Pizza in the Hut: Sukkot in a Non-Agrarian Society

(14) "Three times you shall have a holiday for Me. (15) The feast of unleavened bread (matzah); seven days you shall eat unleavened bread ... none shall appear before Me empty; (16) and the feast of the harvest, the first-fruits of your labor, which you planted in the field; and the feast of gathering, at the end of the year, when you gather in your labor out of the field.

(42) You shall dwell in booths seven days; all citizens in Israel shall dwell in booths, (43) in order that future generations may know that I made the Israelite people live in booths when I brought them out of the land of Egypt, I Adonai your God.

All seven days of Sukkot, a person renders his sukka his permanent residence and his house his temporary residence. If rain fell, from when is it permitted to vacate the sukka? It is permitted from the point that it is raining so hard that the congealed dish will spoil. The Sages told a parable: To what is this matter comparable? It is comparable to a servant who comes to pour wine for his master, and he pours a jug [kiton] of water in his face to show him that his presence is not desired. So too, in the sukka, rain is an indication that the Holy One, Blessed be He, does not want the person to fulfill the mitzva of sukka.

The dimensions of a sukkah: its height may not be less than ten hand-breadths (approximately three feet) or more than twenty cubits (approximately 35 feet), and its width may not be less than seven by seven hand-breadths(two feet by two feet).

Rabbi Yosei says: The Divine Presence never actually descended below, and Moses and Elijah never actually ascended to heaven on high, as it is stated: “The heavens are the heavens of the Lord, and the earth He gave to the children of man” (Psalms 115:16), indicating that these are two distinct domains. [But the Bible says that the shekhina (spirit of god) came down onto the cover of the Ark.] Consequently, from ten handbreadths upward is considered a shared domain with the shekhina.

A sukkah without three walls is invalid. If it had two complete walls next to one another in the shape of [the Greek letter] gamma (Γ), one may make a wall with a width greater than one hand-breadth and stand it less than three [hand-breadths] adjacent to one of the [other] two walls, and that is enough. But one must [still] fashion the shape of a doorway . . .

(6) If a rash spread out on a majority of it, or if its pitom is removed, if it is peeled, split, or perforated so that any part is missing, it is invalid. If a rash spread out on a lesser part of it, if its stem was missing, or if it is perforated but no part of it is missing, it is valid. An etrog [which is black] as an Ethiopian is invalid. An etrog which is green as a leek: Rabbi Meir declares it valid And Rabbi Judah declares it invalid.

(7) The minimum size of an etrog: Rabbi Meir says: the size of a nut. Rabbi Judah says: the size of an egg. The maximum [size] is such that two can be held in one hand, the words of Rabbi Judah. Rabbi Yose says, even one that can only be held with his two hands.

The four species are likened to different categories in the Jewish people.

The Etrog, which has both taste and smell, is likened to those that study Torah and do mitzvot. The palm branch, which has taste, but no smell, is likened to those who have only Torah study. The myrtle, which has smell but no taste, is likened to those who have only mitzvot. The willow, which has neither taste nor smell, is likened to those who are without Torah study and without mitzvot. And Hashem says "bind them all together and let them atone one for the other."...

The Gemara asks: Is it possible to carry the lulav without fulfilling one’s obligation (to shake the lulav inside the sukkah)? Didn’t he, from the moment that he lifted it, fulfill his obligation with it? Abaye said: One fulfills his obligation only when lifting it in the manner in which it grows.

(12) ...Although it is a Mitzvah to rejoice on all festivals, on the Sukkot holiday there was a time of overabundant joy, for it is written, you shall rejoice before the Eternal your God for seven days.

And how was this joy [performed]? The flute was struck and the violin, harp, and cymbals, were played, and every person played any instrument they knew how to play. And those who knew to sing, sang. And they danced, and bowed, and clapped, and spun, and crowed, each according to their ability, and spoke words of praise and song. And this joy does not supersede the Sabbath or the Holy Day.