Sukkah, Daf Mem Gimmel, Part 4

 

Introduction

The mishnah referred to a special mitzvah performed with the aravah, the willow-branch. This is a Temple ritual whereby they would circle the altar with the aravah in hand. We will learn more about the ritual later in this chapter.

For now we discuss the mishnah which teaches that this ritual overrides Shabbat, but only if the seventh day falls on Shabbat. If the seventh day falls on another day, then the ritual does not override Shabbat.

 

ערבה שבעה כיצד.

ערבה בשביעי מאי טעמא דחיא שבת?

אמר רבי יוחנן: כדי לפרסמה שהיא מן התורה.

 

The aravah for seven days. How so?

Why does the [ritual of the] aravah on the seventh day override Shabbat?

R. Yohanan said: In order to publicize the fact that it is a [commandment] of the Torah.

 

R. Yohanan explains that the reason that the aravah ritual overrides Shabbat is to let people know that it is a mitzvah "from the Torah." Indeed, there were Jews who opposed this ritual. This ritual seems to be Pharisaic/rabbinic and opposed by their rivals, the Sadducees. One way of letting people know that a ritual was from the Torah, in other words that it wasn’t just a custom, it was the real deal, was to perform that ritual on Shabbat. This is something that occurs in other areas of halakhah as well (for instance, the reaping of the Omer barley). Performing a mitzvah on Shabbat promotes its status.

 

אי הכי, לולב נמי לידחי כדי לפרסמו שהוא מן התורה!

לולב גזרה משום דרבה.

 

But if so, let the lulav also override Shabbat in order to publicize the fact that it is a from the Torah?

In the case of lulav there is a restrictive enactment on account of the reason of Rabbah.

 

The Talmud now asks a series of difficulties on the mishnah’s rule that the aravah ritual overrides Shabbat on the seventh day.

First of all, if we want to publicize that it is from the Torah, why shouldn’t the lulav also be taken on Shabbat on the first day.

The answer is taken from the earlier passage where we read about Rabbah’s restrictive enactment we don’t take the lulav on Shabbat lest one carry it through the public domain.

אי הכי, ערבה נמי נגזור!

ערבה שלוחי בית דין מייתי לה, לולב לכל מסור.

 

But if so, let us make the same restrictive enactment with regard to the aravah also?

In the case of the aravah the agents of the Bet Din would bring it but the lulav is entrusted to everyone.

 

If we are worried about people carrying the lulav through the public domain on Shabbat, then we should be worried about the same problem with regard to the aravah.

There is, however, a difference between the two mitzvot. Lulav is an individual mitzvah performed by every male Jew. The mitzvah of the aravah is a Temple ritual, carried out by the agents of the court. We are not concerned that these agents will forget about the rules of Shabbat.

 

אי הכי, כל יומא נמי לידחי!

אתי לפקפוקי בלולב.

 

But if so, ought it not override [the Shabbat] on any day?

[If that were done] people would come to hold the lulav in light esteem.

 

If we are not concerned that the agents of the court forget the rules of Shabbat, so then why shouldn’t the aravah ritual override the rules of Shabbat no matter what day of Sukkot it is? Why just the seventh day?

The answer is that if the aravah overrode Shabbat every day, but the lulav only on the first day (inside Jerusalem), then people would think that the aravah is a greater mitzvah than the lulav.

 

ולידחי ביום טוב ראשון!

לא מוכחא מלתא, אמרי: לולב הוא דקא דחי.

 

Let it [the aravah] override [Shabbat] on the first day of the Festival?

It will not be clear [that it is the aravah that overrides Shabbat, for] people might say that it is the lulav which overrides it.

 

Why then, does the aravah override Shabbat on a different day? Why not let it override Shabbat on the first day, as does the lulav?

The answer is that people would not realize that it is the special aravah ritual that is overriding Shabbat. They might think that because the aravah is part of the lulav (the four species) it overrides the Shabbat. But people would not realize that the mitzvah has importance in and of itself.

 

ולידחי בחד מהנך!

כיון דקא מפקת לה מראשון – אוקמה אשביעי.

 

Let it override one of the other days?

Since [the permission to override Shabbat] was removed from the first day, it was transferred to the seventh.

 

So why then specifically the seventh day? The answer is that it should be on a special day the first or the last. But having it override the fourth day, for instance, would not really make any sense.

 

אי הכי, האידנא נמי לידחי!

אנן לא ידעינן בקיבועא דירחא.

 

But if so, let it override Shabbat at the present time also?

We do not know when New Moon was set.

 

This was a question asked earlier on this daf why doesn’t the mitzvah of the aravah override Shabbat during our day (post-Temple times) as well.

The answer is that we don’t really know when the seventh day is because we (the rabbis of Babylonia), who live outside of Israel, are not experts in determining the calendar.

I should note that today the calendar is set such that the seventh day of Sukkot never falls on Shabbat. This day is called "Hoshanah Rabbah" and at the end of a long series of circling the synagogue, Jews customarily beat their aravot on the ground. This is a relic of the Temple ritual. Because we couldn’t do this on Shabbat and because there is only one day on which the mitzvah could be performed, the calendar has been set up so that Hoshanah Rabbah can never fall on Shabbat. This is the reason that the first day of Rosh Hashanah is never on Sunday (it is never on Wednesday or Friday either).

 

אינהו דידעו בקיבועא דירחא, לידחי!

כי אתא בר הדיא אמר: לא איקלע,

כי אתא רבין וכל נחותי אמרי: איקלע, ולא דחי.

 

But in their case since they know when the New Moon was fixed, why should it not override [Shabbat]?

When Bar Hadya came, he explained that this never happened.

When, however, Ravin came and all the company that used to go down [from Palestine to Babylon] they stated that it did happen, and that it did not override [the Sabbath].

 

In Israel they know (at least they used to know) when the New Moon is determined. So why doesn’t the aravah ritual override Shabbat in Israel. Note that the lulav does override Shabbat if it falls on the first day. So why doesn t the aravah do the same if it falls on the seventh day?

At first, a sage comes from Israel and says that this just never ever happened. The seventh day of Sukkot never fell on Shabbat (as it does not today).

But Ravin came and said that there were times when it fell on Shabbat. So why don’t the Jews in Israel let the ritual override Shabbat as the mishnah seems to dictate?

 

ואלא קשיא!

אמר רב יוסף: מאן לימא לן דערבה בנטילה, דלמא בזקיפה?

 

Does not then the original difficulty arise?

R. Joseph answered: Who says that [the ritual of] the aravah is [performed] by the taking of it? Perhaps it is done by its being stood up next [to the sides of the altar].

 

Since the seventh day can fall on Shabbat, our question returns why doesn’t it override Shabbat in the land of Israel.

The answer is that the real mitzvah of the lulav was not "taking it" by hand and circling the altar. The mitzvah was performed by standing it up next to the altar. Since we no longer have an altar, we can no longer really perform this mitzvah. That is why it doesn’t override Shabbat.

Thus we can see the essential difference between the two commandments the lulav is not strictly a Temple ritual, whereas the aravah ritual is.