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Sukah 4

4b

QUESTION: The Mishnah (2a) states that a Sukah which is less than ten Tefachim high is Pasul. The Gemara asks what is the source for this Halachah; perhaps a Sukah which is lower than ten Tefachim is also valid (as the Gemara itself suggests on 5b, regarding a Sukah which is nine Tefachim high). The Gemara commences to give a lengthy discussion about how we learn the Shi'ur of ten Tefachim from the height of the Aron Kodesh.

Why is the Gemara asking for the source for the Pesul of a Sukah less than ten Tefachim high? We have already learned (4a) the reason why it is Pasul - - because it is a "Dirah Seruchah" (an uninhabitable dwelling)! The Gemara there said, in the name of Rava, that if there are branches ("Hutzin") of the palm leaves of the Sechach hanging down under ten Tefachim, the Sukah is Pasul because it is a "Dirah Seruchah!" The same principle should invalidate any Sukah which is lower than ten Tefachim! (In fact, the BARTENURA on the Mishnah writes that the reason why a Sukah lower than ten Tefachim is Pasul is because it is a "Dirah Seruchah!") Why, then, did the Gemara here not give that reason?

ANSWERS:

(a) We find that the ME'IRI infers from the RAMBAM (Hilchos Sukah 5:5) that if there are branches hanging down under ten Tefachim, that Sukah is only Pasul *l'Chatchilah*; b'Di'eved, though, it is a valid Sukah. Apparently, the Pesul of "Dirah Seruchah" only invalidates a Sukah l'Chatchilah. If so, perhaps the Gemara now is looking for a reason why a Sukah lower than ten Tefachim will be Pasul even b'Di'eved (i.e. mid'Oraisa). (ARUCH LA'NER 4a)

(b) The other Rishonim, however, seem to learn that the Pesul of "Dirah Seruchah" is indeed mid'Oraisa and will invalidate a Sukah even b'Di'eved. However, we find that if the decorations of a Sukah hang down to below ten Tefachim, the Sukah is nevertheless valid. TOSFOS (10b, DH Noyei) explains that the fact that the decorations are hanging down so low does not make the Sukah into a "Dirah Seruchah," because "they are made for decorating" the Sukah. It seems that Tosfos means that only things which interfere with the use of the Sukah make it a "Dirah Seruchah." The branches that hang down are sharp and pointy and make it very difficult to use the Sukah (as the Me'iri and Rabeinu Yehonasan m'Lunil explain). The decorations of a Sukah, though, do not interfere with the use of the Sukah.

According to this explanation, if the entire ceiling of the Sukah reaches only nine Tefachim, we might have thought that it is a valid Sukah because it does not interfere with the normal use of the Sukah. Therefore, the Gemara looks for another reason (other than "Dirah Seruchah") why such a Sukah is Pasul.

(c) The PNEI YEHOSHUA points out that TOSFOS here (DH Asarah) explains that the source the Gemara arrives at for invalidating a Sukah lower than ten Tefachim is not only a source for Sukah, but is also a source that any wall or partition that is ten Tefachim high is sufficiently high to separate the area enclosed within it from the area outside of it and make it considered a separate domain. This Halachah is particularly relevant regarding the laws of the different domains on Shabbos.

Thus, explains the Pnei Yehoshua, it is true that the Gemara did not need another source that a Sukah lower than ten Tefachim is Pasul, because the Pesul of "Dirah Seruchah" suffices to teach us that. However, the Gemara looks for another source because it wants a source that teaches that a ten- Tefach high wall separates one domain from another. Since that question happens to apply to Sukah as well, the Gemara phrases its question as looking for a source for the Pesul of a low Sukah.