Bests of: Mishnah Sukkah

(1) A sukkah taller than twenty cubits is invalid. Rabbi Yehudah validates it. And one which is not ten hand-breadths tall, or does not contain three walls, or whose whose [area of] sun is greater than its shade is invalid. Regarding an old sukkah, Beit Shammai invalidate it, and Beit Hillel validate it. What is an old sukkah? Any [sukkah] which one made it thirty days before the festival. But if one made it for the sake of the festival, even [if he made it] from the beginning of the year, it is valid.

(2) One who makes his sukkah beneath a tree, it is as though he made it inside a house [and is thus invalid]. Regarding a sukkah on top of a sukkah, the top one is valid, and the bottom one invalid. Rabbi Yehudah says: if there is no lodging in the top one, the bottom one is valid.

(4) If one raised a grapevine, a gourd, or and ivy upon it, and placed the sekhakh [the leafy roof covering of a sukkah] on top of it, it is invalid. But if there was a greater amount of sekhakh than them, or if one trimmed them [the plants, such that they were not longer attached], it is valid. This is the rule: anything that can be rendered impure or does not grow from the ground cannot be used for sekhakh; and anything that cannot be rendered impure and that grows from the ground can be used for sekhakh.

(1) One who sleeps under a bed in a sukkah has not fulfilled his obligation. Rabbi Yehudah says, "We practiced the custom of sleeping under a bed [in the sukkah] in the presence of the elders, and they never said a thing to [stop] us." Rabbi Shimon says: It happened that Tavi, the slave of Raban Gamaliel, would sleep under a bed [in the sukkah], and Raban Gamaliel said to the elders, "Have you see my slave Tavi? He is a disciple of the Sages, and he knows that slaves are exempt from [the obligations pertaining to] the sukkah; therefore, he sleeps under a bed." And thus in accordance with our way we deduce that one who sleeps under a bed [in a sukkah] has not fulfilled his obligation.

(2) If one supports his sukkah with the legs of a bed, it is valid. Rabbi Yehudah says: if it cannot stand on its own, it is invalid. A sukkah that is thinning, and that its shade [i.e. the area below the covered parts of the sekhakh] is greater than its sun, is valid. (A sukkah) that [its sekhakh] is dense like [the roof of] a house, even though the stars are not visible through it, it is valid.

(3) If one constructs his sukkah on top of a wagon or on top of a ship, it is valid, and one may ascend to it on the festival. If [one constructed it] on top of a tree or on the back of a camel, it is valid, but one may not ascend to it on the festival. If two [walls of the sukkah are formed] by a tree and one by human hands, or two by human hands and one by a tree, it is valid, but one may not ascend to it on the festival. If three [walls are formed] by human hands and one by a tree, it is valid, and one may ascend to it on the festival. This is the rule: any [sukkah] that can stand on its own even if one removed the tree, it is valid, and one may ascend to it on the festival.

(5) It happened that a [cooked] dish was brought to Raban Yochanan ben Zakai for him to taste, and to Raban Gamliel [were brought] two dates and a jar of water, and each of them said, "Bring them up to the sukkah." But when [a quantity of] food less that the equivalent of an egg [in volume] was given to Rabbi Tzaddok, he took it in a napkin and ate it outside of the sukkah, and did not make a blessing after it.

(6) Rabbi Eliezer says: One is obligated to eat fourteen meals in the sukkah, one in the morning, and one at night [on each of the seven days of the festival]. And the Sages say: the matter does not have a dictated amount, except on the first nights of the festival [when there is an obligation to have a meal]. And Rabbi Eliezer also said: One who did not eat [a meal in the sukkah] on the first night of the festival can compensate [for his obligation by having a meal] on the last night of the festival. And the Sages say: in such a matter there is no compensating; regarding this it was said: "That which is defective cannot be amended, and the deficiency cannot be counted."

(7) If one's head and the majority of one's body is inside the sukkah, and one's table [upon which one is eating] is in the house, Beit Shamai invalidate it, and Beit Hillel validate it. [The scholars of] Beit Hillel said to [the scholars of] Beit Shamai, "Did it not happen that the elders of Beit Shamai and the elders of Beit Hillel went to visit Rabbi Yochanan ben Hachoroni, and they found him sitting with his head and the majority of his body inside the sukkah, while his table was in the house, and they did not say a thing to [stop] him." The [scholars of] Beit Shamai responded to them, "[Can one really bring] a proof from there?! They did in fact say to him, 'If such has been your custom, you have never fulfilled the mitzvah of sukkah in all your days!'"

(8) Women, slaves, and minors are exempted from [the obligations pertaining to] the sukkah. A minor who no longer needs [to be with] his mother, is obligated in the sukkah. It happened that the daughter-in-law of Shamai the elder gave birth [to a son, around sukkot], and he [Shamai] removed some of the ceiling's plaster and covered [the empty space] with sekhakh over the bed, on behalf of the minor.

(9) During the whole seven days [of the festival] one makes his sukkah [his] permanent [dwelling], and his house [a] temporary [dwelling]. If rains fell, starting when is one permitted to clear out [of the sukkah]? When a stiff dish [of food] would be spoiled. They [the elders] illustrate this with a parable: To what can this matter be compared? To a slave who came to pour a goblet for his master, and he [the master] poured a bowl-full [of water] in his face.

(4) Rabbi Yishmael says: [The mitzvah of the four species requires] three myrtle branches, two willow branches, one palm branch, and oneetrog [citron]; [and regarding the myrtle branches,] even if two have their tips snapped off and [only] one does not have its tip snapped off [it is valid]. Rabbi Tarphon says: even if all three are snapped off [it is valid]. Rabbi Akiva says: Just as one lulav and one citron [are used], so too one myrtle branch and one willow branch [should be used].

(7) Regarding the required measure [of size] for a small citron, Rabbi Meir says: [it must be at least] the equivalent of a walnut. Rabbi Yehudah says: the equivalent of an egg. And regarding [the required measure of size for a citron that is] a large one, [it must be] such that one can hold two of them in one hand, according to Rabbi Yehudah. Rabbi Yose says: even one in two hands [is valid].

(8) A lulav must only be bound together with [a binding made of] its own species, according to Rabbi Yehudah; Rabbi Meir says: even with a cord. Rabbi Meir said, "It happened that the people of Jerusalem would bind together their lulavim with bands of gold." They [the Sages] replied to him, "They would bind it together with [a binding of] its own species underneath."

(13) If the first day of the festival falls on Shabbat, the entire nations would walk their lulavim to the Synagogue [and leave them there before Shabbat]. On the next day they would wake up and come, and each and every one would recognize his own, and take it; for the Sages said: One does not fulfull one's obligation on the first day of the festival by means of the lulav of one's fellow. And on the rest of the days of the festival, one fulfills one's obligation by means of the lulav of one's fellow.

(4) How is the mitzvah to take the lulav [done] when the first holy day of the festival falls on Shabbat? They would walk their lulavim to the Temple Mount, and the officers would receive [the lulavim] from them and arrange them on top of the colonnade, and the elders would place theirs in the chamber. And they would instruct them [the people] to say, "Anyone whom my lulav comes into his possession, it is thereby his as a gift." The following day they would arise and come, and the officers would throw them [the lulavim] before them, and they would grab them, and people would hurt their fellows [in the scramble]. And when the Beit Din saw that they would come to dangerous circumstances, they established that each person should perform [the mitzvah of] the taking [of the lulav] in his own house.

(7) Immediately [following this], the children would steal their lulavim and they would eat their citrons.

(4) Pious people and men of [great] deeds would dance before them with lit torches in their hands, and says before them words of song and praise. And the Levites [would play] with lutes, and harps, and cymbals, and trumpets, and countless musical instruments, upon the fifteen steps which descent into the women's court, corresponding with the fifteen songs of ascents in the Psalms, that upon them the Levites would stand with their musical instruments and sing. And two priests would stand at the upper gate, which descends from the court of the Israelites to the women's court, with two trumpets in their hands. When the rooster [first] crowed, they would blow a tekiyah [a steady blast], and a teruah [a broken blast], and [another] tekiyah. When they arrived at the tenth step, they would [again] blow a tekiyah, and a teruah, and a tekiyah. When they arrived at the court, they would [for a third time] blow a tekiyah, and a teruah, and a tekiyah. They went on, blowing and walking, until they arrived at the gate that goes out to the east. When they arrived at the gate that goes out to the east, they turned their faces westward [towards the Temple], and said, "Our ancestors, who were in this place, their backs were [turned] towards the Temple of Hashem, and their faces eastwards, and they would bow eastward to the sun; but we, our eyes are [raised] towards God." Rabbi Yehudah says: they would repeat and say, "We are for God, and our eyes are towards God."