2,711 pages of Talmud. A gem a day.

All of Talmud assumes that you have read the rest of Talmud. It’s interesting as it’s presented as if those reading and discussing have a completed Talmud in their hands. . .

Today’s daf refers to a scene in Eruvin to use fodder from that other book of Talmud towards finding an answer to: if the walls of the sukkah are short and do not extend all the way from the roof to the ground – then do you place the walls from the ground up (which will leave a gap near the roof)? Or do you build from the top down (which will leave a gap near the ground)? To find the answer they compare the erecting of a Sukkah to the erecting of a partition on Shabbat:

According to whose opinion was the action that was taken in Tzippori performed?

And what was that incident? When Rav Dimi came from Eretz Yisrael to Babylonia, he said: One time they forgot and did not bring a Torah scroll to the synagogue on Shabbat eve prior to the onset of Shabbat. The next day, on Shabbat, to avoid violating the prohibition against carrying, they spread and suspended sheets on posts that were fixed along the path from the house in which the Torah scroll was stored to the synagogue, establishing partitions. And they brought a Torah scroll along that path and read from it.

The Gemara asks: Does it enter your mind that they spread the sheets on Shabbat? Carrying before the partitions were established was prohibited. From where did they bring these sheets on Shabbat? Rather, they found sheets already spread on the posts, and they brought a Torah scroll and read from it. They relied on a suspended partition even in this matter related to Torah law.

While this does not actually solve the debate about how to build a Sukkah with short walls – it’s a beautiful image of the Torah being carried throughout the community on Shabbat with this canopied walkway to both protect the scroll and protect the carrier from violating the prohibition of carrying on Shabbat.

I am at Camp Coleman, a URJ (Reform Jewish) summer camp. Before Shabbat begins, the whole camp dresses in while and waits outside their cabin. The staff (minus the counselors) begins near the office, singing and playing guitar and walking carrying the Torah scrolls. We walk through camp and as we pass a cabin the campers join us until, eventually, the whole camp is walking, wearing white, singing, with the Torahs leading the way.

Now, this is happening right before Shabbat begins, before we have lit any candles. AND this is happening at a Reform camp, but still . . . maybe this scene from Tzippori was similar. I see the Torah being walked from home to home through these partitions and the people joining in because this is Shabbat and, for at least today, but hopefully every day, I am going to let Torah lead the way.

Today we get an echo of the lessons of the past two weeks as the page discusses a Sukkah that had a roof made of planks that, had nothing been done, would not have been kosher, however – if we change the sukkah then, according to Hillel, it’s fit for use :

Granted, according to Beit Hillel, their reason for initially prohibiting this roof that existed prior to Sukkot is due to the principle: Prepare it, and not from that which has already been prepared. If one moves the boards, he performs an action. Likewise, if he removes one of the boards from among them, he also performs an action. Therefore, in both cases, he prepared the roofing and the sukka is fit.

We see that we cannot just use something that looks sukkah-ish that we have had up all year – we need it to be special for the holiday AND that we need to be active in creating our Sukkot.

The lesson? The Sukkah reminds us of God’s sheltering presence, yet if we want to feel God’s presence we really need to do our part and act to bring God into our space.

How can you act in the world so you feel more of a sense of transcendence? What can you do to feel a part of something bigger than yourself?

On the bottom of yesterday’s daf, there was a question about if you could use grain that you originally cut in order to eat as roofing for your sukkah. Avoiding the lengthy conversation about if their “handles” remain susceptible to ritual impurity or not based on how we intend to use them – we get this interesting idea:

All vessels descend into their state of ritual impurity by means of thought. However, they ascend from their state of ritual impurity only by means of a change resulting from an action. status created by thought; however, thought negates neither status created by action nor status created by thought.

According to Steinsaltz this means, “Although an unfinished vessel ordinarily cannot become ritually impure, if the craftsman decided to leave it in its unfinished state, it immediately assumes the legal status of a completed vessel and can become ritually impure. Merely deciding to complete the unfinished vessel does not alter its status. It loses its status as a vessel only when he takes action to complete it.”

Why I love this passage is quite different. I am reading a book about how to fight bias and one of the key tools is becoming mindful of when we have bias, when we otherize someone, when we are blind to their unique story (which includes their many-faceted identities). Our thoughts alone have the ability to dehumanize others in our minds (even subconsciously) and we will behave in ways toward that person that are, shall we say, less than our holy ideal – meaning we are less good than we think we are and less likely to behave how God wants us to.

So, how do we fix this? That’s why I love this passage: . . . they ascend from their state of ritual impurity only by means of a change resulting from an action. status created by thought; however, thought negates neither status created by action nor status created by thought.

Noticing the way we think is key in understanding how we dehumanize and devalue others. However, noticing is the first step – but it’s not enough. The Gemara is telling us that we need to go beyond just learning and recognizing and move into the all important (but often uncomfortable zone) of action. Recognizing our bias should lead us to act to change the way we act in the world and change the way the system works (as our bias is a result of a system, not our being “bad”).

This passage is a bit of a kick in the pants. It’s not enough to read and open our own minds. This is important, but it won’t change things, it only changes our view of things. To make real change we need to act.

While, yesterday, we learned that we cannot use items bound together to serve as the roof of the sukkah – there is one acception: when Heaven does the binding:

Rav Giddel said that Rav said: With regard to this offshoot of the trunk of the palm tree, from which several branches emerge; one may roof the sukka with it. Although the branches are naturally bound, a binding at the hand of Heaven is not considered a binding. Furthermore, although one then binds the branches together at the end removed from the trunk, where they grow apart into separate branches, and roofs with them, the sukka is fit, since if one binds a bundle that is already bound into one unit it is not considered a binding. Rav Ḥisda said that Ravina bar Sheila said: With regard to these offshoots of reeds, one may roof the sukka with them. . . (same reason is given)

We can imagine plants growing and spreading out from a common shoot as we read this passage. I love the image of “binding at the hand of Heaven” and it makes me think about other ways we are bound to one another at the hand of Heaven. We talk about a couple being “besheret”, meant for one another, an idea that these two souls are bound to one another and destined to find one another and reunite under the wedding canopy. And what is a sukkah if not a wedding canopy?

But there are other people we are bound to as well, family, friends, teachers, students.

May all your relationships feel bound by the hands of Heaven and all your sukkot feel like wedding canopies.

I did not grow up with a Sukkah in my yard. We would help build the Sukkah at temple, maybe go to one at the rabbi’s house, but our yard would remain bare. When my husband and I finally bought a house of our own, I told him that I wanted our kids to grow up with a Sukkah.

The first year, my husband crafter a small sukkah made of PVC pipes and whose walls were made out of reed matts. This worked well until we wanted more than our family of 3 to eat a meal in the Sukkah. So, we upgraded to a much larger Sukkah with walls made of green fabric and as we struggled to cover the (now) very large roof with cut palm fronds that kept falling into the sukkah itself I thought, “Hey, let’s use the reed mats for the roof!” Well, it looked beautiful and it was much easier, but it was not kosher:

MISHNA: One may not roof a sukka with bundles of straw tied with rope, or bundles of wood, or bundles of twigs. . .

The Gemara explains that the rational is, again, the rule: Prepare it, and not from that which has already been prepared.

Had those reed mats been sown for the purpose of being the roof of my sukkah, then we would have an argument to make about using it, but alas, that’s not what they were made for, and not even what they were originally purchased for.

We had to go back to cutting and placing fronds – it’s not as much coverage, not as easy, and not at all symmetrical, but it’s kosher – and a labor of love.

Every re-gift something? Every find out that something done for you was really done for someone else and you receiving/experiencing it was an afterthought?

There is a popular song out by Olivia Rodrigo called “deja vu” where she says:

“I bet she’s braggin’
To all her friends, sayin’ you’re so unique, hm

“So when you gonna tell her that we did that, too?
She thinks it’s special, but it’s all reused
That was our place, I found it first
I made the jokes you tell to her when she’s with you. . . “

We all want the things that make us feel special to truly be special for us. That’s the message on today’s daf. In a struggle to understand why the Mishnah teaches: “If one trellised climbing plants such as a grapevine, or gourd plant, or ivy [kissos], over a sukka while they were still attached to the ground, and then added roofing atop them, the sukka is unfit.” Within the discussion of this Mishnah we are introduced to the phrase:

״תַּעֲשֶׂה״ — וְלֹא מִן הֶעָשׂוּי Prepare it, and not from that which has already been prepared.

When it comes to holidays, or celebrating people, make sure not just to look around and say that what is is already special enough – make that day, and that person, feel special that a little something extra was done just for them, just for this moment.

Each year, we have a SUkkah party where one of my boys gets to invite his classmates over and they make artwork in the Sukkah that will be hung up for the rest of the holiday. While in Indiana it was a popular thing to make paper chains, Florida rain ruins anything made of paper, so you need to be more creative. On today’s daf, we get some suggestions about decoration, but learn the decorations have to stay decorations – they cannot be used for any other reason:

If one roofed the sukka in accordance with its halakhic requirements, and decorated it with colorful curtains and sheets, and hung in it ornamental nuts, peaches, almonds, and pomegranates, grape branches [parkilei], and wreaths of stalks of grain, wines, oils, and vessels full of flour, it is prohibited to derive benefit and use them until the conclusion of the last day of the Festival.

The curtains and sheets become a point of conversation, as a roof cannot be made of a sheet and, again, we need to make sure the decorations are not being used for anythign but decoration:

MISHNA: If one spread a sheet over the roofing as protection for those sitting in the sukka due to the sun, or if one spread a sheet beneath the roofing as protection due to the falling leaves, or if one spread a sheet as a canopy over the frame of a four-post [kinof] bed, the area in the sukka beneath the sheets is unfit. . .

GEMARA: Rav Ḥisda said: The Sages taught the ruling that the sheet renders the sukka unfit only when it is placed underneath the roofing due to the falling leaves; however, if his intent was to spread the sheet for decorative purposes to beautify the sukka, it is not in the category of roofing and the sukka is fit.

What’s the gem? I think that there is something to being mindful of the line between hadar mitzvah (the beautification of a mitzvah) and trying to do something so beautifully you end up violating the requirements.

For example, I am googling pictures of Sukkot, and they look SO cool, but clearly some of them are in violation of the rules we have already learned as some do not let sunlight and starlight into the Sukkah, or have roofs made of materials that do not qualify as schach (the loose cut greens that go atop the Sukkah) . . .

However, doing that google search I found a “Sukkah” featured in the times of Israel from the Samaritan community who follows the Torah but does not follow or believe in the Talmud. This one is beautiful, but for those of us who are part of rabbinic Judaism (Orthodox, Conservative, Reform, Renewal, Reconstructionist . . . ) it is not, at all kosher as there is no sunlight, starlight, and, like on today and yesterdays dapim (pages) it is certainly not kosher because it is a structure within a structure – meaning it’s in their living room.

So, cool and interesting can sometimes push too far and no longer fulfil the original mitzvah.

I grew up in Indiana. During the holiday of Sukkot, we were in fall – leaves were changing, gourds were harvesting, the air was cool . . . it truly felt like a harvest holiday. Living for the past 13 years in Miami, Sukkot occurs during the throws of hurricane season – the only leaves falling from the trees are from high winds, no gourds are ready for harvest, and (while I have yet to have a year where it didn’t rain the majority of days) when it’s not raining it is sticky hot.

Two issues on today’s daf are helpful for those of us who try and celebrate in Miami: 1) that you need a majority of shade in your Sukkah but that shade cannot be from trees that are casting their shade onto the Sukkah, and 2) that when your sukkah falls over you can rebuild it.

1. Rava said: They taught this halakha that a sukka beneath a tree is unfit only with regard to a tree whose shade is greater than its sunlight, as the source of the shade in the sukka is the tree and not the roofing. However, if its sunlight is greater than its shade, the sukka is fit, as in that case the roofing provides the shade. The Gemara asks: From where does Rava reach this conclusion? The Gemara answers: He learns this from the fact that the mishna teaches: It is as though he established it inside the house. Why do I need the mishna to teach: It is as though he established it inside the house? Let the mishna teach simply: It is unfit. Rather, this is teaching us that in the context of this halakha, a tree is similar to a house; just as with regard to a house, its shade is greater than its sunlight, so too, with regard to a tree, it invalidates the sukka only if its shade is greater than its sunlight.

We may be tempted to build our Sukkot in places of security because of hurricane season, but for it to be a “kosher” Sukkah, it needs to really stand on its own and be exposed to all the elements be they rain, sunshine, mosquitoes, or wind.

2. Another verse is written: “You shall prepare for you the festival of Sukkot for seven days” (Deuteronomy 16:13) . . . The Gemara asks: And how do Beit Hillel interpret this verse? The Gemara answers: That verse is necessary to teach that one may establish a sukka even during the intermediate days of the Festival.

This is a gem for me as my Sukkah has fallen over many times from rain and wind (and it’s a pretty large Sukkah with a metal frame). On Friday nights, we light the candles for Shabbat. Should someone sneeze during the meal and blow them out, or a wind come and blow them out – we DO NOT relight them (as you don’t light fire on Shabbat). But here, we see that we can rebuild again and again if we need to.

And here are the gems I derive from these rules – besides their practicality. 1) Just as a Sukkah is not kosher if it relies on the shade of a tree or a home’s ceiling – in our growth from childhood to maturity, we need to learn how stand on our own and provide our own shade – what I mean is, we need to learn how to cope on our own, how to be resilient. This leads me to #2. 2) Life is hard, it will blow you over and knock you down sometimes. The most important thing is getting back up – having the ability to rebuild. When things get hard, we want to retreat (I still wish my mom would do things for me when life gets hard) – but as the saying goes (maybe Confucius): Our greatest glory is not in never falling, but in rising every time we fall.

What is the value of π (pi)? Most of us have learned it’s 3.14, but it’s an endless number. Rajan Mahadevan accurately recited 31,811 digits of π from memory in 1981. In 1989, Hideaki Tomoyori recited 40,000 digits. However, according to Wikipedia, the current Guinness World Record is held by Lu Chao, who, in 2005, recited 67,890 digits of π.

Our rabbis seem to use just the number 3 as we see in their discussion today where they debate eh size of a round Sukkah:

Rabbi Yoḥanan said: With regard to a sukka that is shaped like a furnace and is completely round, if its circumference has sufficient space for twenty-four people to sit in it, it is fit, and if not, it is unfit.

Why 24 people? Because Rabbi Yehuda HaNasi, who said: Any sukka that does not have an area of four cubits by four cubits is unfit. Now, since when a person sits, he occupies one cubit of space, the circumference required by Rabbi Yoḥanan for the sukka is twenty-four cubits. However, mathematically, for every three handbreadths circumference in a circle, there is a diameter of approximately one handbreadth (that’s our 3 to 1 ratio for calculating the circumference of the circle).

But, if the diameter is 4, and the rabbis are using 3=π, then it should be an area of 12. So, the Gerara asks: twelve people should suffice!

Needless to say, and to spare you more of my math nerdiness – the Gemara tries to defend many of these measurements and repeatedly says, “He was not precise” which is interesting as the rabbis are SO PRECISE in the talmud! They spend many dapim (pages) trying to calculate the exact moment for the evening Shema – but alas, all math is estimation.

This is something that surprises many people about math. It’s not an exact science, it’s just as good as we have for the moment. While one plus one is two – higher math deals with a lot of assumptions (remember writing proofs in high school?). We calculate to the best of our ability, but it’s not exact – it’s just good enough to work for us currently.

That’s the meta lesson. We all want exact answers for who God is, what God wants for us – but there is no exact knowledge. The Torah and the rabbinic interpretations give us the best working theories (just like in math). But, we may find that the formula doesn’t always work for us in every situation.

When this happens in math, we look for new theories – we don’t stop believing in math.

May we be so gracious with God as well – if your faith is tested, look for a new theory – it’s not that God does not exist, jus the way we have been thinking about God doesn’t work in this context.

Deuteronomy 8: 8 describes Israel as “a land with wheat and barley, vines and fig trees, pomegranates, olive oil and honey.” Today’s daf uses each and every one of these as a measurement that defines a halakhah.

1. Remain pure until he stays in the house where there is tzaraat or impurity long enough to eat half a loaf of bread (that’s the wheat measurement)
2. Barley is also used as a basis for measurements, as we learned in a mishna: A bone from a corpse the size of a grain of barley imparts ritual impurity through contact and by being carried, but it does not impart impurity by means of a tent, i.e., if the bone was inside a house, it does not render all the articles in the house ritually impure.
3. The halakhic measure determined by a vine is the quantity of a quarter–log of wine for a nazirite. A nazirite, for whom it is prohibited to drink wine, is liable to be flogged if he drinks that measure.
4. Fig alludes to the measure of a dried fig-bulk with regard to the halakhot of carrying out on Shabbat. One is liable for carrying food fit for human consumption on Shabbat, provided that he carries a dried fig-bulk of that food.
5. Pomegranate teaches the following measure, as we learned in a mishna: All ritually impure wooden vessels belonging to ordinary homeowners become pure through being broken, as broken vessels cannot contract or maintain ritual impurity. They are considered broken if they have holes the size of pomegranates.
6. The Sages interpreted: “A land of olive oil and honey,” as: A land, all of whose measures are olive-bulks. The Gemara poses a question: Does it enter your mind that it is a land all of whose measures are olive-bulks? But aren’t there those measures that we just mentioned above, which are not olive-bulks? Rather, say: A land, most of whose measures are olive-bulks . . .
7. Honey, i.e., dates from which date honey is extracted, also determines a measure, as with regard to eating on Yom Kippur, one is liable only if he eats a large date-bulk of food.

Reading this reminds me of a previous daf where we discussed the standardizations of measurements. This did not happen until fairly recently. It also makes me think of my son’s preschool experience where they learned to measure how tall they were by laying apples in a line next to them (so cute).

Each fruit mentioned in Torah is there to teach us a little bit how to live. I love this idea – that we can learn how to live meaningful lives from everything.

My modern take on this might be asking, what can we learn from the fruits we eat each day? Perhaps, blueberries might teach us how incredible power can come from small sources. Perhaps a banana might teach the value of convenience. A coconut might teach how there may be sweetness under a hard exterior.

What is a lesson you might learn from fruit?