Sukkah 27a (כז.) — the Talmud in English

We learned in the Mishna:

“And when they gave Rabbi Tzadok food less than the volume of an egg”—

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

And we infer: This indicates that specifically food less than the volume of an egg is exempt from the sukka;

but food the volume of an egg—

requires a sukka.

And we challenge this:

Shall we say that this is a refutation of Rav Yosef, who said above that eating two or three eggs is a casual eating and is permitted outside the sukka?

who said above that eating two or three egg-bulks is a temporary meal and is permitted outside the sukka?

And

also a refutation of

Abaye, who said above that eating a single egg is still a casual eating and is permitted outside the sukka; whereas our Mishna indicates that the measure of an egg constitutes eating that requires a sukka?!

who said above that eating one egg-bulk is still a temporary meal and is permitted outside the sukka, whereas our Mishna implies that the measure of an egg-bulk constitutes eating that requires a sukka?!

And we answer:

Perhaps

what we learned, “less than the volume of an egg,” is not stated with regard to the sukka, but rather:

less than the volume of an egg—

does not require ritual washing or a blessing.

But the volume of an egg requires ritual washing and a blessing.

However, with regard to sitting in the sukka, it is not necessary even when one eats the volume of an egg.

Mishna:

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

during each of the seven days of the festival.

And the Sages say: There is no fixed amount;

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,

when he is not permitted to fast; and in the Gemara we derive this by means of a gzera shava from matza.

And Rabbi Eliezer further said: One who did not eat

on 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 final Festival day of the festival

[on Shemini Atzeret], even though he does not eat it in the sukka [Rashi]; and the Gemara raises a difficulty against this.

And the Sages say: There is no make-up for this matter.

And concerning

such a case,

it is said, “

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

Gemara:

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

And we explain:

What is the reason for Rabbi Eliezer’s opinion?

Because it is written: In sukkot,

“you shall sit”

for seven days, and we require that it be

“like”

“your dwelling,”

just as in a dwelling

a person eats a meal

one during the day and one at night, so too, in the sukka

he must eat a meal

one during the day and one at night.

And we explain:

And the Rabbis,

what is their reason for not obligating one to eat in the sukka every day?

Because they interpret the verse differently: We require that the sukka be

like a dwelling: just as with regard to a dwelling, if one wishes he eats, and if he wishes he does not eat

[when he wishes, he eats, and when he wishes, he fasts],

so too with regard to the sukka, if he wishes he eats, and if he wishes he does not eat.

And we wonder:

If so, even on the first Festival day

of the

first

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

Rabbi Yohanan

said in the name of

Rabbi Shimon ben

Yehotzadak: It is stated here,

with regard to the festival of sukkot,

“the fifteenth,”

and it is stated

“the fifteenth”

with regard to the festival of matzot.

And we derive it by means of a gzera shava:

Just as there,

with regard to the festival of matzot,

on the first night there is an obligation

to eat matza,

and from that point onward it is optional,

except that one may not eat leaven.

So too here,

with regard to the festival of sukkot,

on the first night there is an obligation,

and

from that point onward it is optional.

And there,

with regard to the festival of matzot,

from where do we know

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

And we explain: For

the verse says: “

In the evening you shall eat matzot”—

the verse established it

for eating 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 final Festival day of the festival:

And we wonder:

But Rabbi Eliezer himself said

that

a person is obligated to eat fourteen meals in the sukka, one during the day and one at night.

And since on the final day he does not sit in the sukka—and, on the contrary, if he sits in it for the sake of the mitzva, he violates the prohibition of adding to a mitzva—this cannot be the completion of the mitzva of sukka [Rashi]?!

Bira

[the name of a sage]

said in the name of Rabbi Ami: Rabbi Eliezer retracted his position

and agreed with the Sages that the obligation to eat in the sukka applies only on the night of the first Festival day. And we explain our Mishna, in which we learned that he should complete it on the night of the final Festival day of the festival:

He completes it—

with what?

If you say with bread

[bread], then

he is eating the daytime meal

[he is eating the daytime meal]. What indication is there here that it is for the sake of the first meal? Is it not his practice to eat a meal during the day?!

Rather, what does “

he shall complete it” mean?—

He shall complete it with various delicacies,

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

It was taught likewise: If he completed it with various 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 two meals in the sukka every day.

“In my case, as I am accustomed to eating only one meal a day”—

what if I eat one meal

in the sukka

and be exempt

by doing so?

Rabbi Eliezer said to him:

But

every single day you have several delicacies brought

[types of delicacies that stimulate the intestines, causing one’s heart to be drawn toward the bread so that he will eat]

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

And he further asked

that steward Rabbi Eliezer:

“In my case, as I have two wives, one in Tiberias and one in Tzippori, and

as a result

I have two sukkot, one in Tiberias and one in Tzippori, what if I leave one sukka for the other

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

and be exempt?”

Rabbi Eliezer said to him: No,

you will not be exempt by doing so. Since

I say: Anyone who leaves one sukka for another

is

nullifying

the

mitzva of

the

first,

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

It was taught: Rabbi Eliezer says: