BS”D
Sukkah 42a
Menachem Av 19, 5782. August 16, 2022
1- We began with an interesting comment by the ערוך לנר. Last week we encountered the story of Rabon Gamliel who spent 1,000 Zuz for an Esrog.
The Gemara says that the reason for mentioning this tidbit, is to show how much ‘they valued the Mitzvos’.
The obvious question is: who are the ‘they’? It was only Rabban Gamliel that shelled out this exorbitant sum.
Says the ערוך לנר, the only way this high sum was reached and paid for by Rabban Gamliel is if there were others also bidding on this Esrog! So there were many that were ready to pay a high price showing that they ‘valued the Mitzvos’.
2- We next learnt an interesting and detailed ברייתא. We discussed 3 items at length.
From Sefaria:
תַּנְיָא, רַבִּי אֶלְעָזָר בַּר צָדוֹק אוֹמֵר: כָּךְ הָיָה מִנְהָגָן שֶׁל אַנְשֵׁי יְרוּשָׁלַיִם, אָדָם יוֹצֵא מִבֵּיתוֹ — וְלוּלָבוֹ בְּיָדוֹ. הוֹלֵךְ לְבֵית הַכְּנֶסֶת — לוּלָבוֹ בְּיָדוֹ. קוֹרֵא קְרִיאַת שְׁמַע וּמִתְפַּלֵּל — וְלוּלָבוֹ בְּיָדוֹ. קוֹרֵא בַּתּוֹרָה וְנוֹשֵׂא אֶת כַּפָּיו — מַנִּיחוֹ עַל גַּבֵּי קַרְקַע. הוֹלֵךְ לְבַקֵּר חוֹלִים וּלְנַחֵם אֲבֵלִים — לוּלָבוֹ בְּיָדוֹ. נִכְנַס לְבֵית הַמִּדְרָשׁ — מְשַׁגֵּר לוּלָבוֹ בְּיַד בְּנוֹ, וּבְיַד עַבְדּוֹ, וּבְיַד שְׁלוּחוֹ.
It is taught in a baraita that Rabbi Elazar bar Tzadok says: This was the custom of the people of Jerusalem during the festival of Sukkot.
1- A person leaves his house, and his lulav is in his hand; he goes to the synagogue, and his lulav is in his hand; he recites Shema and prays, and his lulav is in his hand; he reads the Torah and a priest lifts his hands to recite the priestly benediction, and
2- he places it on the ground because he cannot perform those tasks while holding the lulav.
3- He goes to visit the ill or to console mourners, and his lulav is in his hand; he enters the study hall to study Torah, and he sends his lulav home in the hands of his son, in the hands of his slave, or in the hands of his agent.
1- When to be מקיים the מצווה of the ד’ מינים.
It seems (but not conclusive) from the ברייתא that they would be מקיים מצוות ד’ מינים before going to Shul.
The Shulchan Aruch, 644 including the Alter Rebbe say that it should be done right before הלל. Not before Davening.
תרמד סדר הלל כל ימי החג ובו סעיף אחד:
א אחר שחזר ש”ץ תפלת השחר נוטלין הלולב ומיניו א לקיים מצות עשה של תורה שנאמר ב ולקחתם לכם ביום הראשון וגו’ ומברכין על נטילת לולב ג ושהחיינו ד וסדר נטילתו וברכותיו וניענועו יתבאר בסי’ תרנ”א ה.
The Arizal said that we should be מקיים מצוות ד’ מינים in the Sukkah.
To accomplish both, meaning that the entire מנין to go to the Sukkkah after שמונה עשרה, says the Alter Rebbe in his Siddur we cannot do.
ומן הדין יש לברך על הלולב אחר התפלה קודם ההלל אלא לפי שמצות נטילתו בסוכה הוא מצוה מן המובחר ואי אפשר לצאת מבית הכנסת מפני הרואים לפיכך בבוקר קודם שיתפלל בעודו בסוכה יברך
[We discussed the wording מפני הרואים]
So the מנהג חב”ד is to Bentch early morning in the Sukkah. לפיכך בבוקר קודם שיתפלל בעודו בסוכה יברך.
See below * the Rebbe’s explanation that Bentching in the Sukkah is not only על פי סוד- from the Arizal, but also in נגלה.
2- Placing the Lulav on the ground.
Mosaic in Teveria
We mentioned the difference between תשמישי קדושה and תשמישי מצווה.
The first, תשמישי קדושה, includes object that have שם ה in them. Like Tefillin and a Sefer Torah.
Lulav and Tzitzis, for example, are of the lesser grade תשמישי מצווה.
See Megillah 26a. See here and Here.
תשמישי מצווה – נזרקין, תשמישי קדושה – נגנזין.
ואלו הן תשמישי מצווה: סוכה, לולב, שופר, ציצית.
ואלו הן תשמישי קדושה: דלוסקמי ספרים, תפילין ומזוזות ותיק של ספר תורה ונרתיק של תפילין ורצועותיהן.
YM asked about the רצועות of the Tefillin. See Tosfos in Megillah above and AR OC 42, 6.
May one place תשמישי מצווה , like a Lulav, on the ground not in a manner that will entail ביזוי ?
3- Visiting the sick and comforting the mourners
We mentioned the Rambam (Availus 14, 7) that if one has a case of ביקור חולים and ניחום אבלים one should go the be מנחם אבל first because ניחום אבלים comforts and is a חסד של אמת for both, the living and the dead.
יראה לי שנחמת אבלים קודם לבקור חולים. שנחום אבלים גמילות חסד עם החיים ועם המתים:
The אור שמח asks, according to the Ramban, why does our Gemara list לְבַקֵּר חוֹלִים וּלְנַחֵם אֲבֵלִים. He answers that on Yom Tov there is no Availus so ביקור חולים comes first.
We discussed Rav Betzalel Zolty note on this. More or less it goes like this: If there is no Availus on Yom Tov then why mention it in the ברייתא as something these אנשי ירושלים did on Sukkos?
He quotes the Gemara that if someone passes away and has no family that will sit Shiva, nevertheless, ‘ten people should gather and sit at his place’.
That is the חסד של אמת for the deceased.
So on Yom Tov, even though the חסד של אמת for the living is absent (since there is no אבילות on Yom Tov), the חסד של אמת for the deceased is present.
Therefore, the אנשי ירושלים, when encountering both ביקור חולים and ניחום אבלים on Sukkos they would go with their Lulav first to ביקור חולים to comfort the living and only then to be מנחם אבל which is for the deceased only (on Yom Tov).
3- We concluded, being that is was כ”ף מנחם אב, with a letter written by Reb Levi’k in 1936 to the Rebbe which touches on the topic of Sukka.
In short, using simple non Kabalistic terminology – Rosh Hashana and Sukkos are in a sense two sides of a coin as explained at length in Chassidus. Whereas on Rosh Hashanah (until Yom Kippur) the mood is somber, intense, serious, and focused, (גבורה- דין) On Sukkos it is relaxed, happy and joyous. Both types of עבודה accomplish the same results.
We come across, says Reb Levik, one similar theme in both: the numbers 4, 3 and 3.
On Rosh Hashanah the sequence of the Shofar tunes are
תשר”ת תש”ת תר”ת (see below **) similarly we find in Sukkos the same sequence in a crucial aspect of the actual Sukka.
As we learnt on Daf 6a, we know the minimum number of walls needed to create a Kosher Suka from the way the Torah writes the word סוכה. Twice as a 3 letter word and once as a four letter. (see below **).
So in Sukkah as well there is this number sequence, 4, 3, and 3.
With one difference – Rosh Hashanah it is 4,3,3. On Sukos it is 3,3,4.
Explains Reb Levik – as above, Rosh Hashanah is a time of גבורה and דין where as things progress they become less and less. דין means holding back, contracting and not developing. Therefore the sequence is 4,3,3.
Sukkos on the other hand is רחמים, whose nature is to open up, to share and give more. Therefore the sequence is 3,3,4.
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Pesach is on days of the calendar on which something occurred. יציאת מצרים.
Sukkos occurs on random days. On the contrary, the Torah chose these days, late in the fall, when people do not sit outdoors in huts, so people will internalize the miracle of the clouds that protected them.
Thus the חג creates the days of celebration. Being that when commanding for the ד’ מינים the Torah says ולקחתם לכם ביום הראשון, the יום ראשון of Sukkos, the intention is that the ד’ מינים will ‘complement’ the central theme of Sukkos.
In other words, the ד’ מינים exist because it is ביום הראשון of Sukkos.
It is therefore proper, על פי נגלה to perform the מצוות ד’ מינים in the Sukkah.
——————————————
**
תשר”ת – תקיעה שברים תרועה תקיעה
תש”ת – תקיעה שברים תקיעה
תר”ת – תקיעה תרועה תקיעה
ויקרא פרק כג
מב בַּסֻּכֹּת תֵּשְׁבוּ, שִׁבְעַת יָמִים; כָּל-הָאֶזְרָח, בְּיִשְׂרָאֵל, יֵשְׁבוּ בַּסֻּכֹּת.
מג לְמַעַן, יֵדְעוּ דֹרֹתֵיכֶם, כִּי בַסֻּכּוֹת הוֹשַׁבְתִּי אֶת-בְּנֵי יִשְׂרָאֵל, בְּהוֹצִיאִי אוֹתָם מֵאֶרֶץ מִצְרָיִם: אֲנִי, יְהוָה אֱלֹהֵיכֶם.
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