10
votes
Accepted
Vilna Gaon's gematria for the number of kosher & non-kosher sukkot in Masechet Sukkah
It's apparently an oral tradition relating to one of the students of the Vilna Gaon, Rabbi Yisrael of Shklov. The more complete story is recounted here in Hebrew. It begins like this:
הגאון רבי ...
- 16k
6
votes
Was there an Eruv in Jerusalem while the Temple stood?
In your question you assume there was an eruv in Yerushalayim, and therefore find it difficult to understand why they would not carry the Korban Pesach home until night, and why they would bring the 4 ...
- 6,183
6
votes
Source for adjusting the calendar for Lo Ad'u Rosh rule
Sukkah 43b does indeed briefly discuss it:
אינהו דידעי בקיבועא דירחא לידחי כי אתא בר הדיא אמר לא איקלע
They [in Eretz Yisrael] who know the establishment of the months, let [Aravah] push off [...
- 34.6k
6
votes
Accepted
A place with illustrations of Gemara Sukkah?
Check out the Peirush Chai on Masechta Succah here - it is a really helpful sefer to best illustrate the cases that come throughout the masechta.
- 33.9k
6
votes
Accepted
"Karka Einah Nigzeles" (land can't be stolen) - really?
The gemara in Bava Kamma 117b brings a machlokes between R' Elazar and the Sages.
If someone steals (gozel) a field, what happens if the field is then flooded? R' Elazar holds that the thief must ...
- 11k
6
votes
What is Rebbi Yehuda's source for allowing a succah to be above 20 amos?
I think you are misunderstanding the line of דאורייתא תני פסולה מבוי דרבנן תני תקנתא.
Here is the passage in context:
Succah 2a
תנן התם מבוי שהוא גבוה מעשרים אמה ימעט רבי יהודה אומר אינו צריך מאי
...
- 49.9k
6
votes
Diagram showing the place where the wine offerings of the whole year collected and its relationship to the altar in the Temple
Yes if you look at the Perush Chai here it has a clear diagram:
In addition, the Machon Hamikdash website features a write up on both the שיתין and the לול with artistic renderings which might ...
- 33.9k
5
votes
Does Torah mention actual living in Sukkot?
No, the Torah does not mention explicitly that the Jews built actual Succot. (If it had, there wouldn’t be an argument as to whether the Jews had real Sukkot or Sukkot made from the Ananei Hakavod). ...
- 4,796
5
votes
Accepted
Queen Heleni was married to her brother--but I thought she kept all the derabanans
Here is the relevant text from Josephus (Antiquities of the Jews, Book 20, ch. 2):
"About this time it was that Helena, queen of Adiabene, and her son Izates, changed their course of life, and ...
- 26.9k
5
votes
Hadas fruit tastes like tree
Ritva (c. 1300 Spain) changes the girsa: the defining feature is not fruit tasting like wood, but rather the branches cover the wood.
Rashash (19th century Lithuania): Read the word "anaf" ...
- 547
4
votes
Accepted
Why is a suka forbidden for other uses all the eighth day, but an esrog is permitted after use?
This is a list of things which are Ossur behanaa (forbidden for benefit) for ever. in Talmud-Gemara Avoda zara 74a:
מתני' אלו אסורין ואוסרין בכל שהו יין נסך ועבודת כוכבים ועורות לבובין ושור הנסקל ...
- 11.5k
4
votes
A place with illustrations of Gemara Sukkah?
Both the Mesivta and Veshinantam Gemaras have color plates in the back that illustrate these and many other things throughout the masechta. (The ones from Veshinantam are also available on the Daf ...
- 10.1k
4
votes
Sukkos and Chanukah Connection
According to Macabees 2 chapter 1 verse 21 it looks like that year they did not celebrate Sukkot on time until Kislev
כא) ועתה כי יש את נפשנו לחוג את יום חנוכת המזבח בעשרים וחמש לחודש
כסלו. לא ...
- 352
3
votes
What is a Dofen Akuma?
If there are less than 4 amos of invalid sechach (but not air) between the top of the wall and the valid sechach, halocho lemoshe misinai considers the invalid sechach as an extension of the wall (...
- 48.4k
3
votes
What is learned from the story in Succah 2.7?
You seem to have left out the key step in your summary of the story:
ולא אמרו לו דבר
And they didn't say anything to him.
Beit Hillel apparently did not know the end of the story (or disputed it); ...
- 49.9k
3
votes
How a Succah deserves to be made of waste?
I think you're misinterpreting the waste of the threshing floor and of the winepress.
It's not referring to the left-over chaff and wine peels! If nothing else because they are unfit to cover a Sukka -...
- 44.1k
3
votes
Accepted
Sasson and Simcha: What in the world is going on?
Rabbi Belovski has a shiur on this here. The Shem Mishmuel has a detailed explanation where I think the sugya is discussing the relationship between momentary joy and long term inculcated happiness, ...
- 575
3
votes
Why is Beis Hillel before Beis Shammai in Mishna Sukkah?
It looks like the תוי"ט addresses this question in the second part of his comment here:
ובית שמאי אומרים אף באנא הצליחה נא. ...ולפי שב"ש באו להוסיף על דברי בית הלל. סדרם אחריהם וכן במשנה ה' ...
- 2,065
3
votes
Accepted
Onen eating outside sukkah
The Shulchan Aruch in Yoreh Deah 341:1 writes that there is no aninus on shabbos or yom tov(except marital relations which is forbidden). However, if they would go near the techum towards the end of ...
- 42.5k
2
votes
Queen Heleni was married to her brother--but I thought she kept all the derabanans
The Rambam (Issurei Biah 14:10 and Melachim 9:5, based on Sanhedrin 58a-b) writes that brother-sister relations among Bnei Noach are forbidden only if they share the same mother. Accordingly, in ...
- 10.1k
2
votes
What is learned from the story in Succah 2.7?
Some context must be provided to try to answer your question:
Mishna 28b states: כל שבעת הימים אדם עושה סוכתו קבע וביתו עראי. The Rabbis further taught Baraisa 28b that states: ת”ר כל שבעת הימים אדם ...
- 47
2
votes
Superfluous Rashi in Sukkah 52b?
Compare with the Rashi in proximity, which labels others as tzadikim. There are people who are included in these two lists, of shepherds and princes, for different reasons. Yishai, for instance, was a ...
- 21k
2
votes
Accepted
Is a mitzvah fulfilled if its fulfillment is based on an averah?
While this is a complex topic, here are the major details:
Can a mitzvah be called fulfilled even if it is built on an averah?
No
A stolen Lulav is invalid on the second day of Sukkot. The reason ...
- 2,107
2
votes
Accepted
How many Menoros were there by the Simchas Bais HaShoeva
The Maharil (Hilchos Sukkos) is quoted as saying that there were four menoros. However, Amudei Yerushalayim (on Yerushalmi Sukkah 5:2) points out that there doesn't seem to be a source for that. (...
- 10.1k
1
vote
Why is height the determining factor for the the blessing on the Lulav?
My Rebbe explained to me that the size requirement for the arba minim (and other things) is a requirement of chashivus. (That is why the lulav of an ir hanidachas is passul: since it must be burned it ...
- 9,392
1
vote
Why a round Succah is not Dirat Kevah (permanent dwelling)?
Rabbeinu Chananel explains Acheirim is only invalidating a circular dovecot which is too small to fit 4x4 amos square (dovecots seem to be generally smaller circular structures than even the minimum-...
- 11.5k
1
vote
Accepted
Why can't you buy water for ma'aser sheni?
I am not sure I understood the deepness of the question. But the Rash quotes the Gemara Eruvin 27b in which the exclusion of water and salt for maaser sheni is learned from drashot. One of them is ...
- 23k
1
vote
How a Succah deserves to be made of waste?
That opinion in the gemara isn't telling us that a Sukkah "deserves" to be made out of waste; rather said drasha is being used to teach us the nature of what can serve as s'chach for a Sukkah. Namely, ...
- 12.2k
1
vote
Are Beis Shammi and Beis Hillel really arguing about the minimum size of a succah or dwellability?
They are not arguing regarding the 1) smallest size succah (6x6 and 7x7 tefachim) or 2) the manner in which a person eats in a succah. They are arguing about one point only in both a small and large ...
- 47
Only top scored, non community-wiki answers of a minimum length are eligible