Mishnah Sukkah / Chapters 1-2

In sukkot you shall dwell for a seven-day period, every citizen in Yisrael shall dwell in sukkot.

Our rabbis taught, All seven days, one should make the Sukkah his permanent residence and his house his temporary residence. How so? If he had beautiful vessels, he brings them up into the Sukkah, beautiful coverings, he brings them up into the Sukkah. He eats and drinks and spends his leisure time in the Sukkah. From where do we know this? As our rabbis have taught: You shall dwell" in the same manner as you ordinarily dwell.

(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.

(3) If one spread a sheet over it because of the sun, or beneath it because of the falling leaves, or if one spread [a sheet] over a four-poster [bed, within a sukkah], it is invalid. However, one may spread over a two-poster bed.

(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.

(5) Bundles of straw, bundles of wood, or bundles of shoots may not be used for sekhakh. And all of them, if they are untied [from their bundles], are valid. And they are all valid for use as walls [of a sukkah].

(6) One may use [wooden] planks for sekhakh, according to Rabbi Yehudah. And Rabbi Meir forbids it. If one placed a plank four hand-breadths wide on top [of his sukkah], it is valid, as long as one does not sleep directly beneath it.

(7) Regarding a ceiling [of planks] that has no plaster on it, Rabbi Yehudah says: Beit Shamai say: one should loosen [the planks], and remove one from between every two [in order to make it a valid sukkah]. And Beit Hillel say: one should either loosen, or remove one from between every two. Rabbi Meir says: one should remove one from between every two, and not loosen them [i.e. loosening does not help].

(8) One who covers the top of his sukkah with spits or bed slats, if there is space between them as wide as they are [and that space is then filled with valid sekhakh], it is valid. If one digs out a haystack to make a sukkah in it, it is not a [valid] sukkah.

(9) If [in constructing one's sukkah] one lowers the walls from the top down, if it [the wall] remains three hand-breaths above the ground, it is invalid. If [one raises the walls] from the bottom up, if it rises ten hand-breadths above the ground, it is valid [regardless of any gap between it and the sekhakh]. Rabbi Yose says: just as [a wall built] from the bottom up is [valid provided it has a height of] ten hand-breadths, so too [a wall built] from the top down is [valid provided it has a height of] ten hand-breadths. If one distanced the sekhakh material three hand-breadths from the wall [leaving a gap of at least that size], it is invalid.

(10) Regarding a house that [its roof] was breached and one put sekhakh on top [of the breach], if there are four cubits [of empty space or solid ceiling] between the wall and the sekhakh, it is invalid. And similarly regarding a courtyard surrounded by a colonnade, [if one covered the empty space above it, but there is a gap of three hand-breadths between the sekhakh and the walls, it is invalid]. Regarding a large sukkah which [its sekhakh] was surrounded by material that may not be used for sekhakh, if there is an area four cubits wide beneath it [the invalid material], it is invalid.

(11) If one makes his sukkah like a shed [i.e. with a sloping roof that meets at a line], or leaned it against a wall, Rabbi Eliezer invalidates [both] because it has no roof, and the Sages validate [them]. Regarding a large reed mat, if one made it for lying upon, it may be rendered impure and it cannot be used as sekhakh; if [one made it] for use as sekhakh, it may be used as sekhakh and it cannot be rendered impure. Rabbi Eliezer says: whether it is small or large, if one made it for lying upon, it may be rendered impure and it cannot be used as sekhakh; if [one made it] for use as sekhakh, it may be used as sekhakh and it cannot be rendered impure.

(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.

(4) If one constructs his sukkah amid the trees, and the trees form its walls, it is valid. Individuals sent as emissaries to perform a mitzvah are exempt from [the obligations pertaining to] the sukkah. Individuals who are sick, and those who attend to them, are exempt from the sukkah. One may eat or drink incidentally [but not as part of an established meal] outside of the sukkah.

(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.