Question:
The Talmud specifies Nisan, but in the southern hemisphere there are no blossoms in Nissan, so it is logically inferred (as poskim indicate) that one could say the bracha in the correct month, which is Elul or Tishrei……So we must wonder why this kind of halachic adaptation is only allowed in certain circumstances but not in others. For instance, the concerns about possibly having tsaar during Sukkos would be automatic in colder countries, in which case people should unquestionably be considered EXEMPT automatically from Sukkah for the obvious reasons including the discomfort of sleeping, making the sukkah itself not fitting for the mitzvah (per the mitzvah requiring eating AND sleeping).
https://dinonline.org/2016/04/13/bracha-on-trees-in-nisan/
Answer:
There is a difference between the bracha on the blossoms and succos. The reason for the bracha on the blossoms is not inherently because it is nissan, but because practically it is when the trees blossom. (See MIshna Berura O:CH 227-1)Therefore in countries where this is not applicable, and the trees actually blossom at a different time, then the person is benefiting from seeing the blossoms in a different month and therefore he should make the bracha then. Succos on the other hand is to celebrated specifically on the 15th of Tishrei, therefore it will be the same date any place on earth.
Perhaps I wasn’t clear. The Talmud does specify Nisan, but this has been adapted to mean Tishrei in areas where blooming occurs then. My point was that it is very easy to understand that the concept of mets’aer is adaptable to the reality of cold countries where the prerequisites of sleeping and eating do not apply, and therefore most people in such places would be exempt from Sukkah because it is not fitting to dwell (eat AND sleep), and the sukkah cannot allow for it on its own as it can in Eretz Yisrael. Therefore we can see we in colder countries are exempt. I was simply making a conceptual comparison of how ideas are ADJUSTED.`
What you are writing is correct that here are places that it is too cold to sit in the sukkah. I know of a city in Siberia that they all have heaters in their sukkah, otherwise they would not be able to sit there even for a short amount of time. However there is a difference between birkas Hailanos which is only during Nissan because that is practically when the blossom occurs, and Succos, which the Torah tells us specifically which date it is to be, and we can not move it even one day (unless the month will start later). the reason for this is because it has to do specifically with the date of 15 in Tishrei. Therefore the two are not the same.
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