Study Sukkah folio 2B with parallel Hebrew-English text, traditional commentary, and modern study tools. Free access to Babylonian Talmud online.
Text Excerpt
כולהו כרבה לא אמרי, ההוא ידיעה לדורות היא.
The Talmud explains why each of the rabbis cited his own source and did not accept the sources cited by the others. All of them, R' Zeira and Rava, did not say that the fact that a sukka more than 20 cubits high is unfit is derived from the verse: “So that your future generations will know that I caused the children of Israel to reside in sukkot when I took them out of the land of Egypt” (Leviticus 23:43), as did Rabba, because in their opinion that verse does not mandate one to be aware that he is sitting in a sukka; rather, it mandates knowledge for future generations of the exodus from Egypt.
כרבי זירא נמי לא אמרי, ההוא לימות המשיח הוא דכתיב.
Similarly, they, Rabba and Rava, also did not say that it is derived from the verse: “And there should be a sukka for shade in the daytime from the heat” (Isaiah 4:6), as did R' Zeira, because in their opinion it is with regard to the messianic era that this verse is written. It means that God will be a shield and a shelter for the Jewish people; it is not referring to the structure of a sukka.
ורבי זירא — אם כן לימא קרא: ״וחופה תהיה לצל יומם״, ומאי ״וסוכה תהיה לצל יומם״ — שמעת מינה תרתי.
The Talmud asks: And R' Zeira, how would he respond to this objection? The Talmud answers that R' Zeira could say: If it is so that the verse is merely a metaphor, let the verse say: And there should be a canopy for shade in the daytime from the heat, which is the term used in the previous verse. And what is the meaning of: “And there should be a sukka for shade in the daytime from the heat”? Learn from it two matters: One is the plain meaning of the verse, that God will be a canopy of glory for the Jewish people, and the second is that the essence of a sukka is to have the roofing provide shade.