Succah 28a

סוכה כ״ח ע״א

Sukkah 28a

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Topic

The sheet-versus-shutter answer, the praise of רבי אליעזר, his teacher רבן יוחנן בן זכאי and הלל's students, and the new משניות about sitting in the סוכה and who is exempt.

Overview

This amud opens by finishing a question from the previous amud. The גמרא explains that a shutter becomes part of the building, but a sheet spread over a סוכה does not, because it is meant to be removed. It then tells how people in the Upper Galilee asked רבי אליעזר thirty questions about סוכה, and he answered only what he had heard from his teachers. When challenged, he described his habits, which he learned from his teacher רבן יוחנן בן זכאי. The גמרא praises רבן יוחנן בן זכאי as the 'smallest' of הלל's eighty students, yet a master of every kind of Torah wisdom. From there it reasons that the greatest student, יונתן בן עוזיאל, was greater still. A new משנה follows, in which בית שמאי and בית הלל argue about someone whose table is in the house, and the משנה then teaches that נשים, עבדים and קטנים are exempt from סוכה. The גמרא looks for the source of the exemption in the word הָאֶזְרָח and raises a contradiction from יום כפור, which רבה answers by calling both rules הלכות. Finally it asks why any source is needed at all, and that challenge continues on the next amud.

Opening lines

The steps (24)

1. ResolutionShutter vs. sheet: one is permanent, one is not
2. Statementרבי אליעזר is asked thirty questions about סוכה
3. StatementA reversed version of the numbers
4. QuestionThe people challenge רבי אליעזר
5. Responseרבי אליעזר describes his lifelong habits
6. StatementThe habits of רבן יוחנן בן זכאי
7. Conclusionרבי אליעזר followed his teacher's ways
8. Statementהלל's eighty students and their levels
9. StatementEverything רבן יוחנן בן זכאי mastered
10. StatementExplaining the 'great matter' and the 'small matter'
11. ConclusionIf the smallest was like this, how much more the greatest
12. StatementNew משנה: head and most of the body in the סוכה, table in the house
13. Proofבית הלל's proof from the visit to רבי יוחנן בן החורנית
14. Rejectionבית שמאי reject the proof: they did object
15. StatementNew משנה: who is exempt from סוכה
16. StatementThe story of שמאי הזקן and the newborn
17. QuestionWhat is the source for the exemptions?
18. ResponseA ברייתא learns it from the word 'the homeborn'
19. ChallengeA contradiction from יום כפור
20. Resolutionרבה: They are traditions merely hinted in the verses
21. QuestionWhich one is from the verse and which from tradition?
22. ChallengeWhy is any source needed at all?
23. ChallengeFasting on יום כפור Already Has Its Own Source
24. ProofThe Source: "A Man or a Woman"