Sukkah, Daf Kaf Bet, Part 2
Introduction
In today’s section Abaye and Rava debate the applicability of Shmuel’s interpretation of the mishnah a disarranged sukkah, whose reeds are at different heights is still valid.
אמר אביי: לא שנו אלא שאין בין זה לזה שלשה טפחים, אבל יש בין זה לזה שלשה טפחים – פסולה. אמר
Abaye stated, this applies only where there are not three handbreadths of distance between one reed and another, but if there are three handbreadths between one and another, it is invalid.
Abaye says that Shmuel allows a disheveled sukkah only if the reeds are not separated by more than three handbreadths. But if some are above and some are below and there are three handbreadths separating them, the sukkah is not valid.
רבא: אפילו יש בין זה לזה שלשה טפחים נמי, לא אמרן אלא שאין בגגו טפח, אבל יש בגגו טפח – כשרה, דאמרינן חבוט רמי.
Rava says, even if there are three handbreadths between one and another we also do not say [that it is invalid] unless the upper reed is not a handbreadth wide but if the upper reed is a handbreadth wide, it is valid, since we apply to it the law of "beat and cast it down."
Rava says that if the upper reed is one handbreadth wide we can invoke a legal fiction called, "beat and throw it down" and thereby imagine it joining the lower reeds, even if they are separated by more than three handbreadths. The upcoming sections will explore where this principle comes from and how it is used. Basically it allows us to imagine that things that are up above, are actually below.
However, if the upper reed is thinner than a handbreadth, we cannot invoke this principle because, as Rashi explains, less than handbreadth cannot be a "tent" in rabbinic literature.