Introduction
This week’s daf begins with an amora issuing a halakhic ruling with regard to the minimum breadth and width of a sukkah.
אמר רב שמואל בר יצחק: הלכה, צריכה שתהא מחזקת ראשו ורובו ושולחנו. אמר ליה רבי אבא: כמאן – כבית שמאי? – אמר ליה: אלא כמאן? איכא דאמרי, אמר רבי אבא: דאמר לך מני? אמר ליה: – בית שמאי היא, ולא תזוז מינה.
R. Shmuel b. Isaac stated: The halakhah is that [a sukkah] must be able to contain his head, the greater part of his body, and his table.
R. Abba said to him: In agreement with whom is this ruling? Is it in agreement with Beth Shammai?
He said to him: According to whom else?
There are those who say: R. Abba said to him: Who said this to you?
He answered: Beth Shammai, and do not budge from it.
R. Shmuel b. Isaac, an amora (person who lived in the Talmudic period) rules that for a sukkah to be valid it must be able to hold his head, the greater part of his body and his table. We should remember that back then tables were like our trays. They were small and used by one or two people. His legs could be out of the sukkah, and he doesn’t need to be able to stand in the sukkah. He should be able to sit in it and eat and then lay down.
R. Abba is perplexed by this ruling for it accords with Bet Shammai, as we will see later on in this page. Usually sages do not rule according to Bet Shammai; they rule according to Bet Hillel.
There are basically two versions of R. Shmuel bar Isaac’s response. In the first he rhetorically says, "According to whom else?" In others words, obviously I am ruling according to Bet Shammai.
In the second version R. Shmuel bar Isaac himself says that the source is Bet Shammai but that one shouldn’t "budge from this position." In other words, in this case we do rule that the halakhah is like Bet Shammai.
Today a sukkah must be at least 7 handbreadths by 7 handbreadths. Since 10 handbreadths are basically a meter, it needs to be about 70 cm broad and wide. I doubt many of us have ever been in a sukkah this small!