Sukkah, Daf Daled, Part One

 

Introduction

Today’s daf begins by discussing ways in which one could or could not reduce the height a sukkah that is already more than 20 cubits high by adding material to the base of the sukkah. The general principle here is that such a reduction in height is effective if we are sure that he has abandoned the material he used to reduce the height, and he won’t remove the material to use it during the week. If he has not abandoned it, the sukkah remains invalid lest he remove the substance he used to reduce the height and the sukkah would again be over 20 cubits high.

 

היתה גבוהה מעשרים אמה ובא למעטה בכרים וכסתות לא הוי מיעוט, ואף על גב דבטלינהו [לכולהו], משום דבטלה דעתו אצל כל אדם.

 

If [a Sukkah] was more than twenty cubits high and he wanted to reduce its [height] with pillows and cushions it is not a [valid] reduction, even though he abandoned them since his intention is canceled out by that of other people.

 

He puts pillows and cushions on the ground so that the sukkah (the skhakh) is now no longer 20 cubits high. Such a reduction is not valid because we assume that when he sees people walking on the pillows or cushions, he will want to remove them. If he does so, the sukkah will again be more than 20 cubits high. Even if he specifically declares that he is going to "abandon" the pillows and cushions there, since most people wouldn’t do so, his intention is irrelevant.

 

תבן ובטלו – הוי מיעוט, וכל שכן עפר ובטלו.

 

If [he reduced it] with straw and abandoned it, it is a [valid] reduction, and all the more so is this the case with earth which he abandoned.

 

Straw and earth can be used to reduce the height of the sukkah, as long as he declares that he has no intention to come back later during the week and use them for some other purpose.

תבן ואין עתיד לפנותו ועפר סתם – מחלוקת רבי יוסי ורבנן, דתנן: בית שמילאהו תבן או צרורות וביטלו – מבוטל. ביטלו – אין, לא ביטלו – לא. ותני עלה רבי יוסי אומר: תבן ואין עתיד לפנותו – הרי הוא כעפר סתם, ובטל.

[If he spread] straw which he had no intention of removing or earth concerning which his intention is unknown this is a matter of dispute between R. Yose and the rabbis. For we have learned: A house which they filled with straw or gravel and the owner announced his intention to abandon it, it is duly abandoned.

[Thus only if] he expressly abandoned it, is it not regarded as abandoned, but if he did not expressly do so, it is not so regarded.

And with regard to this we have learned, R. Yose ruled: Straw which he has no intention of removing is like ordinary earth and is deemed to be abandoned.

 

Now the Talmud deals with two categories of situations in which earth or straw were used to reduce the height of the sukkah. 1) Straw which he did not intend to remove, but neither did he explicitly declare that he intended to leave it there; 2) Earth which he put there but we don’t know if he intended to leave it there or not. This is related, according to the Talmud, to a dispute between R. Yose and the other rabbis.

The mishnah they is from Ohalot 15:7. The mishnah teaches that if he filled the house with straw or gravel and then abandoned it there, the empty space of the house has been reduced. The issue in Ohalot is whether the impurity of a dead body in the house is trapped in the house or whether it goes up and down beyond the house. However, this is not relevant to us. What is relevant is that according to this opinion, he must expressly abandon the straw there. If not, it is not deemed to be part of the house.

However, R. Yose holds that he does not need to expressly abandon the straw there. As long as he has no express intention of removing it, it is considered to be part of the house.

This same debate would hold true with regard to the sukkah: according to the sages he would have to expressly abandon the straw or earth, whereas R. Yose would hold that it is sufficient to simply not intend to remove it.

עפר ועתיד לפנותו – הרי הוא כסתם תבן, ולא בטיל.

Earth which he intends to remove [later] is like ordinary straw and is not deemed to be abandoned.

 

But if he intends to remove the earth from the sukkah, it is like regular straw which he did not specifically intend to remove. Such straw or such the earth cannot be used to reduce the height of the sukkah because he may remove it later.