Mdd, there are valid defenses for those practices; sukkah on shmini atzeres is based on a tosfos which can be understood to mean that if one would not normally sit in the sukkah due to it not being pleasant, one would not be allowed to do so due to bal tosif
This would not apply to eretz yisroel, however. I can find the tosfos if necessary.
Davening late…i wrote rav meir shapiros explanation above.
edited