Succah 42a

סוכה מ״ב ע״א

Sukkah 42a

Learn Succah 42a step by step: Aramaic beside English, every question, answer and proof colour-coded.

Open Succah 42a in Gemara Clarity

Topic

רבי יוסי's exemption for one who errs while busy with a מצוה, then handling the לולב on שבת and the stages of a child's חינוך

Overview

The amud opens with רבי יוסי's ruling from the משנה: someone who forgot it was שבת and carried his לולב into the public domain is exempt, because he was busy with a מצוה. The גמרא limits this to a case where he had not yet fulfilled the מצוה. It explains how that can happen: אביי says he held the לולב upside down, and רבא says he carried it in a כלי, which is a degrading way of holding it and does not count as taking. Next, רב הונא reports that רבי יוסי also exempts a כהן who ate an עולת העוף thinking it was a חטאת העוף. This teaches that the exemption applies even when no מצוה was actually done. A ברייתא seems to show רבי יוסי holding liable someone who slaughtered an uninspected תמיד on שבת. The answer is that this was a careless mistake, since he took the animal from the chamber of uninspected animals. A new משנה then teaches that a woman may take the לולב and return it to water on שבת, and that a קטן who knows how to shake it is obligated. The גמרא explains why the woman's case needed to be said. It then brings a ברייתא listing the stages at which a child begins each מצוה and status: לולב, ציצית, תפילין, learning תורה and קריאת שמע, טהרה, ספק טומאה, and receiving תרומה.

Opening lines

The steps (23)

1. StatementThe exemption applies only before he fulfilled the מצוה
2. ChallengeLifting the לולב already fulfills the מצוה
3. Resolutionאביי: he held it upside down
4. Resolutionרבא: he carried it inside a vessel
5. Challengeרבא himself said taking through another object counts
6. ResolutionRespectful holding counts, degrading holding does not
7. Statementרב הונא: a priest who mistakenly ate a burnt-offering bird
8. ChallengeWhat does רב הונא add?
9. ResolutionHere he did not actually do any מצוה
10. ChallengeA ברייתא Where רבי יוסי Seems to Hold the Mistaken Person Liable
11. ResolutionThat Case Involved Taking From the Chamber of Uninspected Animals
12. Statementמשנה: Returning the לולב to Water on שבת, יום טוב, and חול המועד
13. StatementA Child Who Knows How to Shake Is Obligated in לולב
14. ChallengeIsn't the woman's permission obvious?
15. ResolutionThe woman's lack of obligation could have made it forbidden
16. StatementWhen a child begins different מצוות
17. QuestionWhich תורה does the father teach?
18. ResponseThe verse 'תורה צוה לנו משה'
19. QuestionHow much קריאת שמע?
20. ResponseOnly the first verse
21. StatementA child who guards his body or hands from טומאה
22. StatementA child who can be asked about a doubt of טומאה
23. StatementA child כהן who can bless the people receives תרומה