Sukkah 037
of the Rabbinical Assembly in Israel
RABIN MISHNAH STUDY GROUP
TRACTATE SUKKAH, CHAPTER FOUR, MISHNAHS SIX & SEVEN:
As it was performed on weekdays so was it performed on Shabbat, except that they would reap them on Friday and leave them in jugs of gold so that they would not wither. Rabbi Yoḥanan ben-Baroka says that they would bring bundles of palm branches, and they would thresh them on the ground at the sides of the altar and that day was called Bundle Threshing Day.
Immediately, youngsters would untie their lulavs and eat their etrogs.
EXPLANATIONS:
1:
The two mishnahs that are the subject of this shiur are the last in this chapter that deal with the ceremony of the willows. You will recall that each day of the festival of Sukkot they would bring branches of willows into the priestly courtyard where the priests would ceremonially walk round the altar chanting praises to God [see Sukkah 036].
2:
Since this ceremony was performed on each day of the festival, as we learned in mishnah 3, it follows that one of the seven days would have to be Shabbat. On Shabbat it is not permitted to reap the willows. So they would, instead, reap the willows for the ceremony on Friday and store them overnight in water in golden jugs, so that they would still be fresh for the ceremony the following day.
3:
Rabbi Yoḥanan ben-Baroka notes that there was an additional ceremony on the seventh (last) day of the festival. But this ceremony involved palm branches rather than willow branches. He relates that on this day palm branches were brought into the priests' courtyard and they were threshed on the floor of the court. A similar ceremony is part of the synagogue ritual on the seventh day of the festival to this day, except that it is willow branches that are threshed not palm branches. From the practical point of view it makes no difference since this view of Rabbi Yoḥanan ben-Baroka is not accepted halakhah.
4:
The ceremony in the priests' courtyard of the Bet Mikdash on the seventh day of the festival was the culmination of the festivities and also marked their end. Mishnah 7 notes that after this ceremony youngsters would pull the four species apart and eat the etrogs.
5:
This custom of the youngsters poses a problem for the halakhic commentators. The four species are required throughout the festival, which does not come to an end except towards evening on the seventh day, when the festival of Shemini Atzeret begins. So how could the youngsters dismember the four species and eat the etrog earlier in the day, in the morning?
6:
Rambam, in his commentary on mishnah 7, poses the problem and provides a resolution:
It is forbidden to eat the etrog on the seventh day because we have a rule that since something is forbidden for part of the day it is forbidden for all that day. That is why the mishnah refers to youngsters, who are not punctilious concerning what is permitted and what is forbidden.
In this resolution of the problem Rambam echoes the sages in the Gemara [Sukkah 46b].
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