Sukkah, Daf Yod Bet, Part 5
Introduction
Today’s section deals with using flax stalks as skhakh. As a reminder, when things have been processed to make them usable for humans, they are more likely to be susceptible to impurity. Unprocessed plant products are not susceptible to impurity
אמר רבה בר בר חנה אמר רבי יוחנן: סככה באניצי פשתן – פסולה, בהוצני פשתן – כשרה, והושני פשתן – איני יודע מהו.
Rabbah b. Bar Hana said in the name of R. Yohanan: If one covered a Sukkah with flax-stalks that had been soaked and baked, it is invalid; with flax stalks in their natural state it is valid; with flax-stalks in an intermediate stage of preparation, I do not know [whether it is valid or not] .
Rabbah b. Bar Hana states in the name of R. Yohanan that he knows that if the flax stalks have been processed by being soaked and then baked, they can’t be used for skhakh because they are susceptible to at least some forms of impurity. And when they are in their natural state they can certainly be used. What he doesn’t know is whether they can be used in an in-between state, when they have begun to be prepared for use but are not fully prepared.
והושני עצמן איני יודע. מה נפשך, אי דייק ולא נפיץ הושני קרי ליה, אבל תרי ולא דייק הוצני קרי ליה, או דלמא: תרי ולא דייק נמי הושני קרי ליה.
But as to what constitutes an intermediate stage, I do not know whether if it has been pounded and not combed it is regarded as in an intermediate stage, but if it has been soaked and not pounded it is regarded as being in its natural state, or perhaps, even if it has been soaked but not pounded, it is also regarded as being in an intermediate stage.
Rabbi Yohanan says that he doesn’t know what exactly constitutes the intermediate stage. There seem to be three stages in processing the flax: soaking, pounding and combing. It might be that if it has been pounded but not yet combed it is still in the intermediate stage, but soaked and not yet pounded is still in its natural state. Or even if it has only been soaked it is already in an intermediate stage, and shouldn’t be used as skhakh, lest it is susceptible to impurity.
Note that R. Yohanan doesn’t know the halakhah concerning whether one can use flax in the intermediate stage, and he doesn’t even know what constitutes this intermediate stage. You can see even great rabbis don’t know some things!
There is no answer to this question in the Talmud. Usually in such circumstances the halakhah rules strictly.