Succah 21a

סוכה כ״א ע״א

Sukkah 21a

Learn Succah 21a step by step: Aramaic beside English, every question, answer and proof colour-coded.

Open Succah 21a in Gemara Clarity

Topic

Whether רבי יהודה holds that only a man-made אהל counts as an אהל for טומאת מת. The גמרא gives his source and then challenges it from the oxen used in the פרה אדומה procedure.

Overview

רבי יהודה learns from a גזירה שוה with the משכן that only a man-made אהל counts for טומאת מת. The רבנן instead read the repeated word אהל as a ריבוי that includes any covering. The גמרא challenges רבי יהודה from a משנה in מסכת פרה. In that משנה, pure children rode on doors placed on oxen to fetch water from the שילוח, and a ברייתא quotes רבי יהודה saying they used only oxen, with no doors. That seems to show him relying on the ox's body, which no person made, as an אהל. רב דימי answers in the name of רבי אלעזר: רבי יהודה agrees that a natural covering counts once it is a fistbreadth, and a ברייתא about caves and rock cavities supports this. The גמרא then asks why doors, which are several fists wide, were excluded. אביי answers that doors were simply unnecessary. רבא answers that doors were avoided because a child on a wide door might stick out a limb and become טמא.

Opening lines

The steps (12)

1. Responseרבי יהודה's source: the אהל of the משכן
2. ResponseThe רבנן's reading: the repeated word includes more
3. ChallengeDoes רבי יהודה really hold this? A contradiction is raised
4. ProofPure courtyards in Jerusalem for raising children
5. ProofChildren ride on doors atop oxen to fetch water
6. Proofרבי יהודה: only oxen, no doors
7. ChallengeOxen are not man-made, yet רבי יהודה uses them as a tent
8. Resolutionרבי יהודה agrees once the covering is a fistbreadth
9. ProofA ברייתא supports this from caves and rock cavities
10. ChallengeA door is bigger than a fist, so why reject doors?
11. Resolutionאביי: the doors were simply not needed
12. Resolutionרבא: doors were avoided so the child would not stick out a limb