Sukkah, Daf Lamed Daled, Part 2

 

Introduction

The mishnah that opened this week’s daf ruled that a willow called a "tzaftzefah" cannot be used as part of the lulav. Our sugya deals with how we know that this type of aravah cannot be used.

 

תנו רבנן: ערבי נחל – הגדילות על הנחל, פרט לצפצפה הגדילה בין ההרים. אמר רבי זירא: מאי קראה +יחזקאל יז+ קח על מים רבים צפצפה שמו.

 

Our rabbis taught: "willows of the brook" those that grow by the brook excluding the tzafzefah which grows on the mountains.

R. Zera said: What is the verse [that proves this]? "He planted and set it beside the waters, he set it as a tzaftzefah" (Ezekiel 17:5).

 

The Torah calls the aravah a "willow of the brook." Since the "tzaftzefah" willow grows in the mountain, it cannot be used.

R. Zera explains the source of this halakhah. He reads the verse in Ezekiel as having two halves. The great eagle (this is the actor in the verse, which is speech God makes to Ezekiel) plants some seed "beside the waters" and then in the second half of the verse he "sets it as a tzaftzefah." The structure of the verse implies, to R. Zera, that a "tzaftzefah" is not beside the waters.

 

אמר ליה אביי: ודילמא פרושי קא מפרש, קח על מים רבים ומאי ניהו צפצפה! – אם כן מאי שמו?

 

Abaye said to him: Is it not possible that [the latter part] is merely an explanation: "He placed it beside many waters," and what was it? A tzaftzefah?

If so, what does "he set it" mean?

 

Abaye critiques R. Zera’s reading of the verse. How do we know that the first half and second half are two different "placings." Couldn’t it be that the second half is just an interpretation of the first half? This would mean that a "tzaftzefah" is a willow that grows on water. And if so, why can’t one use it for his lulav?

The Talmud rejects Abaye by saying that the verb in the second half of the clause "he set it" implies that the two halves refer to different "settings." Thus the first half refers to a willow placed on water and the second half to the "tzaftzefah" which is not found by the water.

אמר רבי אבהו אמר הקדוש ברוך הוא: אני אמרתי שיהו ישראל לפני כקח על מים רבים, ומאי ניהו – ערבה. והן שמו עצמן כצפצפה שבהרים.

 

R. Abbahu said: The Holy One, Blessed be He, said: I said that Israel should be before me as something placed beside many waters, that is, a willow, but they have made themselves as a tzaftzefah of the mountains.

 

R. Abbahu offers an independent theological reading of the verse, an interpretation not connected to the discussion above. God says: I gave Israel a position next to the waters, which are symbolic for Torah. But they went away from my waters to the mountain, like the tzaftzefah, a willow that grows in the mountains.

איכא דמתני לה להאי קרא אמתניתא: קח על מים רבים צפצפה שמו. מתקיף לה רבי זירא: ודילמא פרושי קא מפרש, קח על מים רבים מאי ניהו – צפצפה. – אם כן מאי שמו – אמר רבי אבהו: אמר הקדוש ברוך הוא אני אמרתי שיהו ישראל לפני כקח על מים רבים, ומאי ניהו ערבה, והן שמו עצמן כצפצפה שבהרים.

 

Some teach this verse in connection with the baraitha: "He placed it beside many waters, he set it as a tzaftzefah."

R. Zera raised a difficulty: Is it not possible that [the latter part] is merely an explanation: "He placed it beside many waters" and what was it? A tzaftzefah?

If so, what is meaning of he set it ?

R. Abbahu said: The Holy One, Blessed be He, said: I said that Israel should be before me as something placed beside many waters, that is, a willow, but they have made themselves as a tzaftzefah of the mountains.

 

There is no substantive difference between this version and the above version. The only difference is that in the first version R. Zera cites the verse and Abaye raises the difficulty. Here, the verse is part of a baraita and R. Zera raises the difficulty. Other than that there is no difference. We should note that this is not that uncommon. The Talmud preserves two different organizations of a chunk of material, without any substantive difference between the two. This probably shows us that the organization of the words of the rabbis is very important to the editors. To use Marshall McLuhan’s famous maxim "the medium is the message."