Sukkah, Daf Lamed Daled, Part One
Introduction
This week’s daf begins with a new mishnah, one very similar to the previous ones but this time about the aravah (willow). Parts of this mishnah that were explained in earlier mishnayot will not be dealt with again here.
משנה. ערבה גזולה ויבשה – פסולה, של אשרה ושל עיר הנדחת – פסולה. נקטם ראשה, נפרצו עליה, והצפצפה – פסולה. כמושה, ושנשרו מקצת עליה, ושל בעל – כשרה.
Mishnah. A stolen or withered aravah is invalid.
One from an asherah or from a condemned city is invalid.
One whose tip was broken off or whose leaves were detached, or a tzaftzefah is invalid.
One that was shriveled or had lost some of its leaves, or one grown in rain-watered soil, is valid.
The first three clauses of the mishnah are the same or nearly the same as those with regard to the lulav and hadas. The Talmud will later explain what a tzaftzefah is.
The Torah calls the willow "willows of the brook." The mishnah teaches that one that grows in rain watered soil is also valid.
גמרא. תנו רבנן: +ויקרא כג+ ערבי נחל – הגדילין על הנחל. דבר אחר: ערבי נחל – שעלה שלה משוך כנחל. תניא אידך: ערבי נחל. אין לי אלא ערבי נחל, של בעל ושל הרים מניין – תלמוד לומר ערבי נחל, מכל מקום. אבא שאול אומר: ערבי – שתים, אחת ללולב ואחת למקדש. –
Gemara. Our Rabbis taught: "willows of the brook" means those which grow by a brook.
Another interpretation: "willows of the brook" one whose leaf is elongated as a brook.
Another baraita taught: "willows of the brook," I only know that willows of the brook are valid. From where do we know that those grown on rain-watered soil and mountain willows [are also valid]? Scripture says, "willows of the brook," from any place.
Abba Shaul says: "willows" [in the plural means] two, one for the lulav and one for the Temple.
This baraita gives several interpretations of the phrase "willows of the brook" from Leviticus 23:40. The first interpretation is pretty straightforward one should use willows that grow on a brook.
The second interpretation understands "brook" to be a description of the leaves of the willow they should be shaped like a brook.
The third interpretation focuses on the plural form "willows," interpreting the form as allowing any willow to be used, not just one that grows by a brook.
Finally, Abba Shaul offers a different interpretation for the plural. The verse alludes to two uses of the willow. One as part of the lulav and the other was used in the Temple. We will learn more about this Temple ritual in chapter four.
ורבנן, למקדש מנא להו? – הלכתא גמירי להו. דאמר רבי אסי אמר רבי יוחנן: עשר נטיעות, ערבה, וניסוך המים – הלכה למשה מסיני.
And the rabbis from where to they derive [the law of the willow] for the Temple?
They learned a received tradition; for R. Asi said in the name of R. Yohanan, the laws of ten plants, the aravah and the water libation are all a halakhah from Moses from Sinai.
The rabbis in the above baraita used the plural form in the verse to prove that one could use any aravah, not just one that grows by the brook. But this left them without a source for the Temple aravah ritual. So, the Talmud asks, from where do they derive that halakhah?
R. Yohanan answers that this ritual is a "halakhah from Moses from Sinai." Throughout rabbinic literature this term means that the tradition is very old and is assumed to have come from Sinai. It always means that there is no source for it from the Torah. Thus they don’t need the midrash on the plural form "willows."
R. Yohanan mentions three halakhot. The first is "the laws of ten plants." This refers to Mishnah Sheviit 6:1 concerning a field that has ten plants in it. I refer you to the Mishnah Yomit commentary to understand this mishnah.
The other two halakhot are connected with Sukkot. The first is the aravah ritual in the Temple. And the second is the water libation, which is discussed later in chapter four.