Sukkah, Daf Mem Zayin, Part 1

 

Introduction

This sugya talks about the status of the eighth day of Sukkot, known as Shemini Atzeret, in the Diaspora, where this day may indeed be the seventh day of Sukkot.

 

אמר רב יהודה בריה דרב שמואל בר שילת משמיה דרב: שמיני ספק שביעי – שביעי לסוכה ושמיני לברכה,

ורבי יוחנן אמר: שמיני לזה ולזה.

מיתב – כולי עלמא לא פליגי דיתבינן, כי פליגי לברוכי, למאן דאמר שביעי לסוכה – ברוכי נמי מברכינן, למאן דאמר שמיני לזה ולזה – ברוכי לא מברכינן.

 

R. Judah the son of R. Shmuel b. Shilat said in the name of Rav: The eighth day which may be the seventh is regarded as the seventh in respect of the Sukkah and as the eighth in respect of the blessing.

R. Yohanan said: It is regarded as the eighth for this and that.

Dwelling [in the Sukkah on the eighth day] all agree that one does dwell, they only disagree over the blessing.

According to him who regards the day as the seventh in respect of the Sukkah, we also recite the blessing [of the Sukkah], while according to him who holds that it is regarded as the eighth in respect of both, we do not recite the blessing [of the Sukkah].

 

According to Rav, in the Diaspora one must sit in the sukkah on the eighth day of Sukkot, because it might actually be the seventh day, on which one is certainly obligated to sit in the sukkah. However, as far as the blessing goes, meaning does one say "Shemini Atzeret" or "Sukkot" during Kiddush, the Amidah and Birkat Hamazon, it is treated as the eighth day and one says Shemini Atzeret.

R. Yohanan says that it is treated as the eighth day for both the sukkah and the blessing.

The Talmud now explains that both amoraim hold that one sits in the sukkah on the eighth day the debate is whether one also recites the blessing over sitting in the sukkah. According to R. Yohanan one does not, while Rav says that one does.

 

אמר רב יוסף: נקוט דרבי יוחנן בידך, דרב הונא בר ביזנא וכל גדולי הדור איקלעו בסוכה בשמיני ספק שביעי, מיתב הוו יתבי ברוכי לא בריכי.

ודלמא סבירא להו כמאן דאמר כיון שבירך יום טוב ראשון שוב אינו מברך?

גמירי דמאפר אתו.

 

R. Yoseph said: Hold fast to the ruling of R. Yohanan, since R. Huna b. Bizna and all the greats of his generation were in a Sukkah on the eighth day which may have been the seventh, they sat there, but they did not recite the blessing.

But is it not possible that they were of the same opinion as the one who said that once a man has recited the blessing on the first day, he has no more need to recite it?

There was a tradition that they had just come from the fields.

 

R. Yoseph offers testimony that on the eighth day of Sukkot in the Diaspora one sits in the sukkah but does not recite the blessing.

However, the Talmud points out that the fact that he saw these rabbis sit in the sukkah and not recite a blessing is not proof that they hold that one doesn’t bless on the eighth day of Sukkot. It could be that they hold that once one has recited a blessing on the first day, one doesn’t recite the blessing on any of the subsequent days.

This possibility is negated when we learn that there is a tradition that they had just come from the fields, meaning they had not yet sat in a sukkah for the whole festival! Since it was their first time in the sukkah, they certainly should have blessed. The fact that they did not do so was evidence that they hold that one never recites a blessing over the sukkah on the eighth day.

 

איכא דאמרי: ברוכי – כולי עלמא לא פליגי דלא מברכינן, כי פליגי – למיתב. למאן דאמר שבעה לסוכה – מיתב יתבינן, ולמאן דאמר שמיני לזה ולזה – מיתב נמי לא יתבינן. אמר רב יוסף: נקוט דרבי יוחנן בידך, דמרא דשמעתא מני – רב יהודה בריה דרב שמואל בר שילת, ובשמיני ספק שביעי לבר מסוכה יתיב. והלכתא: מיתב יתבינן, ברוכי לא מברכינן.

 

There are those who say that all agree that one does not recite the blessing [on the Sukkah], and that they only disagree over whether one must sit [in the Sukkah]. According to the one who ruled that it is regarded as the seventh day in respect of the Sukkah, we must indeed sit in it, while according to the one who ruled that it is regarded as the eighth day in respect of both, we do not even sit in it.

R. Yoseph said: Hold fast to the ruling of R. Yohanan. For who is the authority of the statement? R. Judah the son of R. Shmuel b. Shilath, and he himself sat outside the Sukkah on the eighth day which might be the seventh.

And the law is that we must indeed sit in the Sukkah but may not recite the blessing.

 

This section opens with a reversal of the interpretation of the debate from the previous section. Here we see that all amoraim agree that one does not bless over the sukkah on the eighth day in the Diaspora. They disagree over whether one even sits there. Rav holds that one does, and R. Yohanan holds that one does not.

R. Yoseph rules according to R. Yohanan, citing evidence that even R. Judah son of R. Shmuel b. Shilat, the sage who transmitted Rav’s statement, did not sit in the sukkah on the eighth day.

Nevertheless, the sugya concludes by ruling that one does sit in the sukkah on the eighth day in the Diaspora, but no blessing is recited. I should note that the last time I spent Sukkot outside of Israel was 1993 (it’s now 2014). I barely remember what we did way back then, but I guess we sat in the sukkah on Shemini Atzeret.