Sukkah, Daf Kaf Aleph, Part 3

 

Introduction

In yesterday’s section we learned that R. Judah seems to hold that as long as the tent was made by a human it functions as a tent. We now return to our mishnah in Sukkah in which R. Judah allows one to sleep under a bed, even though the bed was clearly made by a human being.

 

והרי מטה, דיש בה כמה אגרופים.

ותנן, רבי יהודה אומר: נוהגים היינו שהיינו ישנים תחת המטה בפני הזקנים!

שאני מטה, הואיל ולגבה עשויה.

 

But has not a bed a breadth of many fistfuls, and yet we have learned: Rabbi Judah said, we were accustomed to sleep under a bed in the presence of the elders?

A bed is different, since it is made [to be slept] upon.

 

The Talmud now brings our mishnah in Sukkah as a difficulty on R. Judah. A bed clearly is more than a few fistfuls high and yet to R. Judah it doesn’t seem to count as a tent. They resolve that difficulty by saying that the bed doesn’t function as a tent because it was made for what goes on top. It is not a "tent" because a "tent" is made for what goes underneath.

 

שוורים נמי לגבן עשוים!

כי אתא רבין אמר רבי אלעזר: שאני שוורים הואיל ומגינים על הרועים, בחמה מפני החמה, ובגשמים מפני הגשמים. –

 

But are not oxen also made [to be sat] upon?

When Rabin came he explained in the name of R. Elazar: Oxen are different, since they provide shelter for shepherds in summer from the sun, and in the rainy season from the rain.

 

The problem with the previous resolution is that oxen are also used for what goes above and not for what goes below. Therefore they too shouldn’t be considered tents.

Rabin provides the answer that oxen sometimes are used for what goes below as well. In the summer the shepherd sits underneath to protect himself from the sun and in the winter from the rain (but watch out shepherd, cause you might still get wet under there!).

 

אי הכי, מטה נמי, הואיל ומגינה על מנעלים וסנדלים שתחתיה!

 

If so, should not a bed [also be so regarded] since it provides shelter to the shoes and sandals under it?

 

But again, the Talmud retorts, the bed also could be considered to be used for what goes below shoes and sandals! [I like it that they put their shoes and sandals under their beds even two thousand years ago]. So if an ox is considered a tent because sometimes the space underneath it is used, so too a bed should be considered a tent, despite the fact that one usually uses the space above.

 

אלא אמר רבא: שאני שוורים, הואיל ועשוים להגין על בני מעים שלהן, שנאמר +איוב י+ עור ובשר תלבישני ובעצמות וגידים תסככני.

 

 

The fact is, said Rava, that oxen are different since they naturally shelter their entrails, as it is written (Job 10), "You have clothed me with skin and flesh, and covered me with bones and sinews."

 

The answer is that the oxen’s torso is a tent because it is meant to shelter the oxen’s innards. This is not just some temporary use, but truly the main function of an oxen’s torso, whereas the main function of a bed is for sleeping on top. So a bed does not count as a tent whereas the oxen’s torso does.