Again, and I hope for the last time, there seem to be four questions that have been asked here:
1. Practically, why doesn’t Lubavitch sleep in a Sukkah?
Answer: It’s the minhag. If the Minhag didn’t exist, we’d sleep in a Sukkah. Period. So if you don’t have such a Minhag, you should sleep in a Sukkah.
2. But how does a Minhag be totally against Halacha?
Answer: The Rebbe’s Limud Zchus sicha about tzar etc. And if a teaching of the Mitteler Rebbe (or the Frierdiker Rebbe, for that matter) doesn’t affect you and you have no Tzar, you have to sleep in the Sukkah, despite the Minhag.
3. Why did the Mitteler Rebbe (Leshitaseinu) tell us about the Makkifim of Binah? He could have kept quiet, we would have been ignorant, wouldn’t have had Tzar, and we’d be able to sleep in a Sukkah in peace.
Answer: Obviously we don’t know why he said it, as he never told us, and the Rebbe really doesn’t address this point. But: a) The Mitzvah isn’t to sleep in a Sukkah. The Mitzvah is to live in a Sukkah like you would in your own home. So since you sleep in your house, you have to sleep in a Sukkah. But being Mitztaer isn’t a Kullah, it’s not like a leniency for a Hefsed Meruba or Tzorech Gadol. It’s a built in part of the law of Sukkah. If the Tzaar is enough to move you out of your house, you’re Lechatchila allowed to move out of the Sukkah. So when he told us about the whole Makifin Debinah and gave us Tzar, he didn’t cause us to lose out on fulfilling the Mitzvah of living in a Sukkah (another Mashal – if I keep you up all night, was I mevatel your Mitzvah of living in a Sukkah?) b) So there’s no loss and there’s a gained appreciation for what a Sukkah is.
But this last point is mostly my theory, so it could be totally off. But as SHY pointed out, Lubavitch isn’t the only community with such a custom. So whatever reasons those communities had to start their custom could have been the reason behind ours.
4. Question. Fine, but ultimately this is all a Limud Zchus. Why would you want to be part of a movement which relies on these Limmudei Zchus? Why not join a Lechatchila movement?
Answer: I still think that our Maalos outweigh our one or two “Limmudei Zchus”.