Sukkah 39: "OVER LA'ASIYASAH"

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Tosfos rules that one who took the lulav and did not recite the blessing can still do so as long as he has not yet waved the lulav. Although one can fulfill the mitzvah of lulav without waving it, the mitzvah is not deemed to be complete until he waves the lulav. This follows the principle that one can recite a blessing for a mitzvah as long as he has not completed the mitzvah. Thus, one can recite the blessing of netilas yadayim after washing his hands because the mitzvah is not deemed to be complete until one dries his hands.

Rav Judah used the word “over” to mean “before,” in his statement about blessing before a mitzvah. Evidently, the rabbis sense that this is an unusual use of the word. Therefore, they try to look for biblical precedent for the word used in this manner, to mean “before.” They find three verses in which the word or the root עבר is used to mean to go before.

One example of this is regarding the laws of inheritance, where it is said, vhaavartem es nachalaso lebito, and you shall cause his inheritance to pass over to his daughter. The Gemara derives from the usage of the word vhaavartem that HaShem is angered by one who does not leave over a male child to inherit his estate. The same interpretation can be applied here.

Sukkah 38: Hallel

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Our Mishna rebukes a person who is illiterate and needs to rely on someone who is not obligated to lead him in prayer. If there is an adult leading the prayer, then the person can respond with the word Halleluya and fulfill his obligation in that way.

The Gemara teaches that the tradition was for the congregation to respond to the prayers of the hazzan with a refrain of Halleluya during those paragraphs of Hallel where that was the key word (Tehillim 113-117). In the portion of Hallel where the refrain was different, the congregational response matched that refrain (e.g. Hodu laShem in Tehillim 118). Already during Rava's time the vast majority of people were literate and were able to recite Hallel without assistance, nevertheless the tradition continued, remnants of which are retained in the recitation of Hallel to this day in many synagogues.

We explore the various origins of hallel....and the development of the hallel chant by Elizabeth Hayes.

Sukkah 37: Na’anuim

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-Aside from the simple mitzva of picking up the daled minim (four species) on Sukkot, there is also a mitzva of ni'anu'ah - to wave or shake the lulav during prayers.

 Rabbi Yohanan said: He moves them to and fro to dedicate them to He Whom the four directions are His. He raises and lowers them to He Whom the heavens and earth are His. In the West, Eretz Yisrael, they taught it as follows. Rabbi Hama bar Ukva said that Rabbi Yosei, son of Rabbi Hanina, said: He moves them to and fro in order to request a halt to harmful winds,storms and tempests that come from all directions; he raises and lowers them in order to halt harmful dews and rains that come from above.

The Jerusalem Talmud suggests that waving the lulav is an act of defense – an attempt to ward off the prosecuting angel.

We examine the mitzva and various ta'amim for this most curious of Mitzvot that has kaablistic overtones and magical properties.

Sukkah 36: Binding of Arba Minim (and Israel)

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According to some sages, three of the species (all except the etrog) must be bound together. In the mishnah there is a debate whether the cord used to bind the three together must be from the same species as one of the three species. As we shall see in the Talmud, the problem with it being from another type of tree is that when he picks up the lulav, he will be carrying five species—the four mandated ones and the one from which he made his cord. This might be a violation of the prohibition of adding on to the Torah’s commandments. The Torah says four species—it would be prohibited to add a fifth.

The background of this dispute is Nehemiah 8:15, which is quoted below. In this verse Nehemiah and Ezra and the people who have returned to Israel after the first exile seem to interpret Leviticus 23:40 as if it mandates building the sukkah from the four species. However, their identification of the species slightly differs from the normative rabbinic interpretation and from the precise wording of Leviticus. Biblical scholars nevertheless interpret this verse as referring to building the sukkah from the four species.

Since the holiday is not called Sukkot in Nehemiah, but chag, the practice of taking four species is not mentioned, and the key requirement was to build a sukkah made of five species, it seems apparent that the holiday was named Sukkot after 430 BCE, when its practices and significance were changed, and the biblical mandates were placed in the Torah when these changes were made.

Recent scholars such as Ehrlich (a tragic figure unaccepted by both orthodox and reform) suggest an alternative historical development of the chag.

Sukkah 35: Corfu vs Corsica (?Mafia) Estrog

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The Torah uses the word “tree/wood” and “fruit” in describing the etrog. According to the midrash, this means that the Torah refers to a fruit whose taste is like the wood of the tree on which it grows. The Talmud seems to think that the wood of the etrog tree tastes just like the etrog itself (never tried this). That’s how we know that the Torah refers to the etrog.

The Rishonim write that the word esrog is derived from the Aramaic word merogeg, which means desirable.

The Ritva points out that the discussion in the Gemara about how to define the passage commanding us to take a pri etz hadar cannot possibly be searching for the true identification of the fruit. By the time of the Gemara it is obvious that there were already long-standing oral traditions that the fruit that had to be taken was an etrog. Our Gemara is simply an attempt to investigate whether the well-known tradition could be shown to have a source in the written Torah, as well.

We explore the mediterranean islands of Corsica and Corfu through the eyes of Rabbi Kaganoff and review the Chazon Ish' issue with esrogim murkavim.

Sukkah 34: The Four Species

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Our Mishna chooses to arrange the arba minim in the following order: first the lulav, then the hadas, the arava and finally the etrog. This order is puzzling, as we might have expected that the Mishna would follow the order in which the arba minim are listed in the Torah: "And you shall take you on the first day fruit of a goodly tree, branches of palm-trees, a bough of thick trees, and willows of a brook..." (Vayikra 23:40). The Torah opens with the etrog, and from there on the order is similar to the order found in the mishna: lulav, hadas and arava.

Furthermore without the Oral Law, we would be unable to figure out exactly which four species we are to take. There are many fruits that are quite beautiful, and it is unlikely that many would, on their own, identify pri etz hadar as an etrog. Surely a hadas is not the only plaited tree, and there are many types of willow trees.

We explore the use of the four species as a iconographic motif on coins and in mosaics, as far back as the bar Kochbar revolt.

Sukkah 33: Salix Babylonica

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Our daf moves on to the next mishnah, concerning the hadas.

The first two lines are the same as the previous mishnah concerning a lulav. The remainder of the mishnah is specific to the physical qualities of the hadas. The Talmud will discuss these as we proceed over the next few pages.

As the Talmud did with regard to the various parts of the lulav, it asks how we know that the Torah refers to the myrtle. After all Leviticus 23:40 only states “the branches of a thick tree.” How do we know that the tree is a myrtle?

We learn that a tzaftzefa is not kosher for use as an aravah.

What is an arava and what is a tzaftzefa?

We explore the willow/poplar in bible, midrash and the metaphor of the weeping willow in culture.

Sukkah 32: “Psychotic” Hadassim

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Perhaps the most challenging aspect of selecting a Kosher set of the Four Minim is finding Hadassim that are "Meshulashim." This term refers to Hadassim whose three leaves emerge at the same level. There are many opinions regarding the precise parameters regarding Hadassim Meshulashim

Hadas Shoteh !!

Interestingly, the Gemara refers to a Hadas that is not Meshulash as a “Hadas Shoteh,” a psychotic Hadas. An explanation might be that a Hadas that is Meshulash is balanced whereas the Hadas that is not Meshulash is imbalanced.

A characteristic of a mentally healthy person is one who is balanced and one who is not mentally healthy is not balanced.

I love the anthropomorphic projection onto this beautiful myrtle DSM III categories of human mental pathology!

Sukkah 31: How to Steal Succah!

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A dark story about an old hag and the Reish Galuta :

The Gemara relates: There was a certain "old woman" (savta) who came before Rav Naḥman. She said to him: The Exilarch and all the Sages in his house have been sitting in a stolen sukka. She claimed that the Exilarch’s servants stole her wood and used it to build the sukka. She screamed, but Rav Naḥman did not pay attention to her.

She said to him: A woman whose father, Abraham, our forefather, had three hundred and eighteen slaves screams before you, and you do not pay attention to her? She claimed that she should be treated with deference due to her lineage as a Jew. Rav Naḥman said to the Sages: This woman is a screamer, and she has rights only to the monetary value of the wood. However, the sukka itself was already acquired by the Exilarch.

Reb Zadok has a sweet interpretation about not giving up...

This pericope still bothers me and goes to the deeper question as to the corruption of the resh Galuta, for the way the gemoro portrays the savta as a complaining old hag only begs the moral question as to the theft being permissible in a case of a disenfranchised old woman who wields no political power over the raih galuta....

Sukkah 30: Stolen for a Mitzvah

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We begin the third chapter of masechet sukkah. The Mishna (29b) begins "a stolen lulav is invalid", serving as the springboard to the principle of mitzva haba'ah baveriah, a mitzva committed by means of a sin, where the sin negates any potential mitzva.

In explaining this concept the gemara cites G-d Himself saying "I am the Lord, [I] love justice and hate robbery in an olah [offering]" (Isaiah 61:8). A korban olah is one in which the entire animal is offered to G-d. One who steals such receives no personal benefit and offers to G-d what is His anyway. Nonetheless G-d hates such theft and such a sacrifice is worse than worthless. And if G-d hates those who steal in order to offer a sacrifice to Him it stands to reason that He is no fan of those who steal for their own benefit.

Before introducing the four different species by name, the Torah uses the phrase: ‘And you shall take for yourself’ (Leviticus 23:40). In the Midrash (Vayikra Raba, 30:3), playing with this phrase, Rabbi Chiya taught that the lulav, ‘must be rightfully purchased and not stolen.' The notion that this commandment cannot be fulfilled with a stolen lulav is straightforward, and is the subject of a Talmudic discussion too.

But, the Midrash goes on to develop a Mashal/parable. ‘Somebody who uses a stolen lulav, to what can the situation be compared?’ A story is told of a highwayman who waits at a crossroad in order to accost passers-by. One time, an official of the king comes by to collect taxes from the province. The highwayman accosted him and stole everything that he had.

We explore the ethics of mitzvot hab'a be'avera from a variety of perspectives including Marxist.

Sukkah 29: Total Eclipse of the (Heart) Sun

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This is a sad baraita. Israel (the “enemies of Israel is a euphemism for Israel) is presented as the abused school child, fearful of every bad sign for he is used to being beaten. Rabbi Meir points out that it is only natural for Israel to assume that a heavenly sign is a bad omen for them and not for the rest of the world, for Israel is the suffering child of God.

We should also perhaps note that this baraita is particularistic—heavenly signs are directed at Israel and not at the whole world. Nature acts on behalf of Israel, albeit as a sign of punishment. Throughout this sugya we would do well to keep track of when heavenly signs are directed against particular nations and when they are directed against all of humanity.

When the sun is stricken it is a bad omen for idolaters; when the moon is stricken, it is a bad omen for the Jewish people, since the Jews calculate (the yearly cycle) by the moon and idolaters calculate by the sun.

RAV YONASAN EIBESHITZ (Ya'aros Devash, volume 2, p. 67b) asks that an eclipse is a natural phenomenon that occurs according to a set astronomical pattern. How can a natural phenomenon be a harbinger of inauspicious times, if it occurs according to a predictable schedule?

We explore briefly the science behind solar and lunar eclipses.

Sukkah 28: Women in the Succah (?)

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Our Daf deals with the traditional exemption of women from the obligation of sukkah.

בַּסֻּכֹּת תֵּשְׁבוּ, שִׁבְעַת יָמִים; כָּל-הָאֶזְרָח, בְּיִשְׂרָאֵל, יֵשְׁבוּ, בַּסֻּכֹּת.

The exclusion of women is derived from the letter “heh” , the word “the,” that precedes the word הָאֶזְרָח “homeborn” in Leviticus 23:42.

Had the word just been אֶזְרָח “homeborn”, women would have been included (so the sugya says), but the extra "heh" comes to exclude them.

The problem with “the homeborn” excluding women from being obligated for the sukkah is that the same word is used in the context of Yom Kippur in Leviticus 16:29, וְכָל-מְלָאכָה לֹא תַעֲשׂוּ--הָאֶזְרָח, וְהַגֵּר הַגָּר בְּתוֹכְכֶם. and the rabbis use the word to include women in the Yom Kippur obligation.

So which is it—does “the homeborn” include women (as in the case of Yom Kippur) or does it exclude women (as in the case of Sukkah)?

In general, men and women are equally obligated in positive non-time-bound commandments. These include loving our fellow person, returning a lost object, giving tzedaka, affixing a mezuza, and many other essential elements of Jewish observance.

Overall, the mishna has divided mitzvot into four major categories (positive time-bound, positive non-time-bound, negative time-bound, and negative non-time-bound). Women are generally obligated in three out of four.

In fact, out of the 613 Torah-level mitzvot, there seem to be only eight instances where women are exempted specifically from positive time-bound mitzvot: reciting Shema, donning tzitzit, laying tefillin on the head and on the hand, hearing shofar, taking lulav, dwelling in the sukka, and counting the omer. This is not a long list!

Why does the exemption from this single category loom large? and why so controversial?

We explore... from the traditional arguments and apologetics to orthodox feminist and academic readings in order to attempt to respect the perosnal autonomy of moderns yet bow to our halachic traditions.

Sukkah 27: The First Night

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The Mishnah brings the opinion of Rabbi Eliezer, who says that over the course of Sukkot, a person is obligated to eat two meals per day in the sukkah, i.e. one should eat 14 meals in the sukkah over the course of the Biblically mandated seven-day holiday. According to the Chachamim, however, there is only an obligation to eat in the sukkah on the first night of the holiday. From then on, a person can choose to eat food that does not obligate him to sit in the sukkah, and he will not be obligated to do so.

A Beraisa relates that Rebbi Ila'i once went to greet his Rebbi, Rebbi Eliezer, during Sukos. Rebbi Eliezer asked him why he left his home when the Torah requires that one stay home and rejoice with one's wife during the festival.

We explore the ramifications of both mishnah and beraisa.

Sukkah 26: מצטער פטור מן הסוכה

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This baraita on our daf teaches that one who is sick and would be discomforted by sleeping in the sukkah is exempt from the mitzvah. Even if this pain is minor, he is exempt.

The Gemora challenges this from the Mishna, which only says that the sick and those attending to them are exempt, implying that discomfort alone is not enough to exempt someone.

Rashi explains that suffering that “develops on its own” relates to discomfort stemming from the Sukkah itself. Typical examples include: discomfort from the heat of the sun beating down on the Sukkah, the cold temperature in the Sukkah, or a bad odor emitted by the structure’s leafy “schach” roof. Since a mourner’s sensitivity is not directly related to the Sukkah’s temperature or odor, he must put himself at ease so that he can perform the mitzvah.

We explore the notion of מִצְטַעֵר — פָּטוּר מִן הַסּוּכָּה

and the competing notions of whether one's discomfort stemming mainly from his own mental or emotional state, and not from the Sukkah, is not exempt from the mitzvah to dwell in the Sukkah.

This indeed is a revolutionary concept that the individual has the final say of what sukkah he wishes to use to fulfill the mitzvah and can reject a sukkah which the Torah considers permissible.

This is based originally in his right to accept or reject his year-round permanent home. The rights which the Torah grant him to select a home are the same rights which he has in selecting a sukkah as long as the sukkah fulfills the Torah requirements.

This is the true import of the concept of taishvu k’ain taduru.

Sukkah 25: Multi-Tasking and Wedding Nights

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The teaching in the mishna on our daf is explained in the gemara as an example of a well-known rule that “One who is involved in a mitzvah is exempt from a different mitzvah.” Rav Huna derives this rule from the mitzvah of saying the “Sh'ma”. The verse states that “Sh'ma” is a mitzvah to do when “going in your way” – but not while in the middle of going in a way commanded by G-d — i.e. a different mitzvah.

The Gemora asks: If that is so, one who marries a widow should also be exempt? The Gemora answers: This one (who marries a virgin) is preoccupied for he is worried about her besulim; the other (who is marrying a widow) is not.

This leads us to explore the notion of multi-tasking which afflicts every aspect of our lives and whether there is a neurological substrate for these behaviors and are they healthy?

Sukkah 24: Succah in the Wind

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Whereas the previous mishnayot discussed one who supports his skhakh on trees, this mishnah teaches that one can use trees as walls for a sukkah.

R. Aha b. Jacob says that in order for a partition to count (for any halakhic matter requiring a partition) the partition needs to be able to withstand a normal wind. We shall now explore how this relates to our mishnah. 

The Talmud uses the above mishnah to raise a difficulty on R. Aha b. Jacob. The mishnah allows one to use a tree as a wall. But trees sway with the wind—they are not able to withstand a normal wind.

Which leads us to a blowin' in the wind and the enduring iconic metaphor for civil rights and the 60's. 

Sukkah 23: Sea vs Land Winds

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On our daf we see that Rabbi Akiva permits the construction of a sukkah on a boat, as long as it can withstand winds as strong as those that normally prevail on land.

In a dark metaphor, The Mekor Chaim, zt”l, explains that our sukkah represents our portion in the next world, and this sukkah is sometimes built on a “ship.”

This is when a person feels like a ship at sea in constant danger of being broken to bits by the raging seas of this world. The “wind” symbolizes the evil inclination since, “No one sins unless a spirit (ruach—wind) of folly enters him.” (Sotah 3a)

A “land wind” represents the pull toward the earth-bound sins of the body. If one cannot withstand this wind, one’s sukkah is invalid since it means that the accumulation of sin will cause one to lose the protection of the world to come.

I prefer the way the metaphor is used by the Blooms: "the mast of the ship in the dark night sea storm. There are no feelings that are more turbulent than those that occur while fighting with someone we love. When we fight, it can feel like we are adrift in a violent, dark night sea storm."

We explore R. Akiva's distinction between sea and land wind in Longfellow and Dikenson.

Sukkah 22: Starry Starry Night

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One of the basic requirements of a sukkah is that the s'chach  provide more shade than sun. This requirement, however, is more theoretical than practical.Already on the first page of the masechet, the Gemara validates a sukkah built in the depths of a valley, even though most of the shade comes from the mountains. As the Gemara explains, if we "take away the mountains", the roof would provide most of the shade. This sounds quite logical, as the mountains are extraneous to the sukkah, and the requirement tohave shade from the roof is meant to exclude a case in which the walls of thesukkah provide most of the shade. Yet the gemara takes this theoretical framework a step further. The Mishnah (Sukkah 22a) teaches that one may dwell in a sukkah medublelet. Shmuel explains that such a sukkah is put together rather sloppily, with one branch of the s'chach tilted upwards while another is tilted downwards. The broad air spaces between the pieces allow more sun than shade to fill the sukkah. Nonetheless, had those boards been placed flat on the sukkah, there would be more shade than sun; so we consider it to be such, and deem the sukkah to be kosher.  

All this shprach about shade and sun and stars brought up "Vincent", a song by Don McLean written (1971) as a tribute to Vincent van Gogh. It is often erroneously titled after its opening refrain, "Starry Starry Night", a reference to Van Gogh's 1889 painting The Starry Night. and allowing us a peek into his spirituality...

Sukkah 21: Healing Leaves

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On our daf we are taught: From where is it derived that even the conversation of Torah scholars require analysis, even when the intention of the speaker was apparently not to issue a halakhic ruling? It is as it is stated with regard to the righteous:

ג וְהָיָה-- כְּעֵץ, שָׁתוּל עַל-פַּלְגֵי-מָיִם:

אֲשֶׁר פִּרְיוֹ, יִתֵּן בְּעִתּוֹ--וְעָלֵהוּ לֹא-יִבּוֹל; וְכֹל אֲשֶׁר-יַעֲשֶׂה יַצְלִיחַ.

3 And he shall be like a tree planted by streams of water, {N}

that bringeth forth its fruit in its season, and whose leaf doth not wither; and in whatsoever he doeth he shall prosper.

Psalm 1:3 This teaches that with regard to a Torah scholar, not only is his primary product, his fruit, significant but even ancillary matters that stem from his conversation, his leaves, are significant.

The Zohar states that a Torah scholar is in the category of Shabbos. One should be careful to minimize his speech on Shabbos. This idea is alluded to in this Gemara because a Torah scholar, who is in the category of Shabbos, is careful with his speech.

Rav Tzaddok (in "Likutei Ma'amarim") describes leaves as a symbol for righteous actions. These include simple actions which are not always accentuated or perceived.

But Leaves fade, leaves wither and fall. Unlike flowers whose blossoms are always so short-lived, leaves teach us of the cycle of nature and the cycle of life. We see ourselves in the growth from the tender bud, to the small but rapidly growing leaflet, to the mature and robust leaf, and inevitably, to the fading, drying, and falling leaf.

We explore the metaphor of the dying leaf , which reveals its true colors as it is about to pass....

Sukkah 20: Tabi (or Tabitha?)

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-The Mishnah closes with Rabbi Shimon’s testimony about Rabban Gamliel’s slave, Tavi, who would sleep under the bed in the sukkah. According to Rabban Gamliel he did so specifically because he knew that non-Jewish slaves were not commanded in the mitzvah of sukkah, from which we can derive that someone obligated in the mitzvah would not be permitted to do so.

Tavi is a character who appears throughout the Gemara, identified as the slave belonging to Rabban Gamliel d’Yavneh. In all of these stories he is presented as someone who was well-known for his personal piety and learning. Not only Rabban Gamliel, but other sages sang his praises. Rabbi Elazar ben Azaria, for example, was known to say that based on Tavi’s Torah knowledge it would have been appropriate for Tavi to be reclining and for Rabbi Elazar to be serving him. Rabban Gamliel tried on several occasions to find a way to set him free, but was stymied in his efforts because of the prohibition to set Canaanite slaves free. Nevertheless, when Tavi passed away, Rabban Gamliel accepted consolation as if he was a family member, explaining that Tavi was different than other slaves – he was a good and honest man.

But who was Tabitha???