Sukkah, Daf Tet, Part 6
Introduction
Our section continues to explain another section of the mishnah, where we learned that if one placed one sukkah above another, the bottom sukkah is invalid.
סוכה על גבי סוכה וכו’. תנו רבנן: +ויקרא כג+ (בסוכות) +מסורת הש"ס: [בסכת]+ תשבו – ולא בסוכה שתחת הסוכה, ולא בסוכה שתחת האילן, ולא בסוכה שבתוך הבית.
One sukkah above another sukkah . Our Rabbis taught, "You shall dwell in Sukkoth" (Leviticus 23:42), but not in a sukkah under another sukkah, nor in a Sukkah under a tree, nor in a Sukkah within the house.
As stated in the introduction, a sukkah built underneath another sukkah is invalid. The Talmud cites a baraita which uses a verse to derive that the skhakh must be directly under the sky. It can’t be underneath another sukkah, underneath a tree or underneath the roof of a house.
אדרבה, בסוכות תרתי משמע!
On the contrary! The word "in sukkot" implies two?
The Torah literally says, "You shall dwell in sukkot" using the plural form. It would seem therefore that one could indeed dwell in two sukkot, where one was built underneath another.
אמר רב נחמן בר יצחק: בסכת כתיב.
R. Nahman b. Isaac answered: The word is written defectively.
In Hebrew, the word "In sukkot" is written without the vav. While we pronounce the word as a plural, we could read it in the singular. This would give the impression that it is singular. One cannot dwell in a sukkah which is underneath another sukkah.
אמר רבי ירמיה: פעמים ששתיהן כשירות, פעמים ששתיהן פסולות, פעמים שתחתונה כשרה והעליונה פסולה, פעמים שתחתונה פסולה והעליונה כשרה.
R. Jeremiah said: Sometimes both are valid, sometimes both invalid; sometimes the lower one is valid and the upper invalid, and sometimes the lower one is invalid and the upper one valid.
Rabbi Jeremiah will now begin an extended explanation of four different scenarios where one sukkah is on top of another. There are four possibilities as to their validity, and he will explain how each works out.
פעמים ששתיהן כשירות, היכי דמי – כגון שתחתונה חמתה מרובה מצלתה, והעליונה צלתה מרובה מחמתה, וקיימא עליונה בתוך עשרים.
Sometimes both are valid:’ In what circumstances? When in the lower one the sun is more than the shade, and in the upper the shade is more than the sun, and the upper one is within twenty [cubits from the ground].
If the lower sukkah’s skhakh lets in more sun than shade, then this skhakh is not valid in any case. It does not count as a sukkah. So if the upper skhakh is valid and is within 20 cubits of the ground, then only that skhakh counts as the covering of the sukkah and the bottom sukkah is valid.
פעמים ששתיהן פסולות, היכי דמי – כגון דתרוייהו צלתן מרובה מחמתן, וקיימא עליונה למעלה מעשרים אמה.
Sometimes both are invalid . In what circumstances? When in both of them the shade is more than the sun, and the upper one is more than twenty cubits [high].
If the top sukkah provides more shade than sun, then it blocks the validity of the lower one. And if the upper one is over 20 cubits high, then it too is invalid. Thus both sukkot can be invalid, even though the skhakh for both of them is actually valid.