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Talmud Commentary: Bavli 1/6. bSukkah 19b (mSukkah 1:5)

תנא: מודה רבי אליעזר שאם הגביהה מן הקרקע טפח, או שהפליגה מן הכותל טפח, שהיא כשירה. מאי טעמייהו דרבנן? שיפועי אהלים כאהלים דמו. אביי אשכחיה לרב יוסף דקא גני בכילת חתנים בסוכה. אמר ליה: כמאן? כר' אליעזר? שבקת רבנן ועבדת כר' אליעזר? אמר ליה: ברייתא איפכא, תני: ר' אליעזר מכשיר וחכמים פוסלים. שבקת מתניתין ועבדת כברייתא? אמר ליה: מתניתין יחידאה היא דתניא: העושה סוכתו כמין צריף או שסמכה לכותל רבי נתן אומר: רבי אליעזר פוסל מפני שאין לה גג, וחכמים מכשירין.

It has been taught: Rabbi Eli‘ezer agrees that if he raised it one handbreadth from the ground, or if he separated it, one handbreadth from the wall, it is valid. What is the reason of the rabbis? The incline of the tent is like a tent. Abbayye found Rav Yosef sleeping in a bridal-canopy in a sukkah. He said to him: According to whom [do you act]? According to Rabbi Eli‘ezer? Do you then forsake the rabbis and act according to Rabbi Eli‘ezer? He answered him: In a baraita it is taught in reverse order: Rabbi Eli‘ezer declares it valid and the sages declare it invalid. [Abbayye then asked:] Do you forsake a mishnah and act according to a baraita? He answered him: The mishnah represents an individual opinion, as it is taught: If he makes his sukkah on a cone-shaped hut, or leaned it against a wall, Rabbi Natan says that Rabbi Eli‘ezer invalidates it, because it has no roof, while the sages declare it valid.

@General observations

Rabbi Eli‘ezer and the sages are divided here on the question whether a sukkah that is built like a shack or made to lean against an existing wall and has no roof is valid. Abbayye thought that Rav Yosef, who slept in a bridal-canopy, followed Rabbi Eli‘ezer’s minority opinion, according to which a canopy that is slanted and has no roof is not similar to a tent and does not divide between the sleeper beneath it and the sukkah. Thus, it is allowed in the sukkah. Rav Yosef justifies himself by citing a baraita, according to which the opinions are reversed, and it is the rabbis who declare a slanted canopy dissimilar to a tent. Abbayye has difficulty with Rav Yosef’s preference of a baraita over an explicit mishnah. Rav Yosef then cites another baraita that demonstrates that this particular mishnah is a minority tradition of Rabbi Natan, whereas the rabbis of his day disputed his opinion and understood the tradition the other way round.

@Feminist observations

This tradition was discussed above, Bavli 1/4 (to bSuk 10b-11a) in the context of the permission to sleep in a bridal-canopy inside a sukkah.

@Bibliography

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