Commentary for Sukkah 7:26

And even if he nullified them - ...for all seven [days], his intention is nullified against other people's, and his nullification does not nullify.

Straw and he nullified it - ...verbally, for all seven [days]

Straw that he intends not to remove - ...and he will not need to remove it during all the days of the festival, and furthermore, he did not actually verbally nullify them.

Or straw - he placed it there simply, and does not know whether he will remove it or not.

Disagreement between Rabbi Yose, etc. - And indeed, they disagree about earth that he does not intend to remove. Since Rabbi Yose considers it nullified, even if he did not nullify it verbally. And the Rabbis do not consider it nullified. And this, that we chose [to mention] earth placed without any intention, because [it displays] the extent of Rabbi Yose's claim. That even placed simply, without knowledge whether or not it will be removed or not, he considers it nullified. But straw is useful for animals, fire, or cement; therefore, placed without any intentions, it is not nullified, even according to Rabbi Yose.

Our version: a house that he filled with straw or stones, and he nullified them - And this is related to [the transfer or ritual impurity within] tents. A tent containing ritual impurity where there is one tefah of space, it does not break through, above from the roof. But ritual impurity that is confined, where there is not a tefah of space to the roof against it, the ritual impurity breaks through and ascends to the heavens. And indeed, this is a law given to Moshe from Sinai. It follows that a house that contains a corpse or a kezayit of a corpse, and he filled it with straw or stones and nullified them. [The sources of ritual impurity] are confined and break through. But if he did not nullify them, then it is as if he removed them, and there is a space.

Straw that he intends not to remove: this is like earth without thought to intention, and it is nullified - And they disagree about straw and also about earth, since stones are equivalent to earth. The Tanna Kamma says that they require verbal nullification. And Rabbi Yose said to him: "If he knows that he will not remove it, then it is considered nullified from there. And stones, even placed simply, when he does not know if he will remove them or not, it is considered nullified. Unless he knows that he will remove it; then it is like straw placed simply, and it is not nullified." It follows that if straw or earth are nullified verbally, then everybody agrees that they are considered nullified. If straw is placed without intention, or earth is placed with intention to remove it, then it is not nullified according to everybody. On straw that he will not remove, and earth of similar nature, or even earth without any intention, it is a disagreement, and Rabbi Yose considers them to be nullified.

Palm leaves - ...of the sekhakh, with their ends hanging down

If their shade - ...of the palm leaves is greater than their sunlight, if the sekhakh above [20 amah] were taken away

Valid - Since we measure 20 [amah] from them to the bottom

Abaye thought to say - That like a tall [sukkah] is not considered to be lowered and valid when the sunlight is greater than the shade, similarly with a low [sukkah], it is not considered to be lowered to become invalid if its sunlight is greater than its shade, so it is valid.

Middle wall - For an ordinary sukkah has three walls, as the Mishnah teaches, and the fourth wall is open space.

Along its entirety - That the two ends of the platform touch the two side walls. And the platform is built from stones and cement. If the platform contains the minimum area of valid sukkah: slightly more than seven tefah, which is sufficient to contain one's head, most of their body, and their table.

Valid - The entire sukkah is valid, since it has three walls, even beyond the platform. We measure the space from the platform to the top, and we find that the middle wall is completely valid. The side walls are made valid along the length of the platform. This is a small, valid, sukkah. We say later (19a): trimmings that extend beyond the sukkah are considered to be the sukkah. It is explained that if there is a completely valid section of a sukkah, and trimming extend out from there (trimmings are sekhakh made from the leftovers from threshing and wine casking, as it was usual to do. The trimmings go beyond the valid sukkah area, and do not have three walls, but are considered to be a sukkah. Therefore, the larger entirety of our sukkah is valid.

From the side - For instance, if he built the platform against one of the side walls.

If there is from the edge of the platform to the wall - ...(the second wall), that the distance from it is four amah.

Invalid - Since it is not made valid by this this platform. Rather, it only has two walls. The side wall that it touches, and the middle wall that touches the edge of the platform.

Less than four amah, it is valid - ...since even [the third wall] is made valid by [the platform]. Because we hold (below, 6b) a tradition from Moshe at Sinai that a sukkah can be made valid by a wall that bends less than four amah. We consider our sekhakh above, connected to the far wall, as if it it is part of the wall itself, and it bends until it is above the edge of the platform. Here, we measure the height [of the sukkah] from the edge of the platform and up, even though the sukkah continues outwards from under the platform, since the end of the platform does not meet it. Until [the platform], this is our height for the space, and we do not count the space from below the platform.

A house where we reduce - ...its roof. Their roofs were made of separate components. They were of equal height, not beveled. And the middle section of the roof is removed.

Sekhakh is placed - ...with valid sekhakh, on the opening, and we find valid sekhakh that is far away from the walls on every side.

Less than four amah is valid - Since the walls of the house are made into valid walls [of the sukkah]. And the ceiling which is invalid [for sekhakh], between [the walls and the sekhakh], is considered to be part of the wall, and the wall into [the sekhakh]. [The ceiling] is not invalid sekhakh; rather, it is a wall that connects to valid sekhakh.

And dug it out - a hole in the middle.