Wednesday 26 March 2014

succah 49

drinking wine till filling the drains that go to the depths
and the Torah that should remain hidden

succah 48

vessels - the ones taken out of the succah at the end
the ones used to pour water and wine

and the one made out of a heretic called Joy

succah 47

the ones who are too busy in the field to dwell outside in the succah

succah 46

the object or the day

what is contained in each

succah 45

the thirty-six who ask permission to enter
and the two who hold the world together without permission

succah 44

the willow that is from the mountain

succah 43

building up with willow
that naturally hangs down

succah 42

treating the boy as a capable adult
and keeping women in a place of service

succah 41

hanging on and holding onto the lulav after the destruction

succah 40

transferring the status of shmitta along the barter chain - as long as it can be eaten

succah 39

the wild lettuce that costs nothing but can be brought

succah 38

curses and cures

stick one in the eye for Satan
wave the lulav
and don't have a woman speak on your behalf

succah 37

the smell the rises
& the rain that falls

succah 36

binding the lulav with gold

succah 35

the blemishes and the beauty of etrog

succah 34

taking the etrog in hand
even if it can't be held in one hand

succah 33

only the bound is beautiful

not the unbound, or black, or, broken, or dried out, or bare

succah 32

making lulavs from the palm trees that cover the gate to hell

succah 31

while the rabbis sit in the rich man's succah they discuss if beauty is essential, they don't hear the old woman who screams over her stolen wood.
perhaps it is time for the world to become dark again

(succah 29 lists amongst the reasons for an eclipses and property seized by the state, arrogance due to wealth and exert control over the community)  

succah 30

a stolen lulav is like a dried out or blemished lulav.
but
get someone else to cut it, or bind it and change it's name and it becomes a new thing...

succah 29

bad omens

why does it rain in the succah?
&
who made the skies turn dark and lights dim?

eclipses, rain in the succah, are considered bad omens.

succah 28

the chain of men who learn the stories of foxes and trees, conversations of angels and demons, with the power to incinerate birds and punish the women.

chain of various rabbis who claim they only quote their teachers. one of whom, Yonatan ben Uzziel was so brilliant that when he studied torah birds would be burnt up when flying over him. Also discussed is that while women might not get the rewards of being obligated in mitzvot, but they are punished for not breaking the negative commandments.

succah 27

take shelter with one's wife,
& forget about the other wife in your life

if have two wives, in two different places, can only have one succah, in one place. with just one wife.

succah 26

what to do when wearing tefillin while doing other things

Sunday 2 March 2014

succah 25

newly weds don't have to sleep in the open succah,
because of not intimidating the groom and giving him privacy...

never mind about the bride...

succah 24

withstanding the winds on land and sea

succah 23

using a dead elephant as a succah wall.
- just ignore the smell

(discussed here is the case of using an animal as a wall for the succah. concerns that the animal might flee, or die. if it died it would be in the same place but might be too small for a wall. not the case for an elephant. other materials are discussed elsewhere that are smelly and repulsive and therefore unsuitable for a succah. this doesn't seem to be an issue with an elephant carcass)

succah 22

bridging the gap between beams

succah 21

the boys whose feet have never touched the ground
and the succah that are too unstable to stand

(strange case of boys who were born in particular courtyards, and never came into direct contact with the ground, lest they become impure by deeply hidden bodies in the ground. they would travel on oxen, refuting the idea that a barrier would have to be man-made, as the ox was a barrier between them and the ground. these boys were used to draw water for use in the red heifer ritual.)

succah 20

some sleep and forget
and others rise up and reconstruct what was lost

sleeping under a bed in a succah, and the use of matting as succah was one of the laws that was reconstructed by special scholars from Bavel after a chain of Torah that was forgotten in Israel.

succah 19

is it or isn't it a succah?

what does it look like? separate or together?
are the mats for roofing or for bedding?

succah 18

mixing fit and unfit roofing
and mixing kosher and non-kosher little fish

succah 17

making a space in the roof

succah 16

the unreliability of suspended partitions & sheets

succah 15

making a cover from broken vessels and materials