Synopsis of Subjects
CHAPTER I.
MISHNA I. About the legal height and width of the booth which is to be used
during the seven days of Tabernacles. What was to be done when it was
higher or lower than the prescribed size? If one has placed four poles
and roofed them, how is the law? The different opinions of R. Jacob
and the sages on this point. Whence is deduced from biblical passages
the size prescribed by the sages? Did the Shekhina descend from heaven
to earth; and also Moses and Elijah, did they ascend to heaven, or not?
And in the latter case, how are to be explained the passages which state
that they did? The ells which are mentioned in the Scriptures, how many
spans did they contain? When there is a difference in the biblical passages
between the Massorah (i.e., how they are written) and the reading
of it, what must be considered for practice? How shall the Succah be
considered--as a temporary or permanent dwelling? The booths of potters
or watchmen, can they be used for a legal Succah?
MISHNAS II. to VIII. How about an old Succah? What is called an old
Succah? How about a Succah under a tree, or if a cloth was spread over
the roof of the Succah? If one Succah was over another? What kind of
material must be used for the roof of the Succah? How to beautify the
religious duties for the sake of the Lord, and from what passage of
the Scriptures this is deduced. If bundles of straw, wood, or twigs
may be used for the roof of the Succah. The two things which R. Jacob
heard from R. Johanan and the three things which Rabha bar bar
Hana has heard in the name of the same, and they could not imagine the
real meaning of then and how the latter Amoraim tried to find it out.
What Hana bar Abba, and R. Hisda in the name of Rabina bar Shila, and
Meremar said and lectured about the roofing of the Succah. How it is
when one wants to cover the Succah
with boards, the size of same, and how they are to be laid. What is
to be done if small rafters, over which is no ceiling, are to be used
for a booth. The difference of opinion between the schools of Shammai
and Hillel, and R. Jehudah and R. Meir,
MISHNAS IX. to XIII, If one likes to roof his booth with iron spits.
If one likes to suspend textile walls from the roof downwards. If the
roof was three spans distant from the walls. How is the case with a
court surrounded by balconies? The law of a crooked wall. If one likes
to make a Succah in the form of a cone. About a reed mat made for sleeping
on, whether a Succah can be covered with it; the size of it. A mat made
of bark or papyrus, if large, may be used for a cover,
CHAPTER II.
MISHNAS I. to VII. How is it when one sleeps under a bed in the booth?
About Tabbi, the slave of Rabban Gamaliel, who was a scholar. If one
likes to support the Succah with a bedstead. If a Succah is covered
thinly, what must be more-the sunshine or the shadow? If one constructs
a Succah on top of a wagon, or on board of a vessel. What happened to
Rabban Gamaliel and R. Aqiba when they were on board of a vessel, and
the latter made there a Succah. Whether a Succah can be made on the
back of a camel. Can a living animal be used as a wall to the Succah?
How is it with an elephant-a living or dead one? How is the law about
a partition not made by human hands, if it can be considered legally
as a wall to the Succah? If one makes a Succah between trees which form
side-walls. How is it about the delegates for religious purposes--are
they obliged to or exempted from the duty of the Succah? How is it with
a mourner, with a bridegroom and his attendants, concerning the duty
of the Succah? How is it with those who are on the road in the day-time,
and those who are on the road in the night-time only. How is it with
the watchman of a tower, or the gardens? How is it with the sick? How
is it about those who are afflicted? What Rabban Johanan b. Zakkai did
when two dates were brought to him to taste out of the Succah, and Rabban
Gamaliel when ajar of water was brought to him when he was out of the
Succah; and what R. Zadok did when food less than the size of an egg
was brought to him out of the Succah,
MISHNAS VIII. to X. How many meals must be eaten in the Succah during
the seven days? The difference of opinion between R. Eliezer and the
sages on that point. How they both deduce it from the passages of the
Scriptures. If one makes amends with extra dishes in the Succah, has
he done his duty? The manager of the house of Agrippa the king asked
R. Eliezer about his two Succahs and his two wives, which he had in
two different cities in Palestine, and what the latter answered. If
it is allowed to build a Succah in the intermediate days, and what is
to be done when a Succah becomes ruined during the seven days. Can one
fulfil his duties in his neighbor's Succah, or must each one have his
own Succah? What R. Eliezer said to R. Ilai when he came to visit him
in the city of Lud. What happened to R. Eliezer when he took his rest
in the booth of R. Johanan bar Ilai in the city of Kisri. There was
not one tribe in Israel from which a judge did not descend (see the explanation of it, p. 35, footnote). What happened to the
same when he took his rest in Upper Galilea, and was asked thirty Halakhas
about the law of the Succah. What was said of Rabban Johanan b. Zakkai
the Master of R. Eliezer, of all his habits and customs, and that R.
Eliezer his disciple conducted himself similarly. About the eighty disciples
of Hillel the Elder. Who was the greatest of all, and who the least,
and what was said about the latter. What the Elders of the schools of
Shammai and Hillel said when they visited R. Johanan b. Hahoronith,
and found him sitting with his head and the greater part of his body
in the booth, and the table was in the house. How is it with women,
slaves, and minors-are they exempt from the Succah? What shall be the
age of a minor to be considered so? What Shammai the Elder did when
his daughter-in-law gave birth to a son during the Feast of Tabernacles.
How the Succah shall be used during the seven days of the festival as
a regular domicile, and the house as an occasional abode. How is it
when it rains? Where the finest vessels and utensils must be kept during
the time of Tabernacles, and which of the inferior of them are allowed
to be kept in the Succah. What R. Joseph did when a wind blew the chips
of the covering into the dish, when he was sitting in the Succah, and
what Abayi asked him. What an eclipse of the sun means to the whole
world. When the sun and the moon are eclipsed, it is an ill omen to
the enemies of Israel, so maintains R. Meir. On account of four things
the sun is eclipsed. For four things the property of householders becomes
annihilated,
CHAPTER III.
MISHNAS I. to III. The law about the palm branch, the size of it, if
it was acquired by test or dried, or if it was from a grove. What R.
Huna. said to the sellers of myrtles--what they shall do when they buy
myrtles of Gentiles. How is the law if a public street is roofed for
the purpose of a Succah. What R. Na'hman said to the sages when an old
woman complained that the exilarch and all the sages of the house of
the exilarch are sitting in a robbed Succah. If a citron cannot be found,
can it be replaced by a lemon or not? If the point of the citron was
broken off. If the leaves of the palm branch were torn off. How the
law is if the "twins" of the Lulab are divided. The prescribed size
of a Lulab and a myrtle. How many boughs of myrtle? How the law is if
a bough of a myrtle has more berries than leaves. If it was a Tzaphtzapha.
If a greater number of leaves have dropped off. If the tip has been
broken off. If a Lulab must be tied up, and how it shall be tied together
with the myrtle and the willow. Of what places must a willow be taken.
The difference of opinion between R. Ishmael, R. Tarphon, and R. Aqiba
about the prescribed sizes of the Lulab, myrtle, willow, and citron.
What Samuel said to the sellers of myrtles,
MISHNAS IV. to VII. How is it with a citron which was taken off a tree
less than three years old? What, if it was of Demai? What is
the minimum size of a small citron and the maximum of a large one? How
is the law if a citron has been peeled and gets the color of a red date?
If it has a hole. How is an unripe citron? What makes a citron unbeautiful?
The Lulab which must be tied with its own kind only, according to R.
Jehudah, what is to be called its
own kind? The objection of R. Meir, who relates that the inhabitants
of Jerusalem tied a Lulab with gold lace, and what the sages answered
to this. What Rabba said to the men who tied the Hoshanoth for the exilarch.
How to prevent an intervention between the Lulab and the other things
which are to be tied with it. The myrtle bough used for religious duties--may
it be smelled, or not? And how is it with the citron? With what hands
the Lulab and the citron must be handled. Why do we pronounce the benediction
on the Lulab only? When must the Lulab be shaken? How is it to be shaken?
What is the law if one is on the road and has no Lulab? When is Hallel
to be read? Who must read it? From what chapters of the Psalms the Hallel
is said. What the reader shall say, and what the congregation shall
answer in the saying of Hallel. What verses are to be repeated in Hallel,
MISHNAS VIII. to XI. What is the law when one buys a Lulab from a common
man in the Sabbatical year. Is a citron equal to a tree in all respects?
Does the fruit of the Sabbatical year become exchanged, if it is done
in the manner of buying and selling? The Sabbatical year holds the money
exchanged for its fruits. May both the fruit of Sabbatical year and
of second tithe be exchanged for wild game, cattle, and fowl, when they
are alive or slaughtered? How the Lulab was used in the second Temple,
and in the country at that time, and what R. Johanan b. Zakkai has ordained
after its destruction. When the first day of Tabernacles falls on a
Sabbath. What happened to Rabban Gamaliel, R. Elazar b. Azariah, and
R. Aqiba when the former bought a citron for a thousand Zuz, and what
he did with it. What R. Elazar b. Zadok relates how the custom of the
men of Jerusalem was. When the Lulab may be put in water, when water
may be added, and when it must be changed. At what age a minor has to
shake the Lulab, to perform the duties of Tzitzith, Tefilin, and his
father to teach him the Torah, and to read with him the Shema,
CHAPTER IV.
MISHNA I. The Lulab and willow to surround the altar were sometimes
used on six days, and sometimes on seven days of the festival. The Hallel
and the eating of peace-offerings took place on eight days, and the
pipes were played on sometimes five, sometimes six days, In which case
was the Lulab used seven days? Whence do we deduce this from the Scriptures?
Why do we use the Lulab seven days in memory of the Temple, and not
the willow? Do the Lulab and the willow violate the Sabbath or not?
Can one fulfil the ceremony of the willow with that which is tied to
the Lulab? May a man go more than ten Parsaoth on the eve of Sabbath?
MISHNAS II. to IV. How was the commandment to take the willow fulfilled
in Jerusalem? What was said when they went around the altar with the
willow? The saying of R. Simeon b. Jochai, that he could exempt the
whole world from the day of judgment, since he was born till that time,
etc. Must the benediction on the Lulab be pronounced all the seven days,
or on the first day only? Shall the benediction of the time be pronounced
with the Lulab and the Succah, and when? Come and see: The usages of
the Holy One, blessed be He, are not as the usages of human beings.
Can the citron be eaten during the seven days, or on the eighth day
only? The difference of opinion
between the Tanaim and Amoraim, if the ceremony of the willow is based
upon a tradition of the prophets, or it is only a custom of theirs.
Must the benediction of the time be pronounced on the eighth day of
the Tabernacles, which is a separate holiday? The Hallel and the enjoying
of the peace-offerings were for eight days. How so? How was the pouring
out of the water? Why the people called out to him who poured out the
water "Raise thy hand." Why were the holes of the two silver basins
of which the wine and water were poured out not equal in size? The saying
of R. Elazar, that the doing of charity is greater than all the sacrifices.
Charity is rewarded only in accordance with the kindness with which
it is done. in three things is the bestowing of favors greater than
charity,
CHAPTER V.
MISHNAS I. and II. The difference of opinion about the music of the
sacrifices, if it was instrumental or vocal. How pious and distinguished
men danced before the people with lighted flambeaux in their hands,
and what they said. After reaching the gate they turned westward; what
they said about their ancestors and themselves. The beauty of the Temple
which was rebuilt by Herod the Great, and the advice which the sages
gave to him. The beauty of the diuplustin (double portico) of Alexandria
in Egypt, all that it contained, the seventy-one golden chairs for the
Sanhedrin, and how all this was destroyed by Alexander of Macedonia.
The separate places for males and females in the Temple, and how they
were changed in order to prevent levity. About the lamentation of the
death of Messiah ben Joseph, and the death of the evil angel. The tradition
of the two Messiahs, ben Joseph and ben David, and the different explanations
of the verse Zechariah, vii. 10, according to the believers of the old
tradition and the believers of the Messiahship of Christ. About the
evil angel--how he appears in the beginning and how he grows in the
nature of human beings. What the Messiah ben David will ask of the Lord.
The seven names of the evil angel. The evil angel is hidden in man's
heart. How he tempts scholars more than any one else. How Abayi watched
a man and a woman who went on the road. What one shall do when the hideousness
has attacked him. The three verses of the Scriptures which clear Israel
on the judgment day. Who are meant by the four carpenters mentioned
in Zechariah, ii. 3? Who are the seven shepherds and the eight anointed
men mentioned in Micah, v. 4? The four lads who held jars of oil containing
120 lugs. Was it in all 120 lugs, or did each jar contain so much? Who
said: Well be to our youth which does not disgrace our age? and who
said vice versa? What Hillel the Elder said when he was engaged
in the enjoyment of the pouring of the water. For what purpose the fifteen
songs of degrees were said by David. What is the meaning of "we belong
to God" and "we raise our eyes to God"?
MISHNAS III. to VI. How many times was the trumpet blown in the Temple
every day, and how many on the festivals? The different opinions of
the Tanaim about this point. When was the maximum of forty-eight times
blown? For what purpose were the seventy bullocks offered on the seven
days of the Feast of Tabernacles? And for what purpose was the one bullock
offered [Numb. xxix. 36]? Three times in the year all the twenty-four orders of priests were alike entitled to share the
pieces of offerings of the festival, and in the shewbread, for what
purpose? Whence do we deduce that all the orders of priests had equal
shares in the offerings; that were said to be sacrificed on the festivals?
If a festival falls before or after a Sabbath, all the twenty-four orders
share alike in the shewbread. What is meant by before or after? About
the order of Bilgah, when Miriam his daughter becomes an apostate, and
what she said when the enemy entered the sanctuary, and what was done
to the whole order,
Sources: Biblical
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