Housing Source Sheet - Justice In the City Charlotte Fischer & Sarah Sackman Lyons Learning Project

GEMARA: The Sages taught: All seven days of Sukkot, a person renders his sukka his permanent residence and his house his temporary residence. How so? If he has beautiful vessels, he takes them up to the sukka, which was typically built on the roof. If he has beautiful bedding, he takes it up to the sukka. He eats and drinks and relaxes in the sukka. The Gemara asks: From where are these matters derived? The Gemara explains that it is as the Sages taught: “In sukkot shall you reside” (Leviticus 23:42), and they interpreted: Reside as you dwell in your permanent home. From here they said: All seven days, a person renders his sukka his permanent residence and his house his temporary residence. How so? If he has beautiful vessels, he takes them up to the sukka; if he has beautiful bedding, he takes it up to the sukka; he eats and drinks and relaxes in the sukka and studies Torah in the sukka. .

The Gemara asks: And do we require that one live in a city for twelve months for all matters? But isn’t it taught in a baraita: If one lives in city for thirty days, he must contribute to the charity platter from which food is distributed to the poor. If he lives there for three months, he must contribute to the charity box. If he lives there for six months, he must contribute to the clothing fund. If he lives there for nine months, he must contribute to the burial fund. If he lives there for twelve months, he must contribute to the columns of the city [lepassei ha’ir], i.e., for the construction of a security fence. Rabbi Asi said that Rabbi Yoḥanan said: When we learned twelve months in the mishna, we learned that with regard to contributing to the columns of the city, money used for protecting and strengthening the city, but not for other matters.

(5) We force a person to build a gatehouse and a door for the courtyard. Rabban Shimon ben Gamliel says: Not all courtyards are suitable for gatehouses. We force a person to build for a city a wall, doors, and a deadbolt. Rabban Shimon ben Gamliel says: Not all cities are suitable for a wall. How long must a person live in a city to be counted among the people of that city? Twelve months. If a person bought a house, he is immediately considered to be a person of that city.

(1) There are ten conditions which must exist in a dwelling, to put the occupant under an obligation to affix a Mezuzah. If one of these is absent, he is exempt. These are as follows: The dwelling must have a superficial area of four cubits by four cubits or more; it must have two door-posts, a lintel, a roof and doors; the entrance should be ten hand-breadths high or more; it must be a secular (not a sacred) structure; it must have been erected for human occupancy, for honored use (not a lavatory), and built for permanent habitation.

(1) If, in the land that the LORD your God is assigning you to possess, someone slain is found lying in the open, the identity of the slayer not being known, (2) your elders and magistrates shall go out and measure the distances from the corpse to the nearby towns. (3) The elders of the town nearest to the corpse shall then take a heifer which has never been worked, which has never pulled in a yoke; (4) and the elders of that town shall bring the heifer down to an everflowing wadi, which is not tilled or sown. There, in the wadi, they shall break the heifer’s neck. (5) The priests, sons of Levi, shall come forward; for the LORD your God has chosen them to minister to Him and to pronounce blessing in the name of the LORD, and every lawsuit and case of assault is subject to their ruling. (6) Then all the elders of the town nearest to the corpse shall wash their hands over the heifer whose neck was broken in the wadi. (7) And they shall make this declaration: “Our hands did not shed this blood, nor did our eyes see it done. (8) Absolve, O LORD, Your people Israel whom You redeemed, and do not let guilt for the blood of the innocent remain among Your people Israel.” And they will be absolved of bloodguilt. (9) Thus you will remove from your midst guilt for the blood of the innocent, for you will be doing what is right in the sight of the LORD.

(8) When you build a new house, you shall make a parapet for your roof, so that you do not bring bloodguilt on your house if anyone should fall from it.

(6) One may not divide a courtyard unless [it is large enough that] one person will have four cubits and the other person will have four cubits. And not a field, unless one person will have nine kab [a measure of how much grain could be produced in that amount of land] and the other person will have nine kab. Rabbi Yehudah says: Unless one person will have nine and a half kab and the other person will have nine and a half kab. And not in a garden, unless one person will have half a kab and the other person will have half a kab. Rabbi Akiva says: A beit rova [a fourth of a kab]. And not a hall, and not a palace, and not a dovecote, and not an outer garment, and not a bathhouse, and not a oil press, unless there is a sufficient amount in [each of] them for this one person, and a sufficient amount in [each of] them for the other person. This is the general principle: Anything which may be divided and [still retain, as before] its name upon it, they may divide it. And if not, they may not divide it. When [does this apply]? When they do not both want to [divide], but when they both want to [divide], even with less than that, they may divide. But if [the shared object is] the Holy Scriptures, even if both parties want to [divide], they may not divide.

(6) [If] one leased a house to his fellow in the rainy season, he cannot evict him from Sukkot until Pesach. In the summer, thirty days [before Sukkot]. And in large cities, whether during the rainy season or the summer, twelve months. And concerning stores, whether in towns or large cities, twelve months. Rabban Shimon ben Gamliel says: Stores of bakers or dyers, three years.

(7) [If] one leased a house to his fellow: the leaser is obligated [to provide] a door, a bolt, a lock, and anything which is the work of a craftsman. But as for anything which is not the work of a craftsman, the tenant must make it. The manure belongs to the owner of the house, and the tenant only [may only claim] what comes out from the oven and from the stove.

(5) Is such the fast I desire, A day for men to starve their bodies? Is it bowing the head like a bulrush And lying in sackcloth and ashes? Do you call that a fast, A day when the LORD is favorable? (6) No, this is the fast I desire: To unlock fetters of wickedness, And untie the cords of the yoke To let the oppressed go free; To break off every yoke. (7) It is to share your bread with the hungry, And to take the wretched poor into your home; When you see the naked, to clothe him, And not to ignore your own kin.

(1) Any city in which there is a Jewish community is obligated to raise up collectors of tzedakah, people who are well-known and trustworthy, to go door-to-door among the people from Sabbath eve to Sabbath eve and to take from each and every one what is appropriate for them to give. [The amount] should be a set and clear matter for each person. They also distribute the money from Sabbath eve to Sabbath eve and give to each and every poor person enough food to last them for seven days. This method is called the kupah [the "coffer" for the charity fund].¹⁶³For laws 1-12, see Babylonian Talmud Bava Batra 8a-11b in addition to the citations listed below.

((14) If a poor person is in need who owns a yard and household utensils, even if they are made of silver or gold, they may not require him to sell his home or his utensils, but rather he is permitted to take [tzedakah], and it is a mitzvah to give to him.

(7) One must not give [Tzedakah] to the poor who wander from place to place less than a loaf that is the price of a Pundion, when four Seah [of grain] cost a Sela. If he spends the night, one gives [bedding] supplies for the night. If he stays for Shabbat, one gives him food for three meals. One who has [enough] food for two meals must not take from the soup kitchen. [If he has enough] food for fourteen meals, he must not take from the charity box. And the charity box [funds] are collected by two people and distributed by three people.