Sukkah 26b (כו:) — the Talmud in English

And the Sages say: A person may sleep a temporary sleep while wearing tefillin, but not a regular sleep.

That is to say: During the day, a person may sleep a temporary sleep, since there is no concern that he might change his mind and sleep a regular sleep. But at night, one may not sleep even a temporary sleep, since there is concern that he might change his mind and sleep a regular sleep [Tosafot, according to the Maharshal]

And how long is a temporary sleep? The time required to walk one hundred cubits.

Rav said: It is forbidden for a person to sleep during the day longer than the sleep of a horse

because of neglect of Torah study.

And how long is the sleep of a horse?

The amount of time of

sixty breaths [sixty breaths].

[sixty breaths].

Abaye said: The sleep of my master [the sleep of Rabbah bar Naḥmani] during the day

—

was like Rav’s.

Abaye learned the duration of his sleep from him, for Rav would sleep during the day for this amount of time.

And

his sleep

of Rav

was like Rabbi’s,

as Rav learned it from Rabbeinu HaKadosh, in whose household Rav grew up, and Rabbi would sleep during the day for this amount of time.

And

his sleep

of Rabbi

was like

the sleep

of David.

Thus Rabbi received from his forefathers that this was the sleep of David, king of Israel.

And David

was like a horse [the sleep of a horse].

[like the sleep of a horse].

And the horse

was sixty breaths.

Abaye would doze

during the day [Rashi]

like the time required to travel from Pumbedita to Bei Kuvei [he would sleep during the day for the time required to travel from Pumbedita to Bei Kuvei], which is six parsaot [Rashi].

[he would sleep during the day for the time needed to travel from Pumbedita to Bei Kovei], which is six parsaot [Rashi].

Rav Yosef applied to him

the verse: “

How long will you lie down, sluggard? When will you arise from your sleep?”

The Sages taught: One who enters to sleep

a temporary sleep

during the day, if he wishes, he removes

his tefillin;

if he wishes, he puts them on.

Since during the day it is not customary for a person to engage in marital relations or to sleep a regular sleep.

But

at night

he

removes

his tefillin even for a temporary sleep,

and does not put them on,

lest he change his mind and sleep a regular sleep.

These are the words of Rabbi Natan.

Rabbi Yosei says: Young men [adolescents]

[bachelors]

always,

even during the day and for a temporary sleep,

remove their tefillin and do not put them on, because they are accustomed to impurity.

At this point, one might have understood that erotic thoughts are common among them, and they may experience a seminal emission.

And we ask: Does this

mean that

Rabbi Yosei

holds that one who has experienced a seminal emission is forbidden to put on tefillin?!

For if this is indeed Rabbi Yosei’s position, we should rule halakha in accordance with him, as we have an established principle: Rabbi Yosei’s reasoning accompanies him.

He said—

Rabbi

Abaye

explained Rabbi Yosei’s statement:

We are dealing with young men whose wives are with them, as they might come to engage in marital relations

while the tefillin are on their heads. It is certainly forbidden to disgrace the tefillin by treating them frivolously.

The Sages taught: If one forgot and engaged in marital relations while wearing tefillin, he may hold neither the strap nor the box until he washes his hands, and

then

he may take them

the tefillin

because the hands are active,

and perhaps they touched a filthy place.

Mishna:

It once happened that they brought Rabban Yoḥanan ben Zakkai

during the festival of Sukkot

a dish to taste,

a small measure, for which one is not obligated to eat in a sukka [Ran],

and for Rabban Gamaliel

they brought

two dates

and a pitcher of water,

which is not significant [Ran].

And

nevertheless

they said: Bring them up to the sukka!

For they did not wish to eat or drink anything outside the sukka.

And when they gave Rabbi Tzadok food [a dish of food]

[a food],

less than the volume of an egg, he took it with a cloth.

That is to say, he did not wash his hands; rather, he wrapped his hands in a cloth for cleanliness [Rashi].

And he ate outside the sukka

because it was a temporary eating.

And he did not recite a blessing afterward,

the Grace after Meals, for he held in accordance with Rabbi Yehuda that one is obligated in the Grace after Meals only for eating that produces satiety, namely, the volume of an egg, as it is written: “And you shall eat, be satisfied, and bless.”

Gemara:

We learned in the Mishna above: One may eat and drink a temporary meal outside the sukka. And we learned here: It once happened that they brought Rabban Yoḥanan ben Zakkai a dish to taste, and they said, “Bring it up to the sukka.”

And we wonder: It follows that the

incident

that we learned in the Mishna

comes to contradict

the opening statement of the Mishna. For these tanna’im did not eat even a temporary meal outside the sukka. Is it customary for those who formulate statements to bring, after their words, an incident that contradicts their words?!

And we answer:

A portion of the Mishna is missing, and this is what it teaches:

One may eat and drink a temporary meal outside the sukka, but

if one comes to be stringent with himself,

he

may be stringent, and there is no presumption of arrogance in doing so [there is no arrogance in it].

[there is no element of arrogance in it].

And there was also an incident: They brought Rabban Yoḥanan ben Zakkai a dish to taste, and Rabban Gamaliel two dates and a pitcher of water

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and they said: Bring them up to the sukka.