Sukkah, Daf Mem Daled, Part 1
Introduction
This week’s daf continues to discuss the aravah ritual. In the Temple they would circle the altar once every day with the aravah for the first six days of Sukkot. On the last day they would circle it seven times. But after the Temple was destroyed this custom was no longer observed. The Talmud now asks why.
אמר ליה אביי לרבא: מאי שנא לולב דעבדינן ליה שבעה זכר למקדש, ומאי שנא ערבה דלא עבדינן לה שבעה זכר למקדש?
אמר ליה: הואיל ואדם יוצא ידי חובתו בערבה שבלולב.
Abaye said to Rabbah: Why in the case of the lulav do we perform the ritual for seven days in memory of the Temple, whereas in the case of the aravah we do not perform the ritual for seven days in memory of the Temple?
He answered him: Since one fulfils the obligation [of taking the aravah] with the aravah on the lulav.
Outside of the Temple the mitzvah of the lulav is still observed for seven days, as a remembrance of the Temple, where it was taken for seven days. Abaye asks Rabbah why we don’t also perform the ritual of the aravah for seven days, as it too was done in the Temple for seven days.
Rabbah answers him that we can fulfill the mitzvah of the aravah with the aravah that is part of the lulav. We don’t need to have a separate aravah ritual, as they did when the Temple still stood.
אמר ליה: ההוא משום לולב הוא דקא עביד ליה. וכי תימא דקא מגבה ליה והדר מגבה ליה – והא מעשים בכל יום דלא קא עבדינן הכי!
אמר רב זביד משמיה דרבא: לולב דאורייתא – עבדינן שבעה זכר למקדש. ערבה דרבנן – לא עבדינן לה שבעה זכר למקדש.
He said to him: But that one he does on account of the lulav?
And if you will answer that one first raises it once and then raises it again, is it not a daily occurrence that we do not do so?
R. Zevid said in the name of Rava: In the case of the lulav which is a Torah commandment we perform the ceremony for seven days in memory of the Temple; in the case of the aravah which is only a rabbinic commandment, we do not perform the ceremony for seven days in memory of the Temple.
Abaye does not accept Rabbah’s answer, because taking the aravah as part of the lulav is not the same as taking the aravah alone, as the ritual was performed in the Temple. And if you were to attempt to say that we could lift it up again separately for seven days in memory of the Temple, we all know that we just don’t do that.
R. Zevid offers another interpretation as to why we don’t still do perform the aravah ritual for seven days. The lulav ritual is a toraitic commandment, for seven days in the Temple and for one day outside of the Temple. Because it was a toraitic commandment we still observe it for seven days. But the aravah ritual was never a Torah commandment, even when the Temple still stood. Therefore, without a Temple, the ritual is no longer observed for a full seven days.
למאן? אילימא לאבא שאול – האמר +ויקרא כג+ ערבי נחל כתיב, שתים – אחת ללולב ואחת למקדש.
According to whom? If you will say, According to Abba Shaul,did he not say: It is written, "willows of the brook" implying two, one referring to the [aravah in the] lulav and the other to [the aravah for use in] the Temple?
R. Zevid’s statement that the ritual of the aravah is of rabbinic origin is not so simple. There is a dispute among the sages concerning the status of the aravah ritual. According to Abba Shaul (cited above on 34a), it is indeed from the Torah. He picks up on the plural word "willows" from Leviticus 23:40. One aravah is for the lulav ritual and the other for use in the Temple ritual. So Abba Shaul holds that it is from the Torah.
אי לרבנן – הלכתא גמירי לה. דאמר רבי אסי אמר רבי יוחנן משום רבי נחוניא איש בקעת בית חורתן: עשר נטיעות, ערבה, וניסוך המים – הלכה למשה מסיני.
If you will say it is according to the rabbis, did they not have it as an accepted tradition, since R. Assi said in the name of R. Yohanan who said it in the name of R. Nehunya of the Valley of Beth Havartan: The laws of the ten plants, the aravah and water libation were given to Moses upon Mount Sinai.
According to the other rabbis, the laws of the aravah are a "halakhah from Moses on Sinai." This means it is an ancient law, believed to have been given orally to Moses on Sinai. The status of such a halakhah is disputed by post-talmudic rabbis, some holding that this also means that it is from the Torah while some hold that it is not. But such an ancient tradition is not considered to be from the "rabbis" as R. Zevid had said.
R. Yohanan mentions two other halakhot that are "halakhah from Moses on Sinai." One of these is "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 is the water libation made on Sukkot. This will be the topic of the fifth chapter of Sukkot.
אלא אמר רב זביד משמיה דרבא: לולב דאית ליה עיקר מן התורה בגבולין – עבדינן ליה שבעה זכר למקדש, ערבה דלית לה עיקר מן התורה בגבולין – לא עבדינן שבעה זכר למקדש.
Rather, R. Zevid said in the name of Rava: In the case of the lulav, which has its Torah origin when performed in the provinces, we perform it for seven days in memory of the Temple; in the case of the rite of the aravah, which has no Torah origin for its performance in the Provinces, we do not perform it for seven days in commemoration of the Temple.
This is what is called "tweaking" your original statement. R. Zevid now notes that the observance of the lulav in the provinces is from the Torah, at least for one day. Therefore, in the absence of the Temple there is greater impetus to keep observing it for seven days, as it was in the Temple. But the aravah ritual never had any toraitic basis outside of the Temple. While it may be "from the Torah" that only refers to its observance in the Temple itself. Therefore, in the absence of the Temple it is not observed for seven days.