Sukkah, Daf Yod Aleph, Part 2
Introduction
Today’s section continues to discuss sleeping in a canopied bed in a sukkah.
דרש רבה בר רב הונא: מותר לישן בכילה, אף על פי שיש לה גג, אף על פי שגבוהה עשרה.
Rabbah bar R. Huna expounded, It is permitted to sleep in a canopied bed [in a Sukkah] even though it has a roof and even though it is ten [handbreadths] high.
Rabbah bar R. Huna allows one to sleep in a canopied bed inside a sukkah under all conditions. Even if it has a roof, meaning the bed has four posts. And even if the canopy is ten handbreadths over the bed such that it would count as a "tent."
כמאן – כרבי יהודה, דאמר: לא אתי אהל עראי ומבטל אהל קבע. דתנן, אמר רבי יהודה: נוהגין היינו לישן תחת המטה בפני הזקנים.
According to whom [does he hold]? According to R. Judah who said that a temporary tent cannot nullify a permanent tent, as we have learned: R. Judah said, We were accustomed to sleep under a bed in the presence of the elders.
The Talmud explains that Rabbah bar R. Huna’s opinion matches that of R. Judah from a mishnah that will appear later in the tractate. R. Judah states that they used to sleep under a bed in the sukkah and the sages were okay with that. This, the Talmud explains, is because a temporary tent (that formed under the bed) cannot nullify the permanent tent that is the sukkah. [Note that the Talmud here considers a sukkah to be a permanent tent. Probably because during that week one dwells in it permanently].
ולימא: הלכה כרבי יהודה!
אי אמר הלכה כרבי יהודה, הוה אמינא: הני מילי – מטה, דלגבה עשויה, אבל כילה דלתוכה עשויה – אימא לא, קא משמע לן: טעמא דרבי יהודה דלא אתי אהל עראי ומבטל אהל קבע, לא שנא מטה ולא שנא כילה.
Why then does he not say, "the halachah is according to R. Judah?
If he had said, "the halachah is according to R. Judah," I might have presumed that this applies only to a bed which is made [to be slept] upon, but not to a canopied bed which, is made [to be slept] within, hence he teaches us that the reason of R. Judah is that a temporary tent cannot nullify a permanent one, no matter whether it be an ordinary bed or a canopied bed.
If Rabbah bar R. Huna rules according to R. Judah, why doesn’t he just say "the halakhah is according to R. Judah"? Why does he state an independent halakhah?
The Talmud answers that had he stated that the halakhah is according to R. Judah we would have thought that it’s okay to sleep under a bed, because a bed wasn’t meant to sleep under it. It was made for sleeping on top of it. Therefore, the space underneath the bed might not count as a "tent." But a canopy was meant for sleeping under it. Therefore, it would nullify the sukkah above. Hence Rabbah bar R. Huna teaches us that in all situations a temporary structure (the canopied bed) does not nullify the existence of the permanent structure (the sukkah).