Gemara Clarity

Succah 44a

סוכה מ״ד ע״א

Sukkah 44a

Learn Succah 44a step by step: Aramaic beside English, every question, answer and proof colour-coded.

Open Succah 44a in Gemara Clarity

Topic

לולב on שבת today, why לולב but not ערבה is done seven days זכר למקדש, and the source and status of the ערבה מצוה

Overview

The גמרא first rules that today, even in ארץ ישראל, the לולב does not override שבת. It reinterprets two sources about bringing לולבים on ערב שבת so that both describe the time of the מקדש. Then אביי asks רבא why we take the לולב all seven days זכר למקדש but not the ערבה. רבא's first answer is rejected. רב זביד then says in רבא's name that לולב is דאורייתא and ערבה is דרבנן. That wording is attacked, because for both אבא שאול and the רבנן the ערבה of the מקדש is more than rabbinic. So it is re-worded: the לולב has a written Torah root even in the גבולין, while the ערבה does not. Next, ריש לקיש rules that blemished כהנים may enter for the ערבה, and רבי יוחנן questions how and by whom the מצוה is done. Finally, the גמרא sorts out רבי יוחנן's conflicting statements on whether the ערבה is from סיני, a יסוד נביאים, or the חכמים' own enactment. The last answer begins with לא קשיא and continues on the next amud.

Opening lines

אָמְרִי:

They say:

לְדִידְהוּ נָמֵי לָא דָּחֵי.

For them (in Eretz Yisrael) also, it does not override Shabbat.

וְאֶלָּא קַשְׁיָא הָנֵי תַּרְתֵּי;

But then these two (sources) are difficult;

דְּתָנָא חֲדָא:

for one source teaches:

The steps (21)

  1. StatementEven in ארץ ישראל, the לולב does not override שבת today
  2. ChallengeChallenge from the two sources about where the לולבים are brought
  3. ResolutionBoth sources refer to when the מקדש stood: one in the מקדש, one in the outlying towns
  4. Questionאביי asks why לולב is taken seven days but ערבה is not
  5. Responseרבא: we already fulfill with the ערבה inside the לולב
  6. Challengeאביי: that ערבה is taken for the לולב מצוה, not for the ערבה מצוה
  7. RejectionLifting the bundle a second time is not the practice
  8. Resolutionרב זביד: לולב is דאורייתא, ערבה is דרבנן
  9. ChallengeWhose view is it? Not אבא שאול, who learns the ערבה from a verse
  10. ChallengeNot the רבנן either, since for them ערבה is a הלכה למשה מסיני
  11. ResolutionRe-wording: the לולב has an explicit Torah source, the ערבה does not
  12. Statementריש לקיש: blemished כהנים may enter between the אולם and the מזבח for the ערבה
  13. Challengeרבי יוחנן asks: who said so?
  14. ChallengeBut רבי יוחנן himself taught that ערבה is a הלכה למשה מסיני
  15. ResolutionHis doubt was about the details: carrying versus standing up, and blemished versus unblemished
  16. StatementTwo אמוראים argue: ordinance or custom of the נביאים
  17. ProofProving that רבי יוחנן holds it is a prophetic ordinance
  18. Challengeרבי זירא asks: didn't רבי יוחנן call it a law from Sinai?
  19. ResolutionIt was forgotten, and the prophets re-established it
  20. ChallengeA third statement: רבי יוחנן calls it a rabbinic practice
  21. ResolutionBeginning the answer: it is not a contradiction