Sukkah 27b (כז:) — the Talmud in English

One may not leave one sukka for another

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

and one may not make a sukka during the intermediate days of the Festival;

this applies to one who did not sit in a sukka on the first Festival day.

But the Sages say: One may leave one sukka for another, and one may make a sukka during the intermediate days of the Festival.

And they agree

Rabbi Eliezer and the Sages,

that if it fell

his sukka,

he rebuilds

it

during the intermediate days of the Festival

and sits in it.

And we explain:

What is the reason for Rabbi Eliezer's opinion?

Because

the verse says: "

You shall make for yourself the Festival of Sukkot for seven days,"

and we interpret it:

Make a sukka fit for seven days.

Therefore, one may not make a sukka during the intermediate days of the Festival, and one may not leave one sukka for another either, since if he does so it is not a "sukka for seven days."

And the Sages

how do they interpret this verse?

This is what the Merciful One said: Make a sukka

during the Festival!

For all seven days are suitable for making a sukka.

We learned in a beraita:

And they agree that if it fell

he rebuilds it during the intermediate days of the Festival.

And we wonder: Is it not

obvious

that he rebuilds during the intermediate days of the Festival a sukka that he already had?

And we explain: This is a novel ruling. For

lest you say: This

sukka that he erected is a sukka

different

from the one that fell, and "a new situation" has arisen here,

and

the new sukka

is not

made

for seven days.

Therefore,

it teaches us

that he rebuilds 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 beautiful tree, date-palm fronds,"

and we interpret "for yourselves"

as belonging to you,

so that the lulav may not be borrowed.

So, too, a person does not fulfill his obligation

on all seven days

with his fellow's sukka.

Since

it is written: "

You shall make for yourself the Festival of Sukkot for seven days,"

and we interpret "for yourself" to mean that the sukka must be made

from what is yours,

and it may not be a borrowed sukka.

And the Sages say: Although 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 sukka.

And their reason is that, since

it is written: "

All the citizens of Israel shall sit in sukkot,"

the verse teaches

that

all Israel are fit to sit in one sukka.

This implies one sukka for all Israel, with each person sitting in it in turn; and it cannot belong to all of them, since there is not a peruta's worth of ownership in it for each individual. Therefore, it must be through borrowing [Rashi].

And the Sages,

who validate a borrowed sukka,

this "

for yourself" \-

which Rabbi Eliezer derives to disqualify a borrowed sukka

what do they derive from it?

And we explain: According to the Sages,

they need "

for yourself" in order

to exclude

a sukka that is

stolen.

But

a

borrowed sukka is valid, since

it is

written: "

Every citizen."

And Rabbi Eliezer,

who disqualifies a borrowed sukka,

this "

every citizen"

which the Sages derive to validate a borrowed sukka

what does he do with it

[what does he derive from it]?

And we explain: Rabbi Eliezer maintains his position that one may not make a sukka during the intermediate days of the Festival:

And he needs "every"

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

for a convert who converted in the interim

[during the intermediate days of the Festival],

and

for a

minor who came of age

[who produced two pubic hairs]

in the interim,

since they were not obligated in sukka at the beginning of the Festival.

And

if it were

the Sages,

who derive from "every citizen" permission for a borrowed sukka, but not for a convert who converted or a minor who came of age, their reason is:

Since they said "

one may make a sukka during the intermediate days of the Festival,"

there is

no longer a need

for the verse

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

The Sages taught: There was 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 keep the Festival!

For you are not staying with your wife during the Festival.

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

[that is, even those who do this out of laziness,]

who do not leave their homes on the Festival.

For it is written: You shall rejoice, you and your household,

and "your household" refers to your wife.

And we wonder: Is that so? But Rabbi Yitzhak said:

From where is it derived that a person is obligated to greet his teacher on the Festival?

As it is stated:

When the husband of the Shunamite woman asked her, after she said, "I will 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

even his teacher.

We have therefore learned that it is permitted to leave one's wife on the Festival?!

And we answer:

There is no difficulty.

This

statement of Rabbi Yitzhak, that one should leave his home and go to his teacher, refers to a case in which

he goes and returns that same day

[and rejoices with his wife in the joy of the Festival, as when his teacher was within the Sabbath boundary, ] or he had made an eruv tehumin. Rashi.

This

statement of Rabbi Eliezer, that a man should not leave his home on the Festival, refers to a case in which

he goes and does not return that same day

[he goes and does not return that day].

The Sages taught: There was an incident involving Rabbi Eliezer, who spent Shabbat

on

Shabbat in the Upper Galilee, in the sukka of

Yohanan

son of Rabbi Ilai, in Caesarea.

And some say

[some say that the incident took place]

in Caesarea-on-the-Sea, and the

sun

reached the sukka.

He said to him,

Yohanan son of Rabbi Ilai asked Rabbi Eliezer:

May I spread a sheet over it

for shade, so that the sun will not tan you? My question is whether it is prohibited, 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 state anything that he had not heard from his teacher; therefore, he diverted him to another subject.

He said to him,

Rabbi Eliezer:

There is no tribe among the tribes of Israel that did not appoint from among its members a judge

who saved Israel [these were the leaders of Israel from the days of Joshua until Samuel anointed Saul as king]. And when

the sun reached the middle of the sukka,

when the sunlight spread and reached halfway across the sukka and drew near them, he again

said

and asked

him,

Yohanan asked Rabbi Eliezer:

May I spread a sheet over it?

Rabbi Eliezer again diverted him to another subject, and

said to him: There is no tribe among the tribes of Israel from which prophets did not emerge.

And even

the tribes 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

Rabbi Eliezer's feet, Yohanan took a sheet and spread it over the sukka

without having received Rabbi Eliezer's consent.

Rabbi Eliezer pushed his cloak back over his shoulders and left

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

And the beraita explains:

It was not because he had spoken at length!

That is, do not say that Rabbi Eliezer did not answer him because he wished to divert him and avoid teaching him Torah.

Rather, it was because Rabbi Eliezer never said

anything

that he had not heard from his teacher.

And we question Rabbi Eliezer:

How could he do this

by leaving his sukka for another person's sukka?

But Rabbi Eliezer said: One may not leave one sukka for another!

And we answer: This incident did not take place during Sukkot; rather,

it was another Festival

[it was another Festival], and they were sitting in the sukka because of the shade.

But we still wonder:

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

so how did he leave his home in Lod?

And we answer: This incident did not take place during a Festival; rather,

it was Shabbat

[the incident took place on Shabbat], meaning that it was a Shabbat outside the Festival.

And we wonder:

Could he not have resolved

Yohanan's question

from his own words,

from Rabbi Eliezer's own statement?

For we learned: A window stopper

[a board made to the dimensions of a window, used to close the window, without handles or a hinge on which it turns, Meiri]:

Rabbi Eliezer says: When it is tied

to the window with a rope

and suspended,

so that it does not reach the ground,

one may close the window with it,

since, as it is prepared and designated for this purpose, this is neither building nor adding to the building.

But if not

one may not close the window with it,

because this adds to the closing of the tent.

And the Sages say: In either case, one may close the window

with it.

Thus, according to Rabbi Eliezer, one may not add even to a temporary tent on Shabbat, since this addition is only temporary; and the same law applies to spreading a sheet over a sukka!