Sukkah, Daf Kaf Bet, Part 1

 

Introduction

This daf begins with a new mishnah.

 

משנה. סוכה המדובללת, ושצילתה מרובה מחמתה – כשרה. המעובה כמין בית, אף על פי שאין הכוכבים נראין מתוכה – כשרה.

 

Mishnah. A disarranged sukkah and one whose shade is more than its sun is valid.

If [the skhakh] is thick like that of a house, it is valid, even though the stars cannot be seen through it.

 

The Talmud will explore what a "disarranged" (meduvlelet in Hebrew) sukkah is and how this relates to the second clause "whose shade is more than its sun."

The second clause is sometimes surprising to people who think that one must be able to see the stars through the skhakh. While this is desirable, a sukkah is valid even if one cannot see the stars.

 

גמרא. מאי מדובללת? אמר רב: סוכה ענייה. ושמואל אמר: קנה עולה וקנה יורד.

 

Gemara. What is meant by "disarranged?

Ravs said: a poor sukkah;

And Shmuel said, one whose reeds are not all on the same level.

 

Rav says that "disarranged" or in Hebrew מדובללת means that the skhakh is thin or poor. Despite this, it is still valid.

Shmuel says that its reeds are all disheveled, some are on one level while some are on another.

 

רב תני חדא, ושמואל תני תרתי. רב תני חדא: סוכה מדובללת, מאי מדובללת – מדולדלת, שצילתה מרובה מחמתה – כשרה. ושמואל תני תרתי: מאי מדובללת – מבולבלת, ותרתי קתני: סוכה מבולבלת כשרה, וצילתה מרובה מחמתה כשרה.

 

Rav taught the [first part of the mishnah as] one [statement], while Shmuel taught it as two.

Rav taught it as one: a sukkah which is meduvlelet, (what is meduvlelet? Poor, meduldelet) whose shade is more than its sun, is valid;

While Shmuel taught it as two: what is meduvlelet? Disarranged; and [the mishnah] teaches two [laws,] that a disarranged sukkah is valid and that a sukkah whose shade is more than its sun is valid.

 

The Talmud now explains how each of these amoraim reads the mishnah’s two clauses. Rav reads the mishnah as if the second clause explains the first. "Meduvlelet," which is a strange and unusual word, is read by Rav as if it says "meduldelet" which comes from the word "dal" meaning poor. Such a sukkah has "poor" or thin skhakh but it is still kosher as long as there is more shade than sun, a rule we saw in the beginning of the tractate. We should also note that this accords with the end of the mishnah the first clause says that the sukkah is kosher even if the skhakh is really thin and the second clause says that the sukkah is kosher even if the skhakh is really thick.

Shmuel teaches the mishnah as two separate clauses. The first clause teaches that a sukkah whose reeds are disheveled is valid. The second clause is totally separate. It teaches that if the shade is greater than the sun, it is valid.