The regulations regarding the Feast of Tabernacles (Lev. xxiii. 34-36; Num. xxix. 12 et seq.; Deut. xvi. 13-16). In most of the editions it is the sixth treatise in the order Mo'ed. It is divided into five chapters.
Ch. i.: Prescribed height of the Tabernacle; its walls; nature of the covering; and time of making the tent or booth; circumstances rendering the booth unfit for use at the festival; material to be used for the covering and the walls; nature of the walls; distance between the walls and the covering.
Ch. ii.: How the obligation of sleeping in the tent during the festival may be fulfilled; further details as to the nature of the tent; cases in which a person is released from the obligation of sleeping and eating in the booth; how the obligation of eating in the tent may be met, and how many meals must be eaten in the booth during the festival; women, slaves, and small children are released from all obligation regarding the tent; age at which children are subjected to the laws regarding the booth; cases in which persons are released from the obligation of remaining in the booth during rain.
Ch. iii.: The Lulab (comp. Lev. xxiii. 40; Neh. viii. 15), made of the palm-, myrtle-, and willow-branches, and the etrog (citron); the kinds of branches that are unfit ("pasul"); the number of myrtle and willow-branches necessary for the lulab; the kind of etrog that is unfit;material for binding the lulab; passages of the Psalms during which the lulab must be waved on reciting "Hallel"; recitation of the "Hallel"; while the Temple was standing the lulab was carried within its walls on all the seven days of the feast, but outside on one day only; after the destruction of the Temple R. Johanan b. Zakkai decreed that in commemoration of the former custom the lulab should be carried in the provinces on all the seven days; what must be done if the first day of the Feast of Tabernacles falls on a Sabbath.
Ch. iv.: Number of days on which the several ceremonies of Sukkot are observed; manner of observing the regulation regarding the lulab; manner of placing the willow-branches around the altar, and the processions around it; the recitations during these processions, and the sentences at their close; how this ceremony is observed on the Sabbath; the custom of pouring out water, and attendant ceremonies, and how observed on the Sabbath.
Ch. v.: Further details regarding the ceremonies of drawing and pouring water; manifestations of joy during the act, and the recitations with musical accompaniment; how many times during the day the shofar was sounded in the Temple, and how many times on the Friday of the feast; sacrifices offered at the Feast of Tabernacles; the divisions of priests taking part in them, and the distribution among them of the sacrificial portions and the showbread.
From the Babylonian Talmud Sukkah: "The practise of philanthropy is better than many sacrifices" (49b). "Israel could not justify itself for its sins, if the sentences in Jer. xviii. 6 and Ezek. xxxvi. 26, which in a certain sense deny the freedom of the will, had not in a way relieved it from responsibility for its acts" (52b). (From JE s.v. Sukkah.)
Soncino Babylonian Talmud Sukkah
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Book Details
Author(s)Israel W. Slotki
PublisherTalmudic Books
ISBN / ASINB007L3YL5O
ISBN-13978B007L3YL57
Sales Rank550,051
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