah is sometimes exempt from certain other mitzvot.

So, I wonder, based on a question from Reddit user GutsAndGlory2:

While engaged in the mitzvah of sleeping in a sukkah, are you exempt from saying the morning Shemoneh Esrei?

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    So what, Chazal only composed a prayer service for Sukkot in case it rained?
    – Double AA
    Mar 22, 2013 at 6:22
  • @DoubleAA, maybe they composed it for early risers.
    – msh210
    Mar 22, 2013 at 7:53
  • @msh210 Ah I hadn't considered your diyuk. I was assuming being in the sukkah is the same kiyum (תשבו כעין תדורו).
    – Double AA
    Mar 22, 2013 at 7:55
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    I've prayed in my sleep before, but I was instructed to repeat it as it didn't count.
    – Seth J
    Mar 22, 2013 at 18:14
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    Continuing in what I see as the tongue-in-cheek tone of the question: He should dwell in the sukkah as he dwells in his house. If at home he sleeps through shacharit, he should do the same in the sukkah. Sep 25, 2013 at 2:25

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I recall hearing of an halachic opinion (not necessarily to be relied upon!) that anyone sleeping is exempt from mitzvos since he is incapacitated and thus anus. I can't cite that view at the moment, but according to it, yes, someone sleeping in a suka is exempt from shacharis.

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  • As someone sleeping not in the sukkah as well :)
    – gt6989b
    Mar 22, 2013 at 15:50
  • +1. msh210, see pages 12-17 of "Sleep in Halacha" by Rabbi Aryeh Lebowitz of Yeshiva University. R' Lebowitz cites R' Shlomo Zalman Auerbach's discussion (Halichos Shlomo, Tefillah, Miluim #12) about whether or not sleeping people are exempt from mitzvos. Dear all: How do most authorities rule regarding this matter? Oct 8, 2013 at 19:10

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