Anecdotes in Sukkah and Beitza: A Selected Anthology
This is part of a larger macro-series.1
Outline
Rabban Gamliel; R. Yehoshua; R. Elazar b. Azariah; R. Akiva - Only Rabban Gamliel owns a lulav (purchased for 1,000 zuz) while traveling on a ship - Sukkah 41b
Boethusians hide willow branches before Shabbat to block mitzvah - Sukkah 43b
Sadducee priest pours water libation on his feet - Sukkah 48b
Anecdotes relating to the priestly division Bilga - Sukkah 56b
Anecdote #1 - Miriam bat Bilga’s Apostasy and the Seleucid Greeks’ desecration of the altar
Anecdote #2 - Bilga watch tardy in arriving for Temple service
Rav Pappa’ petitioner - Eggs laid on Shabbat before Yom Tov - Beitza 4a
Ami of Vardina the Examiner avoids inspecting firstborns on Festivals - Beitza 27a
Rava’s petitioner - Firstborn brought late on Festival eve - Beitza 27b
Anecdotes relating to permissibility of cooking on a Festival - Beitza 32b
Anecdote #1 - R. Ḥiyya’s wife - Brick falls into oven
Anecdote #2 - Rava’s attendant - Roasting duck without singeing
Anecdote #3 - Rav Ashi’s attendants - Plastering oven mouth on Yom Tov
Rabban Gamliel; R. Yehoshua; R. Elazar b. Azariah; R. Akiva - Only Rabban Gamliel owns a lulav (purchased for 1,000 zuz) while traveling on a ship - Sukkah 41b
ומעשה ב
רבן גמליאל
ורבי יהושע
ורבי אלעזר בן עזריה
ורבי עקיבא
שהיו באין בספינה,
ולא היה לולב אלא לרבן גמליאל בלבד,
שלקחו באלף זוז.
There was an incident involving
Rabban Gamliel,
and R’ Yehoshua,
and R’ Elazar ben Azarya,
and R’ Akiva,
who were all traveling on a ship during the festival of Sukkot
and only Rabban Gamliel had a lulav,
which he had bought for 1,000 zuz.
נטלו רבן גמליאל ויצא בו,
ונתנו לרבי יהושע במתנה.
נטלו רבי יהושע ויצא בו,
ונתנו לרבי אלעזר בן עזריה במתנה.
נטלו רבי אלעזר בן עזריה ויצא בו,
ונתנו במתנה לרבי עקיבא.
נטלו רבי עקיבא ויצא בו,
והחזירו לרבן גמליאל.
Rabban Gamliel took it and fulfilled his obligation with it
and then gave it to R’ Yehoshua as a gift.
R’ Yehoshua took it and fulfilled his obligation with it
and gave it to R’ Elazar ben Azarya as a gift.
R’ Elazar ben Azarya took it and fulfilled his obligation with it
and gave it to R’ Akiva as a gift.
R’ Akiva took it and fulfilled his obligation with it
and returned it to Rabban Gamliel.
Boethusians hide willow branches before Shabbat to block mitzvah - Sukkah 43b
לולב דוחה את השבת בתחלתו,
וערבה בסופו.
Tosefta (Sukka 3:1):
The mitzva of lulav overrides Shabbat at the start of the Festival,
and the willow branch (ערבה) overrides it at the end of the Festival.3
פעם אחת
חל שביעי של ערבה להיות בשבת,
והביאו מרביות של ערבה מערב שבת
והניחום בעזרה.
והכירו בהן בייתוסין,
ונטלום וכבשום תחת אבנים.
One time,
the 7th day of the willow branch occurred on Shabbat,
and they brought branches4 of the willow tree on Friday, before Shabbat,
and placed them in the Temple courtyard (עזרה) for use on Shabbat.
The Boethusians in the Temple, who disagreed with the Sages and held that there is no mitzva of the willow branch on the 7th day of the Festival, noticed them and took them and concealed them under the stones.
This was an attempt to prevent fulfillment of the mitzva, as they knew that the Sages would prohibit moving the stones, which are set-aside on Shabbat.
למחר
הכירו בהן עמי הארץ,
ושמטום מתחת האבנים,
והביאום הכהנים
וזקפום בצידי המזבח.
לפי שאין בייתוסין מודים שחיבוט ערבה דוחה את השבת.
The next day,
some of the amei ha’aretz5 noticed the branches concealed under the stones.
And since the amei ha’aretz identified with the opinion of the Sages, and at the same time were ignorant of the details of the mitzvot, they extracted them (שמטום) from under the stones.
And the priests brought them
and stood them upright6 at the sides of the altar.
This happened because the Boethusians do not concede that waving the willow branch overrides Shabbat.
Sadducee priest pours water libation on his feet - Sukkah 48b
מערבו של מים.
תנו רבנן:
מעשה בצדוקי אחד
שניסך על גבי רגליו,
ורגמוהו כל העם באתרוגיהן.
ואותו היום
נפגמה קרן המזבח,
§ The Mishnah continues: The basin to the west of the altar was for water, and the basin to the east of the altar was for wine, and they would tell the one pouring the water to raise his hand.
A baraita states:
There was an incident involving one Sadducee priest
who poured7 the water on his feet,
and in anger all the people pelted him8 with their etrogim.
And that day,
the horn of the altar was damaged as a result of the pelting and the ensuing chaos.
והביאו בול של מלח
וסתמוהו
They brought a fistful (בול) of salt
and sealed the damaged section9
Anecdotes relating to the priestly division Bilga - Sukkah 56b
Anecdote #1 - Miriam bat Bilga’s Apostasy and the Seleucid Greeks’ desecration of the altar
בילגה לעולם חולקת בדרום.
תנו רבנן:
מעשה במרים בת בילגה
שהמירה דתה,
והלכה ונשאת לסרדיוט אחד ממלכי יוונים.
We learned in the Mishnah that Bilga10 always divides the shewbread in the south, even when it is the incoming watch.
The Talmud elaborates: A baraita states:
There was an incident involving Miriam, the daughter of a member of the Bilga watch (מרים בת בילגה),
who apostatized
and went and married a soldier [sardeyot] serving in the army of the Greek (=Seleucid) kings.
כשנכנסו יוונים להיכל,
היתה מבעטת בסנדלה על גבי המזבח,
ואמרה:
לוקוס לוקוס!
עד מתי אתה מכלה ממונן של ישראל
ואי אתה עומד עליהם בשעת הדחק?!
When the Greeks (=Seleucids) entered the Sanctuary,
she entered with them and was kicking with her sandal on the altar
and said:
Wolf, wolf!11
until when will you consume the property of the Jewish people,
and yet you do not stand with them when they face exigent circumstances?!
וכששמעו חכמים בדבר,
קבעו את טבעתה
וסתמו את חלונה.
And after the victory of the Hasmoneans over the Greeks, when the Sages heard about this matter and how she denigrated the altar,
they fixed the ring of the Bilga watch in place, rendering it nonfunctional,
and sealed its niche (חלונה).
Anecdote #2 - Bilga watch tardy in arriving for Temple service
ויש אומרים:
משמרתו שוהה לבא,
ונכנס ישבב אחיו עמו
ושימש תחתיו.
And some say that the watch was penalized for a different reason.
It happened once that some members of the Bilga watch tarried in arriving at the Temple.
The members of the previous watch, the watch of Yeshevav (ישבב), his brother, entered together with the members of the Bilga watch who had arrived,
and served in the place of the absent members of his brother’s watch.
Rav Pappa’ petitioner - Eggs laid on Shabbat before Yom Tov - Beitza 4a
אושפיזכניה דרב פפא,
ואמרי לה: ההוא גברא
דאתא לקמיה דרב פפא.
הוו ליה הנך ביצים משבת ליום טוב.
The Talmud relates a similar incident: Rav Pappa’s host (אושפיזכניה),
and some say it was a certain man
who came before Rav Pappa,
had these eggs that were laid on a Shabbat that occurred before a Festival.
אתא לקמיה,
אמר ליה: מהו למכלינהו למחר?
אמר ליה:
זיל האידנא
ותא למחר,
דרב לא מוקי אמורא עלויה מיומא טבא לחבריה
משום שכרות.
He came before him
and said to him: What is the halakha with regard to whether it is permitted to eat these eggs tomorrow, on the Festival?
Rav Pappa said to him:
Go away from me now,
and come back tomorrow.
He said this because Rav would not place a disseminator (אמורא) before him to explain his lectures, from one Festival day until the end of the other,
the second Festival day, due to drunkenness.
Since it was customary in those times to drink a great deal of wine during Festival meals, Rav was concerned that his mind would not be sufficiently clear to issue a public ruling.
Ami of Vardina the Examiner avoids inspecting firstborns on Festivals - Beitza 27a
אמי ורדינאה חזי בוכרא דבי נשיאה הוה.
ביומא טבא לא הוה חזי.
אתו ואמרו ליה לרבי אמי,
אמר להו: שפיר קא עביד דלא חזי.
§ The Talmud relates that Ami of Vardina was the examiner of firstborns in the household of the Nasi.
On Festivals he would not examine firstborn blemishes.
They came and told R’ Ami about this.
He said to them: He does well not to examine them.
Rava’s petitioner - Firstborn brought late on Festival eve - Beitza 27b
ההוא גברא דאייתי בוכרא לקמיה דרבא
אפניא דמעלי יומא טבא.
הוה יתיב רבא וקא חייף רישיה.
דלי עיניה וחזייה למומיה.
אמר ליה:
זיל האידנא
ותא למחר.
a certain man who was a priest brought a firstborn before Rava,
close to nightfall on a Festival eve.
Rava was sitting and washing (חייף) the hair on his head.
He raised his eyes and saw the firstborn’s blemish.
He then said to the owner of the firstborn:
Go now,
and come back tomorrow.
Anecdotes relating to permissibility of cooking on a Festival - Beitza 32b
ואין גורפין תנור וכירים.
תני רב חייא בר יוסף קמיה דרב נחמן:
ואם אי אפשר לאפות אלא אם כן גורפו —
מותר.
It was taught in the Mishnah: And one may not sweep out an oven or stove.
R’ Ḥiyya bar Yosef taught before Rav Naḥman:
And if it is not possible to bake unless one sweeps it out --
it is permitted.
Anecdote #1 - R. Ḥiyya’s wife - Brick falls into oven
דביתהו דרבי חייא
נפל לה אריחא בתנורא ביומא טבא,
אמר לה רבי חייא:
חזי,
דאנא רפתא מעלייתא בעינא.
The Talmud relates an incident with regard to R’ Ḥiyya’s wife:
A part of a brick fell into her oven on a Festival, preventing her from baking.
Rav Ḥiyya said to her:
See,
you should know that I want good-quality bread.
He thereby stated that it would be impossible unless she removed the brick, making it permissible for her to do so.
Anecdote #2 - Rava’s attendant - Roasting duck without singeing
אמר ליה רבא לשמעיה:
טוי לי בר אווזא,
ואזדהר מחרוכא.
Similarly, Rava said to his attendant:
Roast for me a duck in an oven,
and be careful not to singe it.
He thereby implied that the attendant may remove all impediments from the oven in order to fulfill this requirement because otherwise it would not be possible to cook without singeing.
Anecdote #3 - Rav Ashi’s attendants - Plastering oven mouth on Yom Tov
אמר ליה רבינא לרב אשי:
אמר לן רב אחא מהוצל,
דמר שרקין ליה תנורא ביומא טבא.
אמר ליה: אנן ארקתא דפרת סמכינן,
In a related case, Ravina said to Rav Ashi:
Rav Aḥa from Hutzal said to us that
the master, Rav Ashi, allows his attendants to plaster12 the mouth of the oven for him on a Festival. This was done in order to ensure that the roasted or cooked dish would be fully prepared.
Why does this not constitute the prohibited labor of kneading on a Festival? He said to him: We rely on the bank (רקתא) of the Euphrates River. We avoid the labor of kneading by taking sufficiently kneaded mud from the riverbank.
For the halachic background of this story, see the immediately preceding section, Sukkah 41b.5:
תנו רבנן:
״ולקחתם״,
שתהא לקיחה ביד כל אחד ואחד.
A baraita states that
it is written: “And you shall take for yourselves on the first day the fruit of a beautiful tree, branches of a date palm, and boughs of a dense-leaved tree, and willows of the brook” (Leviticus 23:40).
The use of second person plural in the phrase: “And you shall take,” indicates that there should be taking in the hand of each and every person.
״לכם״,
משלכם —
להוציא
את השאול
ואת הגזול.
The word “yourselves” in the phrase “take for yourselves”
means: From your own,
to exclude
a borrowed lulav
or stolen lulav.
מכאן אמרו חכמים:
אין אדם יוצא ידי חובתו ביום טוב הראשון של חג בלולבו של חבירו
אלא אם כן נתנו לו במתנה.
From here the Sages stated:
A person does not fulfill his obligation on the first day of the Festival with the lulav of another
unless the other gave it to him as a full-fledged gift, as in that case it belongs to him.
Meaning, in the Temple.
See Wikipedia, “Aravah (Sukkot)“, section “The Aravah ceremony in the Temple“; and Hebrew Wikipedia, “מצוות ערבה במקדש“. And see my “Pt1 Sukkot in the Second Temple: Rituals of the Lulav, Willow, and Water Drawing Ceremony (Mishnah Sukkah 4:4-5:4)“, section “The Mitzvah of the Willow Branch: Rituals and Ceremonies Around the Temple Altar During Sukkot“ (=Mishnah_Sukkah.4.5 / Sukkah.45a.2).
מרביות.
On this word, see Jastrow (modernized):
מוּרְבִּית I
(רָבָה) young tree or bough.
Plural: מוּרְבִּיּוֹת.
Mishnah Sukkah 4:5 (Sukkah 45a:2) - מ׳ של ערבה (Mishnah a. Manuscript Munich: מַרְ׳) - “young willows”
Mishnah Tamid 2:3 - מרביות
I.e. the commoners. On this term, see my previous discussion.
זקפום.
See the Mishnah, ibid.:
ובאין וזוקפין אותן בצדי המזבח,
וראשיהן כפופין על גבי המזבח
And they would then come and stand (זוקפין) them (=the willow branches) upright at the sides of the altar,
and the tops of the branches would be inclined over the top of the altar.
ניסך.
On the ritual of water libation (נסוך המים) on the festival of Sukkot, see the Mishnah, ibid. (Pt2), section “Temple Water Libation Ritual“.
This was another ritual rejected by the Sadducees, and the Sadducean priest therefore deliberately botched it.
On this word, see Jastrow (modernized):
רָגַם
to cast a stone, ball etc., to pelt.
Mishnah Sukkah 4:9; Tosefta Sukkah 3:16 ורְגָמוּהוּ וכ׳ - “and all the people pelted him with their Ethrogim”
Sotah 37a:1 (play on רגמתם, Psalms 68:28) והיו … רוֹגְמִים אותם - “and the princes of Judah threw stones at them (stirring them up to go into the sea)”
Mekhilta B’shall., section 5 - מְרַגְּמִין וכ׳.
Shemot Rabbah 1:8 - שר׳ אוהבו וכ׳ - “who cast stones at the king’s friend”
and elsewhere.
And ibid.:
רְגַם
Onkelos Exodus 17:4 (O. ed. Berliner ורַגְּמוּנִי Pa.);
and frequently.
Kiddushin 70b:9 - נפקי … למִירְגְּמֵיה - “they went out after him ready to stone him”
Yalkut Shimoni on Nach 284 [read:] כל חד מינייכו ליתי ליה טינא לחתמא ונִרְגְּמוּנֵיה (גולמא being a gloss to טינא לחתמא, and ונשדי ביה, a Variant of ונרגמוניה) - “let each of you bring a ball of sealing clay (cylinder) and cast it at it (Jerusalem)”
Sanhedrin 95a, see גּוֹלְמָא.
For the example from Kiddushin 70b, see my “Pt2 Rav Yehuda vs. Rav Naḥman: A Talmudic Clash Over Speech, Social Status, and Slavery (Kiddushin 70a-b)“, section “The Aftermath in Neharde’a“, where I summarize:
When Rav Yehuda, who had publicized their flawed lineage, left Neharde’a, a mob of residents pursued him to stone him (למירגמיה).
Rav Yehuda warned the mob: If they remained silent, all would be fine; otherwise, he would reveal Shmuel’s teaching that Neharde’a contained two family lines (זרעייתא) […]
His threat to reveal widespread flawed lineage in the town led the crowd to drop their stones, fearing further damaging revelations. There were so many discarded stones that they created a dam (אטמא) in the Malka River.
The baraita goes on to explain, Sukkah.48b.12-49a.1:
לא מפני שהוכשר לעבודה,
אלא מפני שלא יראה מזבח פגום.
not because it rendered the altar fit for the Temple service,
but in deference to the altar, so that the altar would not be seen in its damaged state.
שכל מזבח שאין לו
לא כבש
ולא קרן
ולא יסוד
ולא ריבוע —
פסול לעבודה
As any altar that lacks
a ramp,
or a horn,
or a base (יסוד),
or the shape of a square (ריבוע)
either because it was not erected as a square or due to damage --
is disqualified for use in the Temple service.
See Hebrew Wikipedia, “משמרת בילגה“.
On the priestly divisions in general, see my recent “The Temple’s Priestly and Non-Priestly Divisions: Their Formation, Function, and Revival From Moses to the Second Temple (Taanit 27a-b)“, with my intro and notes there.
שרקין.
On this word, see Jastrow (modernized):
שְׁרַק III
(see סָרַק III) to paint; to paste (with red or yellow clay).
Jerusalem Talmud Shabbat 7:2:42 - דשָׁרְקָא אפה - “who paints her face (on the Sabbath)”
דשָׁרְקָא מעזלה - “who paints her yarn (to rub her face with it”
see Tosefta Shabbat 9 (Tosefta Shabbat 10:13, quot. under the word סָרָק).
Nedarim 90a:1 - שַׁרְקֵיה טינא וכ׳ - “he painted the man’s face with clay (to disguise him), and brought him etc.” (Tosafoth: he smeared clay over his garments).
Beitzah 32b:12 דמר שָׁרְקִין ליה תנורא וכ׳ - “that they smear (fill up the cracks of) the stove for you on the Holy Day”
Part. pass. שְׁרִיקָא.
Avodah Zarah 31a שְׁרִיקָא וחתימא - “pasted with clay and sealed”