Sukkah סוכה

The name used in the Torah for the month of Tishrei is the Seventh Month, HaHodesh HaShevi'i. The Sages interpreted the name homiletically and said that the month is replete with mitzvot, where the word for replete, mesuba, is from the same root as hashevi'i (Vayikra Rabba 29). More specifically, they characterized Sukkot as a Festival whose mitzvot are abundant. This wealth of mitzvot is manifest in the Torah in the numerous verses devoted to the halakhot governing the Festival. However, beyond the mitzvot explicitly mentioned in the Torah, there are additional mitzvot that were received as halakhot transmitted to Moses from Sinai, and they too impart a unique character to the Festival.

The festival of Sukkot is multifaceted, and its halakhot are not all associated with only one central theme; rather, there are several themes that differ from those of all other Festivals. In addition to the general mitzvot of a Festival, detailed in tractate Beitza, and the mitzvot of the pilgrim Festivals, detailed in tractate Hagiga, the festival of Sukkot is characterized by its distinctive mitzvot: The mitzva of sukka, which entails moving one's residence and dining area; the special ceremony that involves taking the four species; the plethora of additional offerings unique to Sukkot; and the mitzvot and special ceremonies performed in the Temple.

In essence, the festival of Sukkot does not commemorate a specific historical event, in contrast to Passover, which commemorates the Exodus, and Shavuot, which commemorates the revelation at Sinai. Nor does it correspond to a specific stage in the agricultural cycle, unlike Passover, when the omer offering is sacrificed from the new barley crop, and Shavuot, when the offering of the two loaves is sacrificed from the new wheat crop. Nevertheless, there is one element that ties together the various, distinct aspects of the Festival: Sukkot is the conclusion and summary of the entire year's Festivals. It is both the culmination of the calendar year and the encapsulation of the historical events that comprise the history of the Jewish people. This summation does not entail merely remembering the past and giving thanks, but it also contains prayer for success in the vital, creative year that is beginning. One remembers with gratitude one way of life whose culmination is represented by the festival of Sukkot, and one prays for the initiation of a new path that commences with the festival of Sukkot.

The sukka does not come to commemorate a particular event; rather, it commemorates the entirety of the experience of the children of Israel in the desert, the life of a people without a country, without claim to land, and without stability. This commemoration includes gratitude for all the miracles of the Exodus that transpired in the past, the clouds of glory, and the contrast between the life of a people wandering in the wilderness and the conclusion of the harvest of the produce of the fields and the trees in Eretz Yisrael. The four species, too, serve on the one hand as a kind of victory procession, celebrating past accomplishments (Vayikra Rabba 30); and on the other hand taking the four species includes saying a prayer for rainfall and a successful crop in the coming year, the very essence of the mitzva.

Although the thanksgiving and requests voiced during the festival of Sukkot are intimately connected to the Jewish people, they also include a universal theme. Expressing thanks to God for past kindness and prayer and supplication for future success, and likewise, thanksgiving for the past harvest and prayer for rainfall in the coming year, are not unique to the Jewish people. In that sense, the festival of Sukkot becomes a Festival for the entire world, as an expression of both thanksgiving and entreaty. Therefore, the Sages associated the seventy bulls sacrificed within the framework of the additional offering on the festival of Sukkot with the seventy nations of the world. And the prophet says that the festival of Sukkot is the Festival when, in the future, all the people of the world will participate in the pilgrimage to the Temple (see Zechariah 14:16).

In the verses in the Torah addressing the festival of Sukkot, the elements of thanksgiving and rejoicing are conspicuous. Beyond the rejoicing that characterizes all the Festivals, there is a special mitzva of rejoicing on Sukkot, to the extent that the name of the Festival coined by the Sages in the prayers recited during the Festival is: The time of our rejoicing. As an extension of the thanksgiving and rejoicing, there are the special mitzvot received as halakhot transmitted to Moses from Sinai, which include mention of and prayer for rain and blessing for the coming year.

The mitzva of the libation of water on the altar, a central component of the rejoicing of the Festival in the Temple; the mitzva of surrounding the altar with willow branches; and the waving of the willow branch on the seventh day of the Festival all evoke and inspire prayer for rain during the coming year. These are not explicit prayers and are certainly not accompanied by fasting and pleading. Rather, rain is a theme that arises in the course of the great rejoicing.

Indeed, though the primary mitzvot of Sukkot were elucidated at length in the Torah, most of the discussion in tractate Sukka is based on halakha transmitted to Moses from Sinai and on tradition, primarily due to the need to translate the verses in the Torah into a structured system of halakhot with clearly demarcated limitations.

While in many tractates in the Talmud, most of the discussion is dedicated to clarifying the details of the mitzvot or to analyzing the myriad possibilities and intermediate cases, in this tractate the central problems relate to definition of terms. The fundamental concepts associated with the mitzvot of the Festival, e.g., sukka and the four species, require precise definitions in terms of determining their essence, size, measures, and the manner of their use. Most of these definitions are learned through the traditions transmitted from previous generations. The significance of tradition is even more conspicuous with regard to those mitzvot of the Festival that have no clear source in the Torah. Specifically because those mitzvot aroused the resistance of the various deviant sects, e.g., Sadducees and Boethusians, the Sages were compelled to greatly underscore their significance.

Another category of fundamental problems addressed in tractate Sukka stems from the contrast between the mitzvot of the Festival practiced in the Temple and those practiced outside the Temple. Although there are some mitzvot associated with Sukkot totally independent of the Temple, e.g., the mitzva of sukka, and there are others exclusive to the Temple, e.g., the additional offerings, there are many mitzvot associated with Sukkot in which there is a special connection between the mitzva and the Temple. Although they are mitzvot whose practice is not limited to the Temple, there is a difference between the practice in the Temple and the practice outside the Temple, e.g., the four species. The problematic nature of these mitzvot while the Temple was standing was exacerbated after its destruction, which severed the connection between the mitzva and the Temple. This led the Sages to institute ordinances to commemorate the Temple, which involved the introduction of many new halakhot.

Halakhically, the Eighth Day of Assembly is a Festival in and of itself, fundamentally independent of the festival of Sukkot, yet it is closely related to Sukkot and in a certain sense resembles Shavuot vis-à-vis Passover. Due to the proximity of the Eighth Day of Assembly and Sukkot and due to their similarities, e.g., the Eighth Day of Assembly is also called: The time of our rejoicing, there is a discussion of that Festival within the framework of this tractate. Although not all matters associated with that day are discussed, the basis for the prayer for rain recited on that Festival is located here; it is treated in more detail in tractate Ta'anit. In addition, the basis for the custom of future generations to celebrate the conclusion of the cycle of Torah reading on that day, Simhat Torah, is discussed.

There are five chapters in tractate Sukka, each dealing with a well-defined topic:

Chapter One defines of the concept of sukka in terms of its structure and dimensions.

Chapter Two determines the parameters of the mitzva of residing in the sukka and its obligations.

Chapter Three defines the essence and the measures of the four species and describes the manner in which the mitzva is fulfilled.

Chapter Four determines the relationship between the mitzvot of the Festival performed in the Temple and those performed outside the Temple, and explains the halakhot of the festival of Sukkot transmitted to Moses from Sinai.

Chapter Five discusses the celebration of the festival of Sukkot in the Temple, the mitzva of rejoicing on the Festival, and the special offerings sacrificed on Sukkot.