SUKKAH

SUKKAH (Heb. סֻכָּה; "booth"), sixth tractate of the order Mo'ed in the Mishnah, Tosefta, and Babylonian and Jerusalem Talmuds. It deals, in five chapters, with laws relating to the festival of sukkot (Tabernacles). The festival is sometimes referred to simply as the ḥag ("the holiday"; Num. 29:12; Neh. 8:14, etc.), and in fact, this name is employed throughout this tractate, indicating that it was considered the most outstanding festival. The observances with which this tractate is primarily concerned are the "dwelling in booths" and the taking of the four species . Two other ceremonies dealt with are the ceremony of the willow branches and the rite of water libation. Chapter one covers the making of the sukkah; chapter two continues the subject, and goes on to define the term "dwelling" in the sukkah. The question of exemptions is also touched upon. Chapter three deals with the four species. Chapter four gives further information on the various ceremonies, including the above-mentioned ceremony of the willow branches and the rite of the water libation, and chapter five describes vividly the festivities surrounding the festival of the water drawing. Information is also given about other occasions when the trumpets were sounded, as well as on how the various sacrificial duties were distributed among the priestly divisions and how they shared the sacrificial portions. The Mishnah of Sukkah can be divided into two main sections: chapters 1–3 and chapters 4–5. Both the language and the contents as well as the places mentioned therein show that the latter belong to the period of the Second Temple. Nevertheless these two chapters are not of the same source, and differences in language are recognizable in them. The reason is that though in the main they belong to the time of the Temple, they were adapted and worded by later tannaim, some of whose names have remained there, such as R. Judah (5:4) and Johanan b. Beroka (4:6). The Babylonian Gemara to tractate Sukkah is unique compared with most other tractates. Especially numerous in this tractate are the "transposed themes," i.e., the themes which contradict the same themes found in parallel passages in other tractates, both in the circumstances attributed to them (ukimta) and the discussions themselves. On the other hand the Gemara displays a remarkable similarity to that of the Jerusalem Talmud, to which there is no parallel with regard to the other tractates of the Babylonian Talmud. On this basis, J.N. Epstein has come to the conclusion that despite the fact that it shows many similarities to other tractates, Sukkah is to be regarded as belonging to a class of its own. In addition Sukkah contains a considerable number of the disputes between Abbaye and Rava and a comparatively large number of additions of the savoraim. Sukkah was translated into English in the Soncino Talmud by I.W. Slotki (1938). The tractate ends with an obscure reference to the priestly watch of Bilgah (see I Chron. 24:14), which was in various ways discriminated against. The alternate reasons for this are given in the Tosefta (4:28; variations in TJ 5:8 and TB 56b), namely that they were disgraced by a female member, Miriam, who became an apostate and traitor and married a Greek captain   during the Hasmonean struggle against the Syrio-Greeks. The other reason given is that they were negligent in their Temple service. Other aggadic points to be noted are the description of the splendor of the Great Synagogue in Alexandria, which is referred to as a Great Basilica (Tosef. 4:6), and the story of Trajan's persecution of the Jews and its reasons (TJ 5:1, 55b). Of interest also are the discussions of the relative merits of charity and sacrifices (TB 49b) and observations on the problem of freedom of will (TB 52b). -BIBLIOGRAPHY: Epstein, Tanna'im, 37–40, 346–53; Epstein, Amoraim, 45–53; Ḥ. Albeck, Shishah Sidrei Mishnah, 2 (Seder Mo'ed; 1958), 253–8. (Arnost Zvi Ehrman.)