Sukkah 27a — the Talmud in English

We learned in the Mishna:

“And when they gave Rabbi Tzadok less than an egg-bulk of food”—

“he took it in a cloth and ate it outside the sukka, and did not recite the blessing after it”:

And we infer: It is implied that specifically “less than an egg-bulk” is exempt from the sukka;

but an egg-bulk—

requires a sukka.

And we challenge:

Shall we say that this is a refutation of Rav Yosef,

who said above that eating two or three eggs is an irregular eating and is permitted outside the sukka?

And

also a refutation of

Abaye,

who said above that eating one egg-bulk is still an irregular eating, and is permitted outside the sukka; whereas from our Mishna it is implied that at the measure of an egg-bulk it is eating that is subject to the sukka?!

And we answer:

Perhaps

that which we learned “less than an egg-bulk” is not because of the sukka, but rather:

less than an egg-bulk—

does not require washing and a blessing.

But an egg-bulk requires washing and a blessing.

But to sit in the sukka, he does not need to, even when he eats an egg-bulk.

Mishna:

Rabbi Eliezer says: A person is obligated to eat fourteen meals in the sukka, one by day and one by night

during all seven days of the festival.

And the Sages say: There is no fixed measure to the matter,

and if he wishes to fast, we do not require him [to eat], but only that if he eats—he should not eat outside the sukka [Rashi].

Except for the nights of

the first Festival day of the festival alone,

for he is not permitted to fast, and in the Gemara we derive it by a gzera shava from matza.

And Rabbi Eliezer further said: One who did not eat [

the night of]

the first Festival day

of the festival, when he was obligated to eat in the sukka,

shall complete

this meal on

the night of the last Festival day of the festival [

on the Eighth Day of Assembly], even though he does not eat it in the sukka [Rashi], and in the Gemara this is challenged.

And the Sages say: There is no compensation for the matter.

And concerning

such

this was said: “

That which is crooked cannot be made straight, and that which is lacking cannot be numbered.”

Gemara:

We learned in the Mishna: Rabbi Eliezer says: A person is obligated to eat fourteen meals in the sukka, one by day and one by night:

And we explain:

What is the reason of Rabbi Eliezer?

Because it is written: In sukkot

“you shall dwell”

seven days, and we require

“like”

“you dwell”,

just as a dwelling

a person eats a meal in it

one by day and one by night, so too the sukka

he must eat in it a meal

one by day and one by night.

And we explain:

And the Rabbis,

what is their reason that they do not obligate one to eat every day in the sukka?

Because they expound it differently, for we require a sukka

like a dwelling: just as in a dwelling, if he wishes he eats, and if he wishes he does not eat [

if he wishes he eats, and if he wishes he fasts],

so too a sukka: if he wishes he eats, and if he wishes he does not eat.

And we wonder:

If so, even the night of the

first

Festival day too, if he wishes he may fast; and why did we learn: except for the night of the first Festival day?!

if he wishes, he may fast. Why, then, did we learn: “Except for the night of the first Festival day”?!

Rabbi Yochanan said

in the name of

Rabbi Shimon ben

Yehotzadak: It is stated here,

in the festival of sukkot,

“the fifteenth,”

and it is stated

“the fifteenth”

in the festival of matzot.

And we derive it by a gzera shava:

Just as there,

in the festival of matzot,

the first night is an obligation

to eat matza, and

from then onward it is optional,

except that he may not eat leaven.

So too here,

in the festival of sukkot,

the first night is an obligation,

and

from then onward it is optional.

And there,

in the festival of matzot,

from where do we know

that he is obligated to eat matza on the first night?

And we explain: When

the verse says:

“In the evening you shall eat matzot”—

the verse established it

for the eating of matza

as an obligation

on the first evening.

We learned in the Mishna:

And Rabbi Eliezer further said:

One who did not eat on the night of the first Festival day of the festival shall eat on the night of the last Festival day of the festival:

And we wonder:

But Rabbi Eliezer himself said

:

A person is obligated to eat fourteen meals in the sukka, one by day and one by night.

And since on the last day he does not sit in the sukka—and, on the contrary, if he sits in it for the sake of the mitzva, he has transgressed bal tosif—this is not the completion of the mitzva of sukka [Rashi]?!

Bira said [

a sage’s name]

Rabbi Ami said: Rabbi Eliezer retracted his position

and agrees with the Sages that there is an obligation to eat in the sukka only on the night of the first Festival day. And we explain our Mishna, in which we learned that he shall eat to complete it on the night of the last Festival day of the festival: He completes—

with what?

If you say with bread [

bread],

then he is eating the meal of the day,

the meal of the day he is eating; and what indication is there here that it is for the sake of the first meal? Is it not his way to dine during the day?!

Rather, what does “he shall complete” mean—

he shall complete with kinds of delicacies,

he shall complete with kinds of delicacies,

after he has removed his table, they bring fruits and delicacies before him, such as fruits, cakes, and cooked leeks [Rashi].

It was taught likewise: If he completed with kinds of delicacies, he has fulfilled his obligation,

and all the more so if he established a second meal with bread and meat [Rashi].

The steward of King Agrippa asked Rabbi Eliezer,

who held that a person is obligated to eat in the sukka two meals every day.

For example, I, who am not accustomed to eating more than one meal a day— what is it that I should eat one meal

in the sukka,

and be exempt

by this?

Rabbi Eliezer said to him:

But

every single day you continue with several delicacies [

kinds of delicacies that open the intestines, so that his heart is drawn after bread and he will eat]

for your own honor, and now will you not continue with even one delicacy for the honor of your Creator?!

And he further asked him,

that steward, Rabbi Eliezer:

For example, I, who have two wives, one in Tiberias and one in Tzippori, and

because of this

I have two sukkot, one in Tiberias and one in Tzippori; what is it that I should go out from sukka to sukka

to eat and sleep today in this one and tomorrow in that one,

and be exempt?

Rabbi Eliezer said to him: No,

you are not exempt by this. Since

I say: Anyone who goes out from sukka to sukka

is

nullifying the mitzva of the

first

one,

even the days that had already passed for him he retroactively forfeited, and they are not a mitzva, for according to Rabbi Eliezer he must sit all seven days in one sukka [and later he derives it].

It was taught: Rabbi Eliezer says:

of

the first

mitzva, even the days that had already passed for him are retroactively lost and are no longer considered a mitzva, because according to Rabbi Eliezer one must sit in one sukka throughout all seven days [and below the Gemara derives this].

A beraita taught: Rabbi Eliezer says: