Sukkah, Daf Kaf, Part 5
Introduction
Today’s section is the last section in chapter one. It continues to deal with using mats as skhakh.
Don’t worry the other chapters are shorter. And congratulations we’ve now finished the first chapter of Daf Shevui!
תניא, אמר רבי חנניה: כשירדתי לגולה מצאתי זקן אחד, ואמר לי: מסככין בבודיא, וכשבאתי אצל רבי יהושע אחי אבא הודה לדבריו.
אמר רב חסדא: והוא דלית ליה גדנפא.
It was taught: R. Hanina stated: When I went down to the Diaspora I came across an old man who said to me, "A reed mat may be used as skhakh." And when I came before R. Joshua, my father’s brother, he agreed with his words.
R. Hisda said: only if it has no rim.
The long sugya ends with a tradition that one can use a reed mat as skhakh, as long as it doesn’t have a rim. If it has a rim it is susceptible to impurity and cannot be used.
אמר עולא: הני בודיתא דבני מחוזא, אלמלא קיר שלהן – מסככין בהו.
תניא נמי הכי: מסככין בבודיא, ואם יש להן קיר – אין מסככין בהן.
Ulla said: Those mats of the people of Mahoza, were it not for their rim, would be valid as skhakh. So it has also been taught: Reed mats are valid as skhakh, but if they have rims they are invalid as skhakh.
This tradition is about the specific mats found in Mahoza, a city in Babylonia. Basically, it teaches the same thing as we learned in the previous section.
הדרן עלך סוכה.
May we return to you chapter "Sukkah."
This is how every chapter of Talmud concludes, with a wish that we should go back and learn it again, to commit it to memory. So please do continue with the next section, which begins the second chapter. But when you have some extra time, keep learning the first chapter. As I’ve always told my students, the best way to improve your ability to learn Talmud is to review the material you’ve already learned.