Sukkah 27b — the Talmud in English

One does not leave from one sukkah to another

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

and one does not make a sukkah during the intermediate days of the festival,

for one who did not sit in a sukkah on the first festival day.

And the Sages say: One may leave from one sukkah to another, and one may make a sukkah during the intermediate days of the festival.

And they agree

Rabbi Eliezer and the Sages,

that if it fell

his sukkah,

that he returns and builds

it

during the intermediate days of the festival

and sits in it.

And we explain:

What is Rabbi Eliezer’s reason?

Because

the verse says: “

The festival of Sukkot you shall make for yourself seven days,”

and we derive:

Make a sukkah fit for seven.

And therefore one does not make a sukkah during the intermediate days of the festival, and one also does not leave from one sukkah to another, for if so it is not a “sukkah for seven.”

And the Rabbis,

how do they interpret the verse?!

This is what the Merciful One said: Make a sukkah—

during the festival!

For all seven days are fit for making a sukkah.

We learned in a beraita:

And they agree, that if it fell—

that he returns and builds it during the intermediate days of the festival.

And we raise an objection: Surely

it is obvious

that he returns and builds during the intermediate days of the festival a sukkah that he already had?!

And we explain: It is a novelty. For

lest you say: This

sukkah that he erected is a sukkah

other

than the one that fell, and “a new situation” has come here,

and

it turns out that the new sukkah

is not

made

for seven.

Therefore

it teaches us

that he returns and builds it.

It was taught: Rabbi Eliezer says: Just as a person does not fulfill his obligation on the first festival day with his fellow’s lulav,

because

it is written: “

And you shall take for yourselves on the first day the fruit of a splendid tree, the branches of a date palm,”

and we derive: “for yourselves”—

from your own,

so that the lulav should not be borrowed.

So too, a person does not fulfill his obligation

all seven days

with his fellow’s sukkah.

Since

it is written: “

The festival of Sukkot you shall make for yourself seven days,”

and we derive: “for yourself”—that the sukkah should be made

from your own,

and it should not be a borrowed sukkah.

And the Sages say: Even though they said, “

A person does not fulfill his obligation on the first festival day

with his fellow’s lulav,”

he does fulfill his obligation with his fellow’s sukkah.

And their reason is: Since

it is written: “

All the native-born in Israel shall sit in sukkot,”

the verse teaches

that

all Israel are fit to sit in one sukkah.

And it implies one sukkah for all Israel, in which they would sit one after the other; and it is impossible that the sukkah should belong to all of them, for you cannot find in it a peruta’s worth for each and every one, and necessarily it is through borrowing [Rashi].

And the Rabbis,

who validate a borrowed sukkah,

this “

for yourself” -

which Rabbi Eliezer derives to invalidate a borrowed sukkah—

what do they derive from it?!

And we explain: According to the Rabbis,

they need “

for yourself” in order

to exclude

a sukkah

that is stolen.

But

a

borrowed sukkah is valid, since

it is written:

“All the native-born.”

Every citizen."

And Rabbi Eliezer,

who invalidates a borrowed sukkah,

this “

all the native-born”—

which the Rabbis derive to validate a borrowed sukkah—

what does he do with it

What does he derive from it?

And we explain: Rabbi Eliezer follows his own position, that one does not make a sukkah during the intermediate days of the festival—

and he needs “all” [the native-born] to permit making a sukkah during the intermediate days of the festival

to permit making a sukka during the intermediate days of the Festival

for a convert who converted in the meantime

[during the intermediate days of the festival],

and

for a

minor who came of age

[who produced two pubic hairs]

in the meantime,

since they were not obligated in sukkah at the beginning of the festival.

And

if it were

the Rabbis,

who derive from “all the native-born” permission for a borrowed sukkah, but not for a convert who converted or a minor who came of age, their reason is:

since they said, “

One makes a sukkah during the intermediate days of the festival,”

then

the verse is no longer needed

for a convert who converted and a minor who came of age during the intermediate days of the festival.

concerning a convert who converted or a minor who came of age during the intermediate days of the Festival.

The Sages taught: An incident involving Rabbi Ilai, who went to greet Rabbi Eliezer his teacher in Lod, on the festival.

He said to him

Rabbi Eliezer:

Ilai! You are not among those who rest on the festival!

For you are not staying at home with your wife during the festival.

For Rabbi Eliezer used to say: I praise the lazy,

[that is, even those who do so because of laziness]

who do not leave their houses on the festival.

For it is written: “And you shall rejoice, you and your household,”

and “your household”—this is your wife.

And we raise an objection:

Is that so? But Rabbi Yitzchak said: From where [do we know] that a person is obligated to greet his teacher on the festival,

as it is stated—when the husband of the Shunamite woman asked his wife, when she said, “I shall go and hurry to the man of God [Elisha] and return”—“

«

Why are you going to him today? It is neither the new moon nor Shabbat ?”

By inference, on the new moon and on Shabbat a person is obligated to greet

the face of his teacher.

So we have learned that it is permitted to leave one’s wife on the festival?!

And we answer:

It is not difficult.

This

that Rabbi Yitzchak said that he should leave his house and go to his teacher refers to

one who goes and returns on the same day

[he goes and returns that same day] and rejoices in the joy of the festival with his wife [for example, when his teacher was within the boundary, or he made an eruv of boundaries. Rashi].

This

that Rabbi Eliezer said that a man should not leave his house on the festival refers to

one who goes and does not return on the same day

[he goes and does not return that same day].

The Sages taught: An incident involving Rabbi Eliezer, who spent Shabbat

on Shabbat

in the Upper Galilee, in the sukkah of

Yochanan

son of Rabbi Ilai in Caesarea.

And some say

[there are those who say that the incident took place]

in Caesareon, and the

sun

reached the sukkah.

He said to him,

Yochanan son of Rabbi Ilai asked Rabbi Eliezer:

What is the ruling: may I spread a sheet over it

for shade, so that the sun will not tan you? My question is: Is it forbidden—because of the labor of “building”—to add even to a temporary tent?

Rabbi Eliezer did not wish to answer him, because he did not wish to say something that he had not heard from his teacher, and therefore he diverted him to another matter.

He said to him

Rabbi Eliezer:

There is no tribe or tribe in Israel that did not produce from itself a judge

who delivered Israel [they are the leaders of Israel who existed from the days of Joshua until Samuel, who anointed Saul as king]. And when

the sun reached the middle of the sukkah,

the sunlight spread and reached halfway across the sukkah and approached them, he again

said

and asked

him

Yochanan asked Rabbi Eliezer:

What is the ruling: may I spread a sheet over it?

Rabbi Eliezer again diverted him to another matter and

said to him: There is no tribe or tribe in Israel that did not produce prophets.

And even

the tribe of Judah and Benjamin,

which did not produce prophets,

produced kings

from their tribes [David from Judah and Saul from Benjamin]

by the word of prophets

[the prophet Samuel].

And when

the

sun

reached

as far as

the feet of Rabbi Eliezer, Yochanan took a sheet and spread it over the sukkah

without having received Rabbi Eliezer’s consent.

Rabbi Eliezer drew his cloak back over his shoulders and went out

from the sukkah, so that people would not say that Rabbi Eliezer had permitted the matter.

And the beraita explains:

Not because he had diverted him with words!

That is to say: Do not say that Rabbi Eliezer did not answer him because he wished to divert him and dismiss him so as not to teach him Torah.

Rather, because he never said

Rabbi Eliezer

a matter that he had not heard from his teacher.

And we raise an objection against Rabbi Eliezer:

How did he act in this way

by leaving his sukkah for another person’s sukkah?

But Rabbi Eliezer said: One does not leave from one sukkah to another!

And we answer: This incident did not take place during the festival of Sukkot, but

it was another festival

[it was another festival], and they were sitting in the sukkah because of the air.

And we still raise an objection:

But Rabbi Eliezer said: I praise the lazy, who do not leave their houses on the festival,

and how did he leave his house, which was in Lod?!

And we answer: This incident did not take place during a festival, but

it was Shabbat

[the incident took place on Shabbat], that is to say, it was a Shabbat that was not during the festival.

And we raise an objection:

And should he not resolve it

for Yochanan’s question

from his own words,

from Rabbi Eliezer’s own words?!

For we learned: The stopper of a window

[a board made to the measure of a window, with which one closes the window, and which has neither handles nor a hinge on which it revolves, Meiri]:

Rabbi Eliezer says: When it is tied

the stopper to the window with a rope

and hanging

so that it does not reach the ground,

one may stop with it,

for since it is prepared and designated for this, this is neither building nor an addition to the building.

But if not—

one may not stop with it,

because he is adding to the closing of the tent.

And the Sages say: Whether so or whether so, one may stop

with it.

Thus, according to Rabbi Eliezer, one does not add even to a temporary tent on Shabbat, for this addition is only temporary; and the same law applies that it is forbidden to spread a sheet over the sukkah!