Rabbeinu Yonah comments on the Mishna ‘No one ever said to his friend, “There is no room for me to sleep in Jerusalem” as follows:
When the people came to Jerusalem for the Festivals, no one ever said, “The place is too crowded for me; move aside for me that I may dwell” (Yeshayahu 49: 2). As David HaMelech said, “The build city of Jerusalem. it is like a city united.” (Tehillim 122: 3). In other words, the city was built to accommodate the enitre nation. The word “it” means “for its sake”; Jerusalem waas built for the sake of the Jewish nation, so that they could all gather there.

My in-laws certainly put this into practice this Succot. Not only did they manage to find place to sleep the two of them and the seven of us, but for the first days they also had two other guests sleeping over! Not bad in a two bedroom apartment!! (Succot is easier than Pesach, because some of us were sleeping outside).

Unfortunately the Mishna doesn’t mention anything about bathrooms. There is no verse saying that there will be enough toilets for everyone. And so, in their two bedroom apartment, my in-laws have one toilet (which is itself not a good ratio). Then on Shabbat the toilet became blocked, and gradually during the next few days became flooded, started dripping down on the neighbours, and eventually began to spread raw sewerage around the house. LOVELY! Talk about having to keep our legs crossed!

Luckily there are friends who have toilets. So we weren’t quite reduced to following the sign:

Thanks Savta and Zeidy for putting up with us!

Chag Sameach