Sukkah 004

21:
We must now ask ourselves why Rabbi Yehudah bar-Ilai did not accept the 20 cubit limit on the height of a sukkah. It seems that he was basing himself on a perceived precedent.

22:
Over the years I have mentioned here several times that during the first and second centuries of the common era there was a distinct interest among non-Jews concerning the Jewish religion. A considerable number of Romans and Greeks, especially from the aristocracy and the governing classes, showed an interest in converting to Judaism. (According to one source the nephew of the emperor Hadrian became a Jew.) The basic teachings of Judaism about God and the universe made sense to thinking pagans who were no longer able to accept the Olympian deities. The number of female converts was much larger than the number of males who converted simply because circumcision was still viewed in Roman society as 'just not done' and 'barbaric'. Many people, therefore, were 'interested' in Judaism without actually converting: they attended synagogue and so forth, but did not actually join the Jewish people. (Paul of Tarsus found such people fruitful ground in which to sow his new religious teachings.)

23:
However, as mentioned, there was also a large number of true converts. Around the year 30 CE Helene, the queen of the small kingdom of Adiabene, in what is now Iraq, converted to Judaism together with many of her subjects. She established a presence in Eretz-Israel. Just a few years ago archaeologists digging in the 'City of David' site in Jerusalem discovered what must have been Queen Helene's mansion. It was identified by coins, frescoes, pottery and so forth. Also, there was a private mikveh (ritual bath) in the basement.

24:
By now you must be asking yourself what all this has to do with Rabbi Yehudah's ruling that a sukkah can be higher than 20 cubits. Everything that Queen Helene did in Eretz-Israel was done splendidly. She gave expensive donations to the Bet Mikdash, she gave largesse to the impoverished and so forth. Her mansion was certainly a minor palace. Of course, during the festival of sukkot she had to have a sukkah — and her sukkah had to be royally impressive. The Gemara [Sukkah 2b] records that the sukkah that she built for herself in the city of Lod was higher than 20 cubits! Not only that, but we are told than many of the sages paid courtesy visits to her in her sukkah during the festival and never said a word about it being too high — and therefore invalid. On the contrary, they sat in it!

25:
So Rabbi Yehudah holds that what was good enough for Queen Helene of Adiabene should be good enough for anyone else. The Torah does not limit the height of a sukkah, so why should the sages do so? The response of the sages was not exactly politically correct: Helene was a queen, a Jew and a lover of Israel; but she was also a woman, and women are excused the mitzvah of sitting in a sukkah. So it mattered not at all to the sages how high her sukkah was. (The Gemara also deals with the fact that the sages themselves sat in her sukkah, but I will not bore you with the details.)

26:
The second clause of the first part of our mishnah is concerned with three other regulations concerning a sukkah: it must be at least ten handbreaths high, it must have at least three sides, and the amount of sunlight which the s^ekhakh lets in must be less than the amount of shade that it affords.

27:
Since there were 6 handbreadths in a cubit it follows that ten handbreadths are a little more than 80 centimetres (something in excess of two and one half feet). Clearly, no one of standard proportions would be able to reside in a sukkah smaller than that! In his commentary on our mishnah Rabbi Ovadyah of Bertinoro says quite succinctly:

There were sages, indeed, who held that a sukkah could be smaller provided that it could house most of a person's head and body — even if the table from which he ate had to be outside. It follows that there were in Eretz-Israel people who were so impoverished that they could not even build a reasonably-sized sukkah for themselves — the very antipode of Queen Helene!

28:
A sukkah cannot just be an awning. That is to say that although the s^ekhakh (the thatched roofing) is the most important part of the sukkah it is by no means sufficient. A sukkah must also have walls, called in Hebrew defanot — 'sides'. A sukkah does not have to have four walls: three is sufficient. Actually, even 'two and one half' walls are sufficient! A useful mnemonic for this is the spelling of the Hebrew word 'sukkah'. In the Torah this word is spelled with three letters: samekh, khaf and heh. The letter samekh represents four sides; the letter khaf represents three sides; and the letter heh represents two and one half sides.

29:
We have already seen that the original purpose of the s^ekhakh was to afford shade from the heat of the sun. Therefore, the thatching must be made in such a manner that it will keep the sun off the heads of the people sitting in the sukkah. While, of course, some sunlight must be let in by the thatch nevertheless the amount of shade it affords must exceed the amount of sunlight that it lets in. Furthermore, when measuring the amount of shade it is important that one measure from the ground part of the sukkah where people sit; right underneath the s^ekhakh the shade might well be greater than down below.

30:
We shall give more details concerning the s^ekhakh and the 'defanot' in our next shiur, God willing.

To be continued.