Daf Yomi Sukkah

Sukkah 2a and Sukkah 2b, invalidating factors in a sukkah, starting with why and when a sukkah of over 20 amot high is invalid.

Sukkah 3a and Sukkah 3b, defending the possibility that a sukkah could be as small as 7 tefahim by 7 tefahim (Beit Shammai’s view, accepted as normative halachah), the two disagreements between Beit Shammai and Beit Hillel about a  sukkah, its bare size and if the table is in the house, and then a series of areas where a structure must be 4 amot by 4 amot to count as a house.

Sukkah 4a and Sukkah 4b, ways to fix a problematic sukkah, whether too high or too small, including dofen akumah and lavud.

Sukkah 5a and Sukkah 5b, figuring out the minimal size of a sukkah by comparing it to the Aron and/or the ceruvim on top of the Aron in the Mishkan.

Sukkah 6a and Sukkah 6b, the various measurements attached to the verse about the seven species for which Israel is known, the minimum number of walls in a sukkah, and how we derive them.

Sukkah 7a and Sukkah 7b, where to put the third wall of the sukkah, how sukkah walls can count for Shabbat purposes on the Shabbat of Sukkot, and vice verse, how Shabbat walls can count for a sukkah on that Shabbat, and then the tannaim who held a sukkah had to be a dirat keva, a structure with some permanence.

Sukkah 8a and Sukkah 8b, figuring out the circumference of a circular sukkah that could contain within it a minimal sized sukkah, the problem of a permanent room being a sukkah, and sukkot built by those not obligated or built only for temporary other purposes.

Sukkah 9a and Sukkah 9b, whether a sukkah must be built with the holiday in mind, a sukkah under a tree, and a sukkah under another sukkah.

Sukkah 10a and Sukkah 10b, the height at which one sukkah under another becomes a problem, what kinds of coverings of sukkah are or are not an issue, including decorations, and then sleeping under beds, canopies, or nettings.

Sukkah 11a and Sukkah 11b, kinds of bed coverings within a sukkah that do not invalidate it, what to do with items still growing out of the ground that we want to use as sechach, whether cutting it away from the ground after it already is on top of the Sukkah is enough of an action to make it sechach, and why sechach has to grow from the ground and not be susceptible to ritual impurity.

Sukkah 12a and Sukkah 12b, how we know schach must be made of materials not susceptible to ritual impurity, why bundles of straw or wood cannot be sechach, with a rabbinic problem and a Biblical one of ta’aseh ve-lo min ha-asui, what kind of opening makes a piece of wood susceptible to ritual impurity, and whether a foul odor makes something invalid as schach.

Sukkah 13a and Sukkah 13b, materials for sechach, that they cannot discourage people from sitting in a sukkah, what kind of bundles do not create problems for sechach, how names affect our use of items for various purposes, and what counts as part of materials going into sechach.

Sukkah 14a and Sukkah 14b, finishing figuring out how yadot, attachment pieces of produce, could be rendered unimportant for food purposes (and therefore valid as sechach), and then a new Mishnah about the issue of nesarim, whether large planks of wood, are problematic for sechach because they look too much like roofs.

Sukkah 15a and Sukkah 15b, three versions of why there are two Mishnayot presenting the debate about whether there is a gezerat tikrah, we cannot use large planks of wood for sechach lest we just sit under roofs. Then, using invalid sechach by having equal or more valid sechach, and how we can be sure we have more.

Sukkah 16a and Sukkah 16b, which leftover materials are still susceptible to ritual impurity and therefore invalid as sechach, which no longer susceptible materials are nonetheless still invalid as sechach, and then how we can construct walls, whether a hanging wall is acceptable, and how lavud lets us see a full wall with much less than full material.

Sukkah 17a and Sukkah 17b, figuring out where invalid sechach is a problem, how much, and to what extent of problem.

Sukkah 18a and Sukkah 18b, finishing up the issues of invalid sechach for either four tefahim or amot, how lavud works in the middle of a space (or doesn’t) and when we do or don’t say pi tikrah, the thickness of a roof can be seen as creating a wall.

Sukkah 19a and Sukkah 19b, finishing the discussion of pi tikrah, the ceiling being envisioned as coming down and making a wall, four options in what sechach ha-yotzei is, sechach that extends from the sukkah in some way, the rules of slanted sechach, and whether mats of reeds, large or small, are assumed to be for sechach or for mattresses.

Sukkah 20a and Sukkah 20b, finishing the first chapter with a discussion of the kinds of mats we assume are for sleeping on (and therefore not valid as sechach), which mats are susceptible both to tumat met and midras, the kind of ritual impurity conveyed by a zav or zavah sitting or lying on it, how a ridge or railing around a mat converts it into a usable item and therefore is invalid as sechach. Then, beginning the second chapter, sleeping under a bed and how that affects one’s sukkah observance.

Sukkah 21a and Sukkah 21b, how we know whether R. Yehudah requires a covering to be man made, how that affects the ceremony for securing water for the parah adumah, how that relates to the question of sleeping under a sukkah, and then the issue of using a bed as support for sechach, and the possible reasons R. Yehudah disallows it.

Sukkah 22a and Sukkah 22b, when we can have different levels of sechach combine to make a valid covering, for Sukkah, for tumat ohel (the ritual impurity of sharing a space with human remains), and for eruv; how we measure more sun than shade; the beginnings of sukkot in strange places, on a carriage, ship, animal, or in a tree.

Sukkah 23a and Sukkah 23b, how sturdy the walls of a sukkah have to be, wind-wise, and then the issues of using animals either as the floor of the sukkah or the walls of a sukkah, with the issue of whether we are required to worry about  possible death.

Sukkah 24a and Sukkah 24b, figuring out R. Meir and R. Yehudah’s positions on considering death and/or breakage realistic possibilities, bererah (whether later events can define an earlier occurrence), using animals for a get, and using trees or bushes as a wall for a sukkah.

Sukkah 25a and Sukkah 25b, exemptions from Sukkah for those on a mitzvah mission, and the general exemption from mitzvot for those involved in other mitzvot, ending with the groom and his wedding party and their rules for exemption.

Sukkah 26a and Sukkah 26b, reasons to be exempt from sukkah or other mitzvot, kinds of eating or sleeping permitted outside a sukkah or in tefillin, and the right to be stringent about observance of sukkah.

Sukkah 27a and Sukkah 27b, disagreements between R. Eliezer and Hachamim about what makes the sukkah one’s residence for the holiday, whether one must eat a certain number of meals there, own the sukkah, use only one sukkah on the holiday, and the verses that teach each their views.

Sukkah 28a and Sukkah 28b, the students of Hillel, especially R. Yohanan b. Zakkai, and their remarkable qualities, how we know women are exempt from the mitzvah and why it is not just an example of an obligation with a time component, children and sukkah.

Sukkah 29a and Sukkah 29b, finishing issues of the sukkah, how to demonstrate one is living in the sukkah throughout the holiday (what activities to do there), what kind of rain exempts from living in the sukkah, for how long, and why it is a sign of Gd’s displeasure, then closing out the chapter with other signs of Gd’s displeasure. Then onto the 3rd chapter, what disqualifies a lulav.

Sukkah 30a and Sukkah 30b, whether a sin attached to accessing a mitzvah invalidates the item permanently (like a brazenly expropriated lulav), what events after a theft can lead to a change of ownership, ye’ush alone (the despair of the original owner), or additional changes, of possession, of function, of name.

Sukkah 31a and Sukkah 31b, what kinds of stolen sukkot could be used as a sukkah, whether R. Yehudah agrees there is a requirement of hadar for etrog, what kinds of avodah zarah items might still be effective if used as part of the Four Species.

Sukkah 32a and Sukkah 32b, the need for a lulav that has a spine covered by leaves, with the leaves not too spread out, able to be tied on to the central branch. Similarly with hadasim, leaves covering the branch.

Sukkah 33a and Sukkah 33b, the qualifications for hadasim (and, at the very end of the daf, aravot), but especially the question of dihui, whether an item of mitzvah can become permanently invalid by virtue of having become temporarily invalid, and how that affects a hadas branch that has a lot of berries on it the person removed.

Sukkah 34a and Sukkah 34b, the qualifications for an aravah, the metaphor of Gd having hoped the Jewish people would be like an aravah by the river and their unfortunate choices, items whose names have changed over time, how many of each species in the lulav bundle, and the qualifications for an etrog.

Sukkah 345a and Sukkah 35b, ways to understand the verse to indicate etrog is what is meant by peri etz hadar, the requirement of edibility and possibly financial stakes in an etrog, why terumah or ma’aser sheni ideally should not be used for an etrog, and other possible disqualifiers.

Sukkah 36a and Sukkah 36b, invalidating factors of the etrog, with a digression to terefah issues in animals, stories proving a point and/or misreported, and the tie used to bind the species together.

Sukkah 37a and Sukkah 37b, proving that R. Yehudah would agree that other parts of the palm tree can be used to tie the lulav to the hadasim and aravot, Rabah and Rava’s disagreements about the role of hatzitzot, barriers, in holding the lulav, and a first discussion of shaking the lulav in Hallel.

Sukkah 38a and Sukkah 38b, when we have to interrupt what we’re doing to perform a mitzvah, how people can fulfill an obligatory recitation when they do not know how to recite it themselves, and the principles demonstrated by the communal recitation of Hallel.

Sukkah 39a and Sukkah 39b, making the berachah before taking the lulav, buying a lulav and etrog in a shemittah year.

Sukkah 40a and Sukkah 40b, when to calculate the shemittah year for an etrog, why wood would or would not be considered shemittah produce, and whether redemption is effective to remove  shemittah status from an item switched for a shemittah product, or only purchase.

Sukkah 41a and Sukkah 41b, when it is possible to redeem and/or purchase shemittah materials so as to relieve them of their shemittah status, R. Yohanan b. Zakkai’s rules to remember the Temple, including why we cannot eat new produce until after the 16th of Nisan, and the idea of owning the lulav on the first day of Sukko

Sukkah 42a and Sukkah 42b, finishing Lulav Ha-Gazul with issues of what kind of inattentive picking up of a lulav nonetheless fulfills the mitzvah, what kinds of errors R. Yose exempts because of involvement in a mitzvah, and the stages of educating a child to perform mitzvot. Then, on to Lulav Va-Aravah, how many days of Sukkot we perform various practices.

Sukkah 43a and Sukkah 43b, why we do or don’t perform the mitzvah of lulav when the first day of Sukkot is Shabbat, in Israel and out, and the same for aravah, circling the altar either with a willow branch or the lulav bundle. With a side discussion of how we know lulav is only during the day and the mitzvah of sukkah is day and night.

Sukkah 44a and Sukkah 44b, why we observe lulav for seven days in commemoration of the Temple, and aravah only one day, whether aravah is a Biblical or halachah le-Moshe mi-Sinai, or was set up by the prophets, either as a fixed practice or a custom, the needed appearance of the aravah, and how we fulfill the practice. With scattered shemittah issues as well.

Sukkah 45a and Sukkah 45b, how the mitzvah of aravah worked in the Temple, and some statements of R. Shimon b. Yohai of a metaphysical nature.

Sukkah 46a and Sukkah 46b, issues of berachot: when we make a shehehiyanu on lulav and sukkah, how often we make a beracha on such practices (and tefillin), whether and based on what source we recite blessings for rabbinic commandments, and how we treat the lulav and sukkah on the seventh and eighth days of Sukkot.

Sukkah 47a and Sukkah 47b, the relationship between Shemini Atzeret and Sukkot, for eating in the sukkah and for reciting shehehiyanu, and other issues.

Sukkah 48a and Sukkah 48b, how we know there is simhah on Shemini Atzeret as well, how we mark the sukkah as not being used on Shemini Atzeret, and the beginning of the discussion of the procedure for Simhat Beit Ha-Shoevah.

Sukkah 49a and Sukkah 49b, the shitin, the drain pipes under the altar, when they were created, and how they were used to beautify the service, from there to ideas about privacy in Torah study and other activities, and from there–because of the verses cited as prooftexts–to a comparison of tzedakah, charity, to hessed, kindnesses.

Sukkah 50 and Sukkah 50b, the water drawn on Friday for libation on Shabbat, the kind of container it had to be in, whether there was a maximum amount, and why it could not be left uncovered, and then the use of a flute as part of the Simhat Beit HaShoevah, whether musical instruments were necessary for accompanying sacrifices, and what that teaches about the utensils of the Temple generally.

Sukkah 51a and Sukkah 51b, the musical instruments question, how essential it was to the accompaniment of the sacrifices, and whether there was a debate about allowing it for Simhat Beit HaShoevah. Then, describing the celebration, with other elements of Jewish life that were more beautiful than anyone has seen.

Sukkah 52a and Sukkah 52b, from figuring out how a balcony was allowed to be put up in the Temple for beit ha-sho’evah celebrations to ideas about the yetzer ha-ra, the evil inclination, its character, how it works it way into our beings, and the importance of resisting it.

Sukkah 53a and Sukkah 53b, more elements of the celebration of the libating of the water, with digressions to the balance between choice and fate, the danger when David dug the shitin, and then onto the issue of blowing trumpets and how many times in the Beit HaMikdash day.

Sukkah 54a and Sukkah 54b, the blowings of the trumpets accompanying various Temple services, especially whether we agree with R. Aha b. Hanina’s baraita, that we blow trumpets with each Musaf offering, and whether we played with the calendar to make sure Yom Kippur did not happen on a Sunday.

Sukkah 55a and Sukkah 55b, disproving R. Aha b. Hanina, showing they did not blow for each Mussaf offering in the Temple, and then how they apportioned the sacrifices of Sukkot for all the groups of kohanim who showed up.

Sukkah 56a and Sukkah 56b, how the kohanim shared and didn’t share benefits of the week of a holiday, and the days leading up to and after when they are close to the holiday. Closing the tractate with a story of how we are all connected to each other, for the good and for the not good.