Sukkah 2a-b

The first

Mishnah in

Masechet

Sukkah opens with some basic rules about how a

sukkah should be erected. If the walls are too tall - over 20 amot
(cubits)
high - the

Tanna Kamma (=first) rules that the sukkah cannot be used, a
ruling disputed by

Rabbi Yehudah.

One of the proof-texts that Rabbi Yehudah brings to support his position
is a story about

Heleni ha-Malkah,
whose sukkah was taller than 20 amot high, yet the Sages who came
to visit her never commented that there was any problem with her sukkah.
In response to a potential argument that, as a woman, Queen Heleni was not
obligated in the commandment of dwelling in a sukkah, Rabbi Yehudah
points out that she had seven sons - at least one of whom would be obligated on
an educational level at the very least - and we know that she always followed
the regulations of the Sages.

Heleni was the queen of

Adiabene, a small kingdom in the north of Syria on the banks of the

Euphrates. In the generation prior to the destruction of the

Second Temple, Heleni, together with her sons Monbaz and Izates, began to
study

Torah with Jews who traveled through their kingdom, and eventually converted
to Judaism. It appears that other members of the ruling elite did so as well.
Heleni visited

Jerusalem a number of times and made donations both to the

Temple and to the destitute people living in Israel. Her children followed
in her footsteps, and even sent troops to support the Jewish uprising during the

Great Revolt.

It appears that she and other members of her royal family are buried in
some of the ornate burial chambers in Jerusalem. As is mentioned in several
places in the

Talmud, Heleni was a giyoret tzedek - a sincere convert to Judaism -
who accepted upon herself the constraints of

halakhah as taught by the Sages.

Sukkah 3a-b

Aside from the discussion in the

Mishnah with regard to the height of a

sukkah, there is also a need to define the minimum size of a sukkah.
The

Gemara on our daf (=page) presents a discussion between

Bet Hillel and Bet Shammai, in which they agree that it must be large enough
to fit a person's head and the majority of his body (rosho ve-rubo),
but they disagree on whether there is cause for concern that he will lean out of
the sukkah if the table is placed outside. According to Bet

Hillel this is not something that we fear will happen; so as long as
rosho ve-rubo fit, the sukkah is fine. Bet

Shammai rules that this is a concern, so we must make the sukkah
large enough to contain the table, as well.

Another opinion quoted is that of

Rabbi Yehudah ha-Nassi, who believes that the sukkah must be four

cubits by four cubits.

This discussion leads the Gemara to quote a


baraita that limits the significance
of buildings smaller than four by four amot (cubits). Among other things,
such a structure would not need a

mezuzah, nor could it be used to house the

eruv that permits carrying between houses or courtyards, or to connect
two nearby cities to one another for the purposes of permitting travel between
the two on

Shabbat (eruv
hatzerot). In this way, the Gemara points out that such a small building
does not even have the status of

burganin.

Burganin are booths used by watchmen on
the roads. Some of them were well constructed and were used as defensive
positions for the military. The guards lived in these structures, guarded the
fields and delivered reports and messages to the government. Other burganin
were poorly made and were no more than shacks on the side of the road. The
source for the word burganin may be Greek in origin, but it is likely
from the German "Burg" meaning "fortress" or "small settlement." The term was
carried on the lips of Roman soldiers who were stationed on the border with
Germany throughout the Roman Empire - even to the language of the

Talmudic Sages.

The significance of these structures for
Jewish law relates to the fact that, on Shabbat, a person is limited in his
ability to travel more than 2000 amot outside of his city. When deciding
where the edge of the city lies, however, if they are close enough (about 70
amot) to the city, buildings like these can be considered part of the city,
thus allowing one to walk significantly further away from the city limits on
Shabbat.

Sukkah 4a-b

The first

Mishnah in the perek, or chapter, (see

2a) taught that a

sukkah whose walls are more than 20 amot (=cubits)
high is not a valid sukkah. The

Gemara on our daf (=page) teaches that if the walls are too high, it
can be rectified by building a platform, extending from one wall to the next,
that is, by itself, large enough to be a valid sukkah. By doing this, we
effectively lower the walls of the sukkah to less than 20 amot (see
diagram 1).

The Gemara follows this ruling with three other examples of cases where a
sukkah whose walls are not the right height can be fixed by manipulating
the height of the floor:

1. 
   When a platform is built on one side of a sukkah that has three walls
   taller than 20 amot (see
   diagram 2). In this case, the platform must reach to within four amot
   of the opposite wall so that that wall will be considered part of the
   sukkah.


2. 
   When a platform is built in the middle of such a sukkah (see
   diagram 3). In this case there must be less than four amot
   between the platform and the walls on both sides so that those walls will be
   considered part of the sukkah.


3. 
   When the sukkah is too short (i.e. less than 10
   
   tefahim, or handbreadths, high) and an area is dug out so that there
   is enough room for the appropriate height to be reached (see
   diagram 4). In this case the hole in the floor must be within three
   tefahim of the walls.

The operating principle behind these rulings is dofen akumah - a
crooked wall. The exact definition of this term is unclear. Some of the

rishonim, including

Rashi, the

Me'iri, the

Ritva and others, explain that when the valid sukkah reaches close
enough to the wall, we consider it as though the wall continues horizontally at
the top, perceiving the

skhakh as part of the wall. Another explanation is that we consider the
wall to have moved from its place, as though it reached the skhakh at the
point where the sukkah was valid (according to this understanding, some
of the skhakh will be viewed as being on the "other side" of the wall).

In any case, dofen akumah is one of many legal fictions that are
permitted by the Sages in creating valid walls for a sukkah

Sukkah 5a-b

In a

midrashic analysis of the source for the minimum acceptable height of a

sukkah (ten

tefahim), the

Gemara looks to the height of the

aron - the ark containing the

luhot ha-berit (the tablets of the covenant) - which was ten tefahim
high. It is clear from the Biblical description that the aron was nine
tefahim high; the additional tefah was the height of the

kaporet that covered the aron.

Our Gemara seeks to find a source for the fact that the kaporet
was one tefah high, which it derives from a comparison of the kaporet
- which does not have a specific size mentioned in the

Torah - to other utensils used in the

Mishkan.

One of the High Priest's accoutrements in the Temple was the

tzitz, the golden plate worn as part of his bigdei kehunah
(priestly garments), but the Gemara says that it cannot be used as a source for
the size of the kaporet because, as part of the

kohen gadol's uniform, it was not one considered to be one of the
utensils of the Mishkan.

We know details about the appearance of the tzitz thanks to

Rabbi Elazar b'Rabbi Yossi, who testified that he had the opportunity to
examine it during a visit to Rome.  He describes it as having the words

Kodesh la-Shem on a single line, as opposed to the opinions in the


baraita that describes it as having the word Kodesh on the
bottom and la-Shem on the top.

Rabbi Elazar was the son of the

tanna

Rabbi Yossi ben Halafta and lived in the last generation before the
redaction of the

Mishnah by

Rabbi Yehudah ha-Nasi (for more on the compilation of the Mishnah, see
Chapter 6 of the new Thirtieth Anniversary Edition of Rabbi Steinsaltz’s

The Essential Talmud). Rabbi Elazar was, apparently, the greatest of
Rabbi Yossi's five sons and, already during his father's lifetime, he was
recognized and honored by his generation.

During a difficult period for the Jews, Rabbi Elazar was, along with

Rabbi Shimon bar Yohai, part of a delegation to Rome that tried to get
decrees against the Jews rescinded. While in Rome they were miraculously given
the opportunity to heal the Caesar's daughter, who had fallen ill. After
successfully healing her, they were offered the change to examine the Caesar's
coffers, which included the spoils of the Roman victory and sacking of the

Land of Israel and the Temple. Rabbi Elazar's examination of the Temple
remains allowed him to return to the Sages with information about a number of
the utensils from the

mikdash, including the

parokhet, the tzitz, etc. In addition to his monumental translation and commentary on the Talmud, Rabbi Steinsaltz has authored dozens of books and hundreds of articles on a variety of topics, both Jewish and secular. For more information about Rabbi Steinsaltz's groundbreaking work in Jewish education, visit www.steinsaltz.org or contact the Aleph Society at 212-840-1166.