Sukkah 28a — the Talmud in English

And we reject this:

There—

with regard to the stopper of the window, for that reason one may not stop it with it—

because he nullifies

the stopper with regard to the window, and the stopper is considered like a part of the wall itself; and therefore it is considered adding to the temporary roof.

But here—

with regard to a sheet that he spread over the sukka, certainly

he does not nullify

the sheet with regard to the sukka, and in the end he will remove it from there; and therefore

it is not

obvious to Rabbi Yohanan that it should be prohibited.

The Sages taught: There was an incident involving Rabbi Eliezer, who spent Shabbat in Upper Galilee, and they asked him

there

thirty laws concerning the laws of the sukka.

Concerning

twelve

laws

he said to them

Rabbi Eliezer:

I have heard

from my teachers how the law concerning them is; whereas concerning

eighteen

laws

he said to them

Rabbi Eliezer:

I have not heard

from my teachers, and he did not resolve them for them.

Rabbi Yosei ben Rabbi Yehuda says:

It was not so, but rather

the matters were reversed;

for concerning

eighteen

laws

he said to them

Rabbi Eliezer:

I have heard!

Whereas concerning

twelve

laws

he said to them

Rabbi Eliezer:

I have not heard.

They said to him

to Rabbi Eliezer: Is it so that

all your words are only from oral tradition?!

He said to them

Rabbi Eliezer:

You have compelled me to say something that I have not heard from my teachers,

meaning: I must answer your question by relating my practices, and I did not hear these practices from my teachers, that this is how one must conduct himself; and this is my answer:

a.

Never did a person precede me in the study hall,

but I was the one who came first, and I did not miss anything that was said there.

b.

And I never slept in the study hall, neither a regular sleep nor a temporary sleep,

and therefore I heard everything that they would say in the study hall.

c.

And I never left a person in the study hall and departed,

but rather I was the last to leave the study hall, and I did not miss anything of all that they said there.

d.

And I never engaged in idle conversation

[words of vanity and jest].

e.

And I never said a matter that I had not heard from my teacher.

Meaning: The reason that I do not tell you a ruling concerning these laws is that this is my practice: I do not say a matter that I have not heard from my teacher. And do not say that I did not trouble myself to hear what my teachers said, for I came first to the study hall and left last, and I neither slept nor engaged in idle conversation; and if my teachers had said something concerning these laws, I certainly would have heard it.

They said concerning Rabban Yohanan ben Zakkai:

a.

In all his days he never engaged in idle conversation.

b.

And he never walked four cubits without Torah

[for he was always walking and studying]

and without tefillin.

c.

And no person preceded him in the study hall.

d.

And he never slept in the study hall, neither a regular sleep nor a temporary sleep.

e.

And he never contemplated

words of Torah

in filthy passageways.

f.

And he never left a person in the study hall and departed.

g.

And they never found him sitting silently

[quiet],

but rather sitting and studying.

h.

And no person ever opened the door for his students, but rather he himself

would draw himself near the entrance, because among his students there was jealousy and neglect of Torah regarding which of them would open for his fellow students who came in. [Maharsha]

i.

And Rabbi Yohanan never said

Rabbi Yohanan

a matter that he had not heard from his teacher.

j.

And Rabbi Yohanan never said

Rabbi Yohanan,

“The time has come to leave the study hall,”

except on the evenings of Passover,

because of preparing their Passover offerings and because of the children, so that they should not sleep.

And

except on

the evenings of Yom Kippur,

when it is necessary to eat while it is still day.

And so too Rabbi Eliezer, his student,

of Rabbi Yohanan,

conducted himself after him.

The Sages taught:

Hillel the Elder had eighty students.

Thirty

students

among them were worthy that the Divine Presence should rest upon them, like Moses our teacher.

And thirty

students

among them were worthy that the sun should halt for them

from proceeding along its fixed course,

as

it halted for

Joshua son of Nun.

And

twenty

students were

intermediate,

of average standing between these first ones and those last ones.

The student who was

the greatest of them all,

was

Jonathan ben Uzziel.

And the student who was

the least of them all,

was

Rabban Yohanan ben Zakkai.

They said concerning Rabban Yohanan ben Zakkai that he did not neglect

studying:

Scripture,

which is the Written Torah.

And Mishna,

such as the Mishna and the beraita of the six orders.

Gemara,

which is reasoning: the later tannaim would carefully examine the words of the earlier tannaim, to interpret them and give reasons for them, just as the amoraim, after the tannaim, interpreted the words of the tannaim who preceded them and established Gemara concerning them; and that careful analysis in the days of the tannaim is called Gemara [Rashash].

Laws

given to Moses at Sinai, such as: gud asik, lavud, and a crooked wall; measures, interpositions, and partitions; ten saplings, the willow, and the water libation.

And Aggadot,

homiletic interpretations of verses, such as Tanhuma, Genesis Rabbah, and Leviticus Rabbah [Rashbam, Bava Batra].

The precise interpretations of Torah,

the superfluous letters from which amplifications and exclusions are expounded, such as “the native,” to exclude women from the obligation of the sukka; for the Torah was precise in its wording, writing an extra letter in order to teach this.

And the precise interpretations of the Scribes,

which the Sages added by carefully examining people’s conduct, imposing stringency, and making a safeguard and handles for the Torah; and they enacted decrees to distance a person from transgression.

Kal va-chomers,

matters learned by kal va-chomer, which were given to be reasoned out independently by every person, and nothing concerning them was explained at Sinai.

And gzera shavas,

matters learned by a gzera shava.

Astronomical calculations,

the calculation of the movement of the sun and the moon.

And gematriot,

matters learned through the language of gematria, such as atbash, or through counting the letters, as they said concerning the verse stated regarding the nazirite: “holy shall he be”—“shall be” has the numerical value of thirty, to teach that the ordinary nazirite vow is thirty days.

The speech of ministering angels, the speech of demons, and the speech of palm trees.

[This segment is not present in the source text.]

Parables of launderers

and

parables of foxes,

parables that the ancients established in order to provide a pretext for their rebuke, attributing them to launderers and foxes; and see the note.

A great matter and a small matter.

And we explain: “

A great matter”

is

the Account of the Chariot; “

a small matter”

the discussions of Abaye and Rava,

for everything about which Abaye and Rava were uncertain, he too was uncertain, and he resolved it; but in the days of the amoraim it was forgotten.

To establish what is stated,

meaning: And concerning these Sages the verse was said [Ritva]:

“To cause those who love Me to inherit substance, and I shall fill their treasuries.”

And since the least of them all

[Rabban Yohanan ben Zakkai, the least of Hillel the Elder’s students]

was thus, the greatest of them all

[Jonathan ben Uzziel, the greatest of Hillel the Elder’s students]

how much more so!

They said concerning Jonathan ben Uzziel that when he sat and occupied himself with Torah, every bird that flew over him was immediately burned,

for the ministering angels would gather around him to hear words of Torah from his mouth [Rashi].

Mishna:

a.

One whose head and greater part were in the sukka, while his table was inside the house:

The House of Shammai disqualify,

for he has not fulfilled his obligation, as a decree lest he be drawn after his table and eat outside the sukka.

And the House of Hillel validate.

The House of Hillel said to the House of Shammai:

But is it so that

this was not the incident, when the elders of the House of Shammai and the elders of the House of Hillel went to visit Rabbi Yohanan ben Ha-Horani, and they found him sitting with his head and greater part in the sukka and his table inside the house, and they said nothing to him?!

The House of Shammai said to them:

But is it so that

this is proof?!

For

they too—

the elders of the House of Shammai and the elders of the House of Hillel—

said to him

to Rabbi Yohanan ben Ha-Horani:

If this is how you conducted yourself,

always sitting with your head and greater part in the sukka and your table inside the house, then

you never fulfilled the mitzva of sukka!

b.

Women, slaves, and minors are exempt from the sukka.

c.

A minor who does not need his mother is obligated in the sukka

by rabbinic law, because of education.

It happened that the daughter-in-law of Shammai the Elder gave birth, and he removed part of the plastered ceiling

[the floor of the upper story above the infant’s bed]

and covered above the bed for the sake of a minor.

Gemara:

We learned in the Mishna: Women, slaves, and minors are exempt from the sukka:

And we explain:

From where are these matters?

For the Sages taught:

It is written, “Every native-born Israelite shall sit in sukkot,” and we expound: “

Native-born.”

Had it been written only “native-born,”

this native-born person, it would have implied all the native-born, even women. Therefore the Merciful One said, “

it would have implied all native-born people, including women. Therefore, the Merciful One wrote “

the native-born,”

which implies the distinguished [important] among the native-born, namely, the man—the verse came

to exclude women

from the obligation to sit in the sukka.

And the Merciful One wrote, “

every

native-born,” in order

to include minors

in the obligation of the sukka [and later he raises an objection against this].

The Master said: “

The native-born”

to exclude women:

And we are astonished:

Does this mean that “

native-born”

[without the definite article]

implies both

women and

men

alike, as the beraita states, that the verse needed to say “the native-born” in order to exclude women?!

But it was taught in a beraita:

But it was taught:

It is written concerning affliction on Yom Kippur, “You shall afflict your souls, and you shall perform no labor, the native-born and the stranger,” and we expound: “

The native-born”

to include native-born women, who are obligated in affliction.

Evidently, “

native-born”

means men

alone, as it

implies; and therefore the verse needed to say “the native-born” in order to include women, whereas concerning sukka we say that “native-born” implies both women and men?!

Rabba said: They are halakhot, and the Sages linked them to verses.

That is to say: One should not derive these two laws from the verses, for you cannot say that sometimes the letter heh comes to include, and sometimes to exclude [Rashi ],

but one of these laws is a halakha given to Moses at Sinai, and the second law is learned through exposition of the verse; and that law whose source is the halakha given to Moses at Sinai, the Sages linked to the verse, and expounded it not according to its meaning.

And we ask: a.

Which is the verse and which is the halakha,

which law is learned through exposition of the written text, and which has its basis in the halakha given to Moses at Sinai?

b.

Moreover, why do I need the verse,

and also

why do I need the halakha,

for even without them you can learn that a woman is exempt from the sukka and is obligated in affliction!

For

this sukka is a time-bound positive commandment

itself,

and women are exempt from every time-bound positive commandment,

and from this you know that a woman is exempt from the sukka.

And

even the woman’s obligation in affliction on

Yom Kippur,

which is a negative commandment, and there is karet for it [Rashi], whether it is time-bound or not—

follows from Rav Yehuda said in the name of Rav,

for a woman is prohibited from it?!

As Rav Yehuda said in the name of Rav, and likewise the tanna of the school of Rabbi Yishmael taught: The verse says “

a man or a woman

when they commit any of the sins of man,”