Babylonian Talmud

Rodkinson 1918 — source 7, scan section 48

a dwelling are usually a man and wife, we might think that in the Succah there should also be a man and wife, it comes to teach us that it is not so. Rabha said : It is needed lest one say, by an analogy of expression, it is written about Passover on the fifteenth, and here, as on Passover, it is obligatory for women, so it is also on the Feast of Tabernacles, it comes to teach us that it is not so. Now, when you say there is a Sinaic law, why is the passage needed ? It comes to include the proselytes ; one might say the Israelites born, but not a proselyte, we are taught that they also are included. But the Day of Atonement, that is inferred from the above saying of R. Jehudah in the name of Rabh. Why is the Sinaic law here needed ? This is needed for the addition to the Day of Atonement from the preceding day, which is biblical, but has no capital punishment. One might say that because the addition has no punishment, the women are exempt ; the Sinaic law comes to say it is not so. The Master says : ^//, to include the minors. But have we not learned in our Mishna, that women, slaves, minors, are free from Succah? This presents no difficulty : The Mishna means a case in which the minor is not yet old enough to be trained in a relig- ious duty, and the Boraitha means a case of a minor old enough for that. But in case of a minor who has reached such an age, the duty is only rabbinical ? Yea, the passage is taken only as a support. ''A minor that needs not the mir sing of his mother T What is TRACT SUCCAH. 39 meant by this ? A minor whe can obey the call of nature with- out the aid of his mother. So said the disciples of R. Yanai. But Resh Lakish said : A child that on awakening does not cry : Mother ! mother ! ** It happened that the daughter-in-law of Sham mat,'' etc. Is not this act a contradiction to the former teaching? The Mishna is not completed. It must be read so : '' And Shammai the Elder is more rigorous, and it happened also that his daughter-in-law gave birth to a son, so he caused the roof to be removed, and covered it as a Succah for the sake of the infant." MISHNA: During the seven days of the festival one must use the booth as the regular domicile, and the house only as an occasional abode. If it rains, when is he permitted to remove from the Succah } When a mess of porridge has been spoiled. The elders illustrate this by a comparison : What does such a cir- cumstance resemble ? As if a servant presented a goblet to his master, who throws a bowl full in his face. GEMARA : The rabbis taught : All the seven days one must use the booth as one's regular domicile. How so ? If he has fine utensils, he shall place them in the Succah ; if he has fine bedding, he should transfer it to the Succah ; and he should eat, and drink, and walk only in the Succah. Whence is this deduced ? From what the rabbis taught : It is written : " Ye shall dwell " ; it means, it shall be as a regular dwelling, and from this was de- duced that all the seven days one shall make the Succah his reg- ular dwelling, and his house a temporary one. He shall eat, drink, and study in the Succah. Is it so ? Did not Rabha say that only to read the Bible and to learn a Mishna one may in the Succah, but study one may not ? This presents no difficulty. The Boraitha means to repeat what he had studied already, and Rabha — to study something new, as Rabha and Rami, while studying under R. Hisda, used to repeat his lecture among them- selves first, and afterwards tried to find out the reasons of it. Rabha said : The vessels for drinking shall be kept in the Suc- cah ; but the vessels for eating, outside. A pitcher of clay, outside of the Succah, a candlestick of clay in the Succah, and according to others, outside, and they do not differ ; it means, in a large Succah it may ; in a small one, it may not, because it is dangerous. '' If it rains^ We have learned in a Boraitha : When a mess of gris is spoiled (which is spoiled easily). Abayi was sitting in the presence of R. Joseph in the Succah, 40 THE BABYLONIAN TALMUD. Succah, and a wind blew the chips from the covering into the dish, and R. Joseph said : Take off the dishes, and we will go out. Said Abayi to him : Have we not learned in the Mishna : Till the porridge is spoiled ? And he answered : As I am delicate, the chips do me as great harm. The rabbis taught : If one ate in the Succah and rain fell, and he went away and took his meal in the house, when it clears again we do not trouble him to interrupt his meal, and to go back to the Succah. If he was sleeping in the Succah and it rained, and he went away to sleep in the house, he is not aroused when it clears again, till the next morning. " What does such a circumstance resemble ? " The schoolmen asked : What is meant by this ? Come and hear. We have learned in a Boraitha : As if the master threw the pitcher into the servant's face, and said to him : I do not want your service more. The rabbis taught : An eclipse of the sun is an ill omen to the whole world. What does this resemble ? A human king making a banquet for his servants, and placing a great lantern before them, when he gets angry he says to his servant : Take away the light, let them sit in the dark. We have learned in a Boraitha : R. Meir said : When the sun and the moon are eclipsed, it is a bad sign to the enemies of the Israelites (meaning, the Israelites themselves), because they are used to troubles : it is equal to the teacher's coming to the school with his whip in his hand. Who is more afraid ? The child used to being beaten. This is the case when Israel do not do the will of the Creator ; but when they do, they need not fear anything, as it is written [Jeremiah, x. 82] : "■ Thus hath said the Lord : Do not habituate yourselves in the way of the nations, and at the signs of the heavens be ye not dismayed ; although the nations should be dismayed at them." The rabbis taught : On account of the following four things the sun becomes eclipsed : When a chief judge dies, and is not lamented becomingly ; when a betrothed virgin calls for help in the town, and is not aided ; unnatural vice ; when two brothers are killed on the same day; and on account of the following four things both the sun and the moon are eclipsed : Forgery, false witness, when fruit-bearing trees are cut out, and when sheep and goats are kept in Palestine. On account of four things the prop- erty of householders is transferred (confiscated) to the govern- ment : When paid notes are kept ; usury ; and when men had the TRACT SUCCAH. 41 power to prevent, but would not ; and when charity was promised to the people, and was not given. Rabh said : For four things the