Sukkah Daf 28 - Hanhagos of Tannaim, Women in Sukkah
Summary
- The shiur opens with sponsorship dedications and proceeds through a narrative beginning with Rabbi Eliezer’s refusal to rule about spreading a cloth over a sukkah, tied to his principle of never saying what he had not heard from his teachers; it then records his five personal hanhagos and Rabban Yochanan ben Zakkai’s ten hanhagos, followed by the hierarchy among Hillel haZaken’s eighty students, highlighting Yonasan ben Uziel and the encyclopedic mastery of Rabban Yochanan ben Zakkai. The Mishnah presents ראשו ורובו בסוכה ושלחנו בתוך הבית and the ensuing Beis Shammai–Beis Hillel dispute, and then establishes נשים עבדים וקטנים as פטור from sukkah, deriving women’s exemptions and inclusions via הלכה למשה מסיני and אסמכתות, including converts for sukkah and women for תוספת עינוי on Yom Kippur. The sugya defines קטן שאינו צריך לאמו for chinuch and reports Shammai’s stringency of roofing an infant’s crib, and concludes with treating the sukkah as a דירת קבע, thresholds for leaving due to rain, and which utensils and learning rightly belong in the sukkah.
- The shiur is sponsored by Dr. David Lander in honor of his wife and children; לזכר נשמת גבריאל שמחה בן שניאור זלמן הלוי; by Henry Orlinsky לעילוי נשמת his father מנחם יצחק בן יעקב ישראל, a Holocaust survivor whose יארצייט is שבת; by the Virtual הלכה program under רב נבנצל שליט"א; and for רפואה שלמה for נעמי מלכה שרה בת טובה ריבא לאה. The shiur frames Sukkah 28 as moving from Rabbi Eliezer’s conduct, to five hanhagos of Rabbi Eliezer, to ten hanhagos of Rabban Yochanan ben Zakkai, to Hillel haZaken’s eighty students, then to the Mishnah on ראשו ורובו בסוכה ושלחנו בתוך הבית and נשים עבדים וקטנים, and finally to living in a *sukkah* as a דירת קבע, rain, utensils, and learning.
- Rabbi Eliezer stays in the Upper Galilee in the *sukkah* of Yochanan ben Rabbi Ilai in Caesarea/Caesarion; when asked if a cloth may be spread over the *sukkah* for shade, he answers with statements about each tribe’s judges and prophets, and when the host finally spreads the cloth, Rabbi Eliezer leaves. The narrative attributes his refusal not to evasion but to his hanhagah that he never said anything he had not heard from his teachers. The Gemara resolves contradictions to Rabbi Eliezer’s stringent views by establishing the episode as not on Sukkos (or not on a festival) and distinguishes cases of adding to an ohel on Shabbos via window-shutter criteria, limiting prohibition to cases of permanent nullification. The Aruch LaNer explains that Rabbi Eliezer’s cryptic replies hint to following the majority, encourage the host’s capacity to rule, and suggest reliance on Heaven’s protection akin to a נביא.
- Rabbi Eliezer answers thirty questions on *hilchos sukkah* only with “שמעתי” or “לא שמעתי,” with two versions whether twelve or eighteen were “שמעתי,” and he insists all his teachings derive from received tradition. Pressed to say something not received, he instead lists five hanhagos: no one preceded him to the *beis midrash*; he never slept there, not even a brief nap; he never left before anyone else; he never engaged in *sichas cholin*; and he never said anything not from his teachers. Ben Yehoyada explains that listing the other hanhagos demonstrates his broad exposure and qualification to answer despite his restraint to tradition, and the Metivta cites that he refrained even from the elevated “*sichas cholin* of Talmidei Chachamim” out of love of Torah or humility.
- The ten hanhagos of Rabban Yochanan ben Zakkai are recorded: he never engaged in *sichas cholin*; he never walked four amos without Torah and without tefillin; no one preceded him to the *beis midrash*; he never slept there, not even a brief nap; he never contemplated Torah in filthy alleyways; he never left anyone behind in the *beis midrash*; he was always found sitting and learning; he himself opened the door for his students; he never said anything not heard from his teachers; and he never declared “time to leave” the *beis midrash* except on Erev Pesach and Erev Yom Kippur. Sfas Emes reads “מימיו” as from the onset of his Torah leadership (or from when he began learning), and Rashi, Tosafos, Ritva, and Ran give reasons for leaving on Erev Pesach (Korban Pesach, children’s wakefulness on the Seder night, and matzah preparation), while Yirchon Or notes the post-chorban applicability supports the matzah reason. The apparent tension between never saying what he had not heard and unparalleled chiddushim is reconciled by Rav Schachter’s observation about Rav Soloveitchik: foundational yesodos stem from one’s teachers while applications can be profoundly novel.
- Hillel haZaken has eighty students: thirty are ראויים שתשרה עליהן שכינה כמשה רבינו, thirty are ראויים שתעמוד להם חמה כיהושע בן נון, and twenty are בינונים; the greatest is Yonasan ben Uziel and the smallest is Rabban Yochanan ben Zakkai. Ben Yehoyada explains that “ראויים” marks worthiness without actual prophetic attainment post–Chaggai, Zechariah, and Malachi, or that it denotes רוח הקודש rather than Moshe’s unique prophecy; Aruch LaNer distinguishes Yehoshua’s sun-stopping by command from Moshe’s miracle done to instill fear among nations. Rabban Yochanan ben Zakkai is said to have left nothing unattended, spanning Mikra, Mishnah, Gemara, *halacha*, Aggadah, דקדוקי תורה ודקדוקי סופרים, קלים וחמורים, גזירה שווה, תקופות, גמטריאות, שיחת מלאכי השרת, שיחת שדים, שיחת דקלים, משלות כובסים, משלות שועלים, and both דבר גדול מעשה מרכבה and דבר קטן הויות דאביי ורבא, fulfilling להנחיל אוהבי יש ואוצרותיהם אמלא. Yonasan ben Uziel burns any bird flying above while he learns, which Rashi attributes to מלאכי השרת gathering to hear Torah and Tosafos likens to Sinai’s fire, paralleling a Midrash where fire surrounded Rabbi Eliezer and Rabbi Yehoshua at a meal; Rav Schachter relates an experiential sense of מלאכי השרת attending Rav Soloveitchik’s shiur.
- The Mishnah states that one whose ראשו ורובו are in the *sukkah* and whose table is in the house—ראשו ורובו בסוכה ושלחנו בתוך הבית—faces Beis Shammai’s invalidation and Beis Hillel’s validation. Beis Hillel cites an episode where the elders of Beis Shammai and Beis Hillel visited Rabbi Yochanan ben haChoranit and found him sitting that way and said nothing, while Beis Shammai answers that they told him that if so, לא קיימת מצות סוכה מימיך. Tosafos (on 3a) and Ran debate whether Chachamim can define noncompliance so far as to negate even the de’oraisa fulfillment, or whether the phrase means merely failure to perform כראוי. The Gemara in Eruvin 13b establishes אלו ואלו דברי אלוהים חיים with practical halacha like Beis Hillel due to their humility and presentation of Beis Shammai’s view first, reflected by Beis Hillel’s phrasing that mentions זקני בית שמאי before זקני בית הלל.
- The Mishnah rules נשים עבדים וקטנים פטורין מן הסוכה. Tosafos (Pesachim 108b) answers the “אף הן היו באותו הנס” argument by limiting it to derabbanan obligations (or making it only a derabbanan chiyuv for de’oraisa mitzvos), while Tosafos in Megillah cites Rabbeinu Yosef Ish Yerushalayim implying a possible de’oraisa obligation; another approach states that a special הלכה למשה מסיני exempts women from *sukkah*, and Chachamim refrain from imposing a countervailing obligation. The sugya then treats קטן שאינו צריך לאמו as obligated for *sukkah* via chinuch.
- The derashos read אזרח/האזרח/כל in Vayikra as marbeh and mema’et, while Rava explains these as אסמכתות to a הלכה למשה מסיני. Abaye requires a special exclusion for women despite כללי כל מצות עשה שהזמן גרמה נשים פטורות, due to a hava amina from “teshvu ke’ein taduru” that would make *sukkah* like one’s dwelling—man and wife together. Rava adds a separate hava amina to obligate women by the חמשה עשר–חמשה עשר linkage from Pesach, since women are obligated in matzah via the *hekesh* from חמץ—כל שישנו בבל תאכל חמץ ישנו בקום אכול מצה—and therefore a chiddush is needed to exempt women in *sukkah*. The verse also includes גרים in *sukkah*, and Rav Yehuda amar Rav, and the Tanna deBei Rabbi Yishmael, derive women’s inclusion in Yom Kippur punishments from איש או אשה; a verse is nonetheless needed to include women in תוספת עינוי, since that aspect lacks explicit עונש ואזהרה and could be treated like a זמן גרמא aseh.
- The word כל is read to include קטנים, reconciled with the Mishnah’s exemption by distinguishing קטן שהגיע לחינוך from one who has not, and labeling the verse an אסמכתא for the derabbanan chinuch obligation. The sugya defines קטן שאינו צריך לאמו either as a child who can relieve himself without his mother cleaning him (Beis Rabbi Yannai) or one who wakes from sleep and does not call “ima ima” (Reish Lakish, refined to a repeated call). The episode of Shammai the Elder’s daughter-in-law giving birth and Shammai removing plaster to thatch over the crib is preserved as a stringency for chinuch even at the youngest ages, introduced via חסורי מחסרא to avoid contradicting the baseline exemption.
- The Mishnah instructs that one must make his *sukkah* a דירת קבע during the week of Sukkos and defines the measure of rain that justifies leaving the *sukkah*. The Gemara assigns that nice utensils are brought into the *sukkah* while certain types of study are appropriately conducted in the *sukkah* and others specifically outside, in line with treating the *sukkah* as one’s dwelling.
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