3 pages 3 laws of the Sukkah TB Sukkah 10, 11, and 12

TB Sukkah 10

Previously in our massekhet we learned the minimum and maximum dimensions of a Sukkah. Besides having three walls, it must be at least seven tefakhim (handbreadths or approximately 14 inches) by seven tefakhim by three amot (cubits or approximately 6 feet). Neither can a kosher sukkah be higher than 20 amot (40 feet). TB Sukkah 10 teaches how decorations impact the dimension of a kosher sukkah.

“Apropos decorations, it was stated: Sukka decorations do not diminish the height of the sukka. Decorations hanging from the roofing are not considered part of the structure and therefore do not diminish the height of the sukka. If the roofing is more than twenty cubits above the ground, the decorations hanging within twenty cubits of the ground do not render the sukka fit. Rav Ashi said: However, if the decorations are spread on the side of the roof, they are considered part of the structure and diminish the area. If the decorations render the interior of the sukka less than seven by seven handbreadths, the sukka is unfit.” (Sefaria.org translation) That is the halakha. (Shulkhan Arukh, Orekh Hayim, 433:3)

 

TB Sukkah 11

One of the qualifications of a kosher sukkah is that one has to prepare it and not from that which has already been prepared (based on the verse “You shall prepare for you the festival of Sukkot” (Deuteronomy 16:13).)-"תַּעֲשֶׂה"  וְלֹא מִן הֶעָשׂוּי.. The Mishna teaches, “If one trellised climbing plants such as a grapevine, or gourd plant, or ivy [kissos], over a sukka while they were still attached to the ground, and then added roofing atop them, the sukka is unfit.” (Sefaria.org translation) Rav and Shmuel disagree what a person has to do to make these climbing plants part of the kosher Sukkah. “Rav deems the roofing fit merely by cutting them, without moving them.” (Sefaria.org translation) By detaching the climbing plants is sufficient preparation to make the plants part of the kosher sekhakh. Shmuel holds “one is obligated to move the branches, thereby performing an action with the branches in order to render the roofing fit. When he placed the climbing plants atop the sukka, they were attached and therefore unfit roofing. When he ultimately cut them, it was as if the sukka were roofed by itself. In that case, the sukka is unfit due to the principle: Prepare it, and not from that which has already been prepared, derived from the verse: “You shall prepare for you the festival of Sukkot” (Deuteronomy 16:13).” (Sefaria.org translation)

Even though the halakhah follows Rav in matters of permissive and forbidden, in this case the halakha follows Shmuel because the Gemara raises an insolvable problem to Rav’s position.

 

TB Sukkah 12

The Mishnah back on TB Sukkah 11a cites the three requirements of kosher sekhakh. It has to grow from the ground, be detached, and cannot become ritually unready (מְּקַבֵּל טוּמְאָה). Today’s daf wants to know the source for the rule that cannot become ritually unready. The Gemara provides for sources with the last two being the most acceptable.

The first source is from the Torah. “When Ravin came from Eretz Yisrael to Babylonia he said that Rabbi Yoḥanan said that the verse states: “You shall prepare for you the festival of Sukkot for seven days as you gather from your threshing floor and from your winepress” (Deuteronomy 16:13), and the Sages interpreted that it is with regard to the waste of the threshing floor and of the winepress that the verse is speaking. One uses grain stalks and vines for roofing the sukka, materials that are not susceptible to ritual impurity and grow from the ground.” (Sefaria.org translation)

The second source is from the book of the Nehemiah. “Rav Ḥisda said that proof can be cited from here: “Go forth to the mount and fetch olive branches, and branches of wild olive, and myrtle branches, and palm branches, and the boughs of a dense-leaved tree in order to make sukkot as written” (Nehemiah 8:15). From this verse, the materials for sukka roofing can be derived.”(Sefaria.org translation)

An interesting side tidbit comes from Rashi ד"ה צאו ההר. All throughout the Talmud he treats the books Ezra and Nehemiah as one book named Ezra. In our case it actually comes from the book of the Nehemiah and not from Ezra as Rashi states.