Sukkah, Daf Tet, Part 1
Finally a new mishnah!
משנה. סוכה ישנה, בית שמאי פוסלין ובית הלל מכשירין. ואיזו היא סוכה ישנה? כל שעשאה קודם לחג שלשים יום. אבל אם עשאה לשם חג, אפילו מתחילת השנה – כשרה.
Mishnah: An old sukkah: Bet Shammai invalidates it and Bet Hillel validates it.
What is an old sukkah ? Any one which he made thirty days before the festival; but if he made it for the purpose of the festival, even at the beginning of the year, it is valid.
Bet Hillel allows a person to use an old sukkah. For Bet Hillel the intention that went in to building the sukkah is not critical. In contrast, for Bet Shammai an old sukkah, one that was not made with the intent to use it on the festival, is invalid, even if it matches all of the other halakhic criteria. However, Beth Shammai agrees that any sukkah that was made thirty days before the festival is valid, since we can assume that he made it knowing that he might use it on Sukkot. The only debate is over a sukkah that was made more than thirty days before Sukkot without the intention of using it on Sukkot.
גמרא. מאי טעמא דבית שמאי? אמר קרא +ויקרא כג+ חג הסכות שבעת ימים לה’ – סוכה העשויה לשם חג בעינן.
Gemara. What is Beth Shammai’s reasoning?
Scripture says, "The festival of Sukkot, for seven days unto the Lord" (Leviticus 23:34) we require a Sukkah made expressly for the sake of the festival.
Bet Shammai derive the halakhah that a sukkah must be made specifically for the sake of the festival from the words "unto the Lord" in Leviticus.
ובית הלל: ההוא מיבעי ליה לכדרב ששת. דאמר רב ששת משום רבי עקיבא: מנין לעצי סוכה שאסורין כל שבעה – תלמוד לומר חג הסכות שבעת ימים לה’.
And Beth Hillel?
They need that [verse] for the statement of R. Shesheth, for R. Shesheth said in the name of R. Akiba, How do we know that the wood of the Sukkah is forbidden all the seven [days of the Festival]? From Scripture which states, "The festival of Sukkoth, seven days to the Lord."
Bet Hillel does not hold that the sukkah must be made expressly for the festival. They don’t use the verse in the same was as does Bet Shammai. In a typical move, the Talmud now finds a use for the verse. Bet Hillel uses the verse, as does R. Sheshet, to forbid the use of the wood used to build a Sukkah during the seven days of the festival. For instance, if at some point during the festival I decided I wanted to take some wood from anywhere used in building the sukkah and use it to make a fire, I could not do so. The wood is "muktzeh" set aside for use in the sukkah.
ותניא, רבי יהודה בן בתירה אומר: כשם שחל שם שמים על החגיגה כך חל שם שמים על הסוכה, שנאמר חג הסכות שבעת ימים לה’, מה חג לה’ – אף סוכה לה’.
And it was taught, R. Judah b. Batera says: Just as the name of Heaven rests upon the festival sacrifice, so does it rest upon the Sukkah, since it is said, The Festival of Sukkoth, seven days to the Lord : just as the Festival [offering] is to the Lord , so is the sukkah also to the Lord .
The Talmud cites an additional baraita to show that the sukkah is "set aside to the Lord" at least during the festival itself. Just as one is not allowed to take an animal dedicated to be a sacrifice and make other use of it, so too one is not allowed to take a part of the sukkah and make other use of it.