Illness and the Sukkah

As we are getting ready for Purim and then Pesach, now might not seem to be the normal time to discuss Sukkot. Yet that is the tractate of Talmud we are currently studying in Daf Yomi. 
(https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Daf_Yomi)

Judaism has always recognized that there are ideal and less ideal ways of following commandments.  We are told that we are to live by the commandments and not die by them, that if we need to, we can break one Shabbat, so that we may live for many more Shabbatot.  This compassion extends to the ones who take care of those who are ill, as well.  Not only are we permitted to help an ill person on Shabbat, but we are required to help them.  I remember a scene from one of Chaim Potok's books where the Rebbe himself picked up the phone on Shabbat to call the doctor for an ill person, demonstrating that in an emergency you don't just delegate, but immediately do what is necessary to help!  On the same note, I have seen Orthodox rabbinic questions and answers that say if you drive someone to the hospital on Shabbat, you are also allowed to drive home (and are not stuck at the hospital for up to 25 hours).

On page 25a and discussed on 26a is a very interesting mishnah about what to do if one is sick during Sukkot.
(Hebrew Text From Bar Ilan 16+)

תלמוד בבלי מסכת סוכה דף כה עמוד א 

משנה.. . .חולין ומשמשיהן פטורין מן הסוכה. . . .

Translation from the Koren Steinsaltz Sukka p. 118 (http://www.korenpub.com/EN/products/talmud/talmud/9789653015715)

 The ill and their caretakers are exempt from the mitzvah of Sukka.  

תלמוד בבלי מסכת סוכה דף כו עמוד א 

חולים ומשמשיהם. תנו רבנן: חולה שאמרו - לא חולה שיש בו סכנה, אלא אפילו חולה שאין בו סכנה, אפילו חש בעיניו, ואפילו חש בראשו. אמר רבן שמעון בן גמליאל: פעם אחת חשתי בעיני בקיסרי, והתיר רבי יוסי בריבי לישן אני ומשמשי חוץ לסוכה. 

p. 123:

It is stated in the mishna. The ill and their caretakers are exempt from the mitzvah of sukka. The Sages taught in a baraita: The ill person that they said  is exempt from sukkah is not only an ill person whose  condition is critical, and even one who feels  pain in his eyes, and even one who feels pain in his head.  Rabban Shimon be Gamliel said: One time I felt pain in my eyes in Caesarea, and the esteemed Rabbi Yosei be Halafta  permitted me and my attendant to sleep outside the sukkah.

[Clarification of Steinsaltz Talmud translation--bold words are the words actually in the Hebrew/Aramaic, regular words are additions/clarifications to make full English sentences.]

The long and short of it is that when we are ill we are exempt from the commandments of living and dwelling and eating and drinking in the Sukka.  Yet this exemption is ALSO for those who are taking care of the ill person.  Judaism recognizes that illness and healing are processes that take a community, that take supportive people.  Whether you are caring for a family member, a friend or someone in the community, you have rights and responsibilities.  A caretaker has to be able to take care of themselves.  

When I meet people in the hospital, I always check to make sure that the caretakers remember to eat and sleep.  If they do not do these things, they will not be able to help their loved ones.  More than fifteen hundred years ago, our rabbis and teachers were teaching the same lesson!