Sukkah

Embark on a journey of Jewish learning and discovery, exploring the depth of our Sukkah resources, where tagged items including audio, programs, and podcast episodes await your exploration.

Sukkah 41: Offering Comfort on Sukkot

Rabbi Jay Kelman

Those who have sat shiva know that the weeks after shiva can be much harder than the shiva itself. No longer are there people coming to visit, at times at a non-stop basis, helping to provide comfort. During shiva, one’s needs are generally taken…
Article
Aug 29, 2021

Sukkah 41: An Expensive Lulav

Rabbi Jay Kelman

It was not long ago that it was hard to find a minyan of people with a lulav and etrog in shul. Following on the heels of the High Holidays, Sukkot was a much-neglected holiday. Even among those who did come to shul, few actually bought their own …
Article
Aug 27, 2021

Sukkah 41: My Own Lulav

Rabbi Jay Kelman

One of the unique laws of the arba minim, the four species, is that one can only fulfil the Biblical mitzvah with a set that one personally owns (Sukkah 41b). Our Sages understand that the phrase “ulekachtem lachem, and you shall take for yourself…
Article
Aug 25, 2021

Sukkah 28: Nice Guys Finish First

Leah Bogatie

Rabbi Yochanan ben HaChoranit must have been a great Sage. I imagine that many reading this devar Torah have never heard of him and there is in fact very little known about him. He appears but once in the Mishna and even in this instance it is not…
Article
Aug 19, 2021

Sukkah 28: A "Weak" Student

Rabbi Jay Kelman

To state that Rav Yochanan ben Zakai is one of the most important leaders in all of Jewish history is nothing short of an understatement. Without his bold leadership and radical thinking, Judaism likely would not have survived. It was he who…
Article
Aug 12, 2021

Sukkah 26: Snack Time

Rabbi Jay Kelman

One of the requirements of a sukkah is that it be a dirat arai, a temporary dwelling. A permanent structure would be a bayit, a home, rather than a sukkah. In a clever play on words, the Mishna (Sukkah 25a) teaches that ochlim v’shotim, one may eat…
Article
Aug 9, 2021

Sukkah 20: A Great Servant

Leah Bogatie

Psychologists have long known that two people can—and often do—see the exact same thing, and yet offer very different accounts of what they have witnessed. This can be because the brain may not process all that we see, because we are incapable of…
Article
Jul 30, 2021

Sukkah 2: Looking Skyward

Orly Hyman

“A sukkah that is taller than 20 amot, cubits (approximately 30 feet), is invalid; and Rabbi Yehuda validates it” (Sukkah 2a). This rather technical detail—one that has little practical relevance—seems an odd law with which to start masechet Sukkah…
Article
Jul 14, 2021

Some Concluding Thoughts on Masechet Sukkah

Rabbi Jay Kelman

As we have studied Masechet Sukkah together, we have stressed two themes: that of simcha, joy; and that of the unity of the Jewish people. Of course, these two themes are really one—the coming together of the Jewish people is the greatest of…
Article
Apr 2, 2014

Sukkah 52: The Greatest Joy

Rabbi Jay Kelman

“Whoever did not see the celebration of the drawing of the water (simchat beit hashoeva) has never witnessed joy in their life” (Sukkah 51a). The Mishnah goes on to describe the dancing, the juggling, the music, and more of these most…
Article
Apr 1, 2014