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REVIEW QUESTIONS ON GEMARA AND RASHI

prepared by Rabbi Eliezer Chrysler
Kollel Iyun Hadaf, Jerusalem

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Sukah 37

SUKA 36-56 (End of Maseches) have been dedicated by the wife and daughters of the late Dr. Simcha Bekelnitzky (Simcha Gedalya ben Shraga Feibush) of Queens N.Y. Well known in the community for his Chesed and Tzedakah, he will long be remembered.

1)

(a) What Chumra does the Mitzvah of Sukah have over Lulav?

(b) What other Chumra does Rebbi Yehudah learn on to Sukah from Lulav with a 'Kal va'Chomer' (based on the first Chumra)?

(c) On what logical grounds do the Rabbanan object to Rebbi Yehudah's Kal va'Chomer?

(d) How will Rebbi Yehudah counter their proof from the Pasuk in Nechemyah, where Nechemyah specifically instructed the people to go and collect olive branches (as well as Hadas and palm branches) - which can only have been for their Sukos?

2)
(a) What does Rava prove from this Beraisa in conjunction with the Mishnah above (Daf 14a), where Rebbi Yehudah permits planks as S'chach?

(b) How will we reconcile this with Rebbi Yehudah himself, who permitted above (14a) the use of *cedar* beams, provided they are less than four Tefachim?

(c) How many different kinds of cedar-trees are there?

3)
(a) Does one transgress 'Bal Tosif' by adding an additional kind to an object of Mitzvah, if its sole function is to beautify it?

(b) Rabah instructed the Lulav-binders to leave the point on the Lulav where one held it one's hand, uncovered, so as not to create a Chatzitzah.
What did Rava say?

(c) Rabah also said that one should not pick up a Lulav with a cloth wrapped around one's hand, because of 'Lekichah Tamah' (the acronym of "u'Lekachtem"), meaning to take it properly).
What did Rava say about *that*?

4)
(a) How does Rava try to prove that holding something with the help of a third object is called holding it, from the Mishnah in Parah (regarding the Din of dipping a short Ezov)?

(b) How do we refute this proof?

5)
(a) What do we learn from the Pasuk in Chukas (regarding the ashes of the Parah Adumah) "ve'Nasan Alav "*Mayim Chayim el Keli*"?

(b) Then why does the Torah write "ve'Nasan *Alav Mayim ... *"?

(c) What do we learn from the Pasuk there "*ve'Lakchu* la'Tamei me'Afar Sereifas ha'Chatas, *ve'Nasan* Alav ... "?

(d) How does Rava prove (as a result of the previous Derashah) that holding something with the help of a third object is called holding, from the Mishnah in Parah, which invalidates the ashes if they fell from the stone tube into the water?

Answers to questions

37b---------------------------------------37b

6)

(a) Rabah also warns against ...
1. ... first tying the Hadasim and Aravos, and then forcing the Lulav into the bunch, because the leaves that fall off constitute a Chatzitzah.
2. ... cutting the bottom of a Lulav that is too long whilst it is still bound, because the leaves that are now severed from the Lulav but that remain in the bunch, constitute a Chatzitzah.
What does Rava comment in both cases?

(b) Rabah permits smelling an Esrog of Mitzvah on the Yom-Tov or Shabbos of Sukos, but not a Hadas.
Why is that?

(c) And why does he permit smelling a growing Hadas, but not a growing Esrog?

(d) May one eat a fruit directly from a tree on Shabbos or Yom-Tov?

7)
(a) Why do we take the *Lulav* in the *right* hand, and the *Esrog* in the *left*?

(b) And why do we recite the Berachah 'Al Netilas *Lulav*', and not 'Al Netilas *Esrog*'?

(c) So let us lift up the Esrog and recite a Berachah over *it*?

8)
(a) According to Beis Hillel, one shakes the Lulav at 'Hodu', both at the beginning and at the end.
What does that mean?

(b) And one also shakes at 'Ana Hashem Hoshi'a Na'.
What do Beis Shamai say?

(c) What did Rebbi Akiva testify that he saw Raban Gamliel and Rebbi Yehoshua doing?

(d) Why does the Tana suddenly speak about the Mitzvah (mide'Rabbanan) of shaking the Lulav without first introducing the concept?

9)
(a) How did the Kohen wave the Sh'tei ha'Lechem and the two lambs of the Shalmei Tzibur on Shavu'os? Which one was on top? Were the lambs alive or dead?

(b) But doesn't the Torah write "*Al* Lechem ha'Bikurim"?

(c) What is the meaning of ...

  1. ... "Asher Hunaf"?
  2. ... "va'Asher Huram"?
(d) Rebbi Yochanan explains that one waves them in all four directions to acknowledge that Hashem owns all four directions (i.e. the whole world), and up and down to acknowledge that he also owns Heaven and earth.
What did they quote Rebbi Yossi b'Rebbi Chanina as saying?
10)
(a) What can we learn from here with regard to 'Sheyarei Mitzvah'?

(b) What is the definition of 'Sheyarei Mitzvah'? In what way does it differ from the actual Mitzvah itself?

(c) What does this have to do with the Lulav?

11)
(a) What did Rav Acha bar Ya'akov used to say as he shook the Lulav?

(b) Why should one not do that?

Answers to questions
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