תלמוד על סוכה 67:11

HALAKHAH: ⁴⁷Sifra Emor Pereq16(6), Babli 34a.“It is written, and brook-willows¹Lev.23:40: You shall take for yourselves on the First Day a fruit of the splendor tree, date-tree palms, a branch of the rope tree, and brook-willows. The lulav is the young palm branch. While in the verse it is called “palm”, because the leaves of the palm-tree spread out from the spine of the branch like fingers of a hand, it is traditional to take a young branch with the leaves still tightly clinging to its spine. From this the name לולב “tube” (cf. Note 27).. I admit not only from a brook, from where also from an unirrigated place or from mountains? The verse says, and willows⁴⁸The plural and the prefixed “and” indicate the inclusion of two additional kinds of willow twig.. Abba Shaul says, brook-willows, two. A willow twig for the lulav and a willow twig for the Temple⁴⁹He disputes the admission of willow twigs from trees growing far from water by pointing out that willow twigs were needed not only for the “4 kinds” tied to the lulav but also to surround the altar (Mishnah 4:4). This explains both the plural and the prefixed “and”..” Then why was it written and brook-willows? To exclude the osier. ⁵⁰Babli 34a, Tosephta 2:7.“What is an osier? If its is like a sickle. It was stated: Like a sickle it is disqualified, like a plane it is (qualified) [disqualified]⁵¹The correct text is the (scribe’s); the [corrector’s] clearly is erroneous.. What is a disqualified willow twig? The leaf is round and the stem white. What is a qualified willow twig? The leaf is long and the stem red.”

HALAKHAH: “Ten saplings, etc.“Rebbi Zeïra, Rebbi La, Rebbi Yasa in the name of Rebbi Joḥanan⁴⁸This paragraph (from Sukkah4:1, fol. 54b) is an introduction to the next one which will mention the ten saplings. It deals with the laws of the feast of Tabernacles when in addition to the ceremonies prescribed by the Torah the altar was adorned by long willow twigs and water was poured as libation on the altar, against the opposition of the Sadducees.: The “willow” is practice going back to Moses on Mount Sinai. This is against Abba Shaul, since Abba Shaul said the willow is a word of the Torah (Lev. 23:40): “Brook willows,” two⁴⁹Babli Sukkah 34a. In the Babli, it is not implied that taking the willows in the Temple is a separate biblical commandment. (In the opinion of I. Löw, ערבה denotes not the willow but the Euphrates poplar but in Arabic ע̇דב means “willow”.). One willow for the lulab⁵⁰The three kinds of branches taken together on Tabernacles, Lev. 23:40., the other willow for the Temple. Rebbi Abba, Rebbi Ḥiyya in the name of Rebbi Joḥanan, willow and pouring of water are practice going back to Moses on Mount Sinai. This is against Rebbi Aqiba, since Rebbi Aqiba said the pouring of water is a word of the Torah⁵¹Babli Zebaḥim 110b. There, the derivation of R. Aqiba parallels the argument of Abba Shaul here, that (Num. 29:31) “and its libations” implies two libations, one of wine and one of water.. On the second day, (Num. 29:19) “and their libations.” On the sixth day, (Num. 29:31) “and its libations.” On the seventh day, (Num. 29:33) “and its rules.” מ י מ spells “water”⁵²In Sifry Num. 150, the argument is given in the name of R. Jehudah ben Batyra. In Num. 29:17–34, the sacrifices for the intermediate days of Tabernacles are given in identical language after the mention of the number of animals required. The only deviations from the identical patterns are ונסכיה ,ונסכיהם instead of ונסכה and כמשפטם instead of כמשפט. The additional letters are taken to form the word for “water.” Rabbenu Hillel notes in his commentary that ונסכיהם has two letters in excess over ונסכה so that the word to be formed would be מײם, in the time of the Yerushalmi the standard spelling of מים.. Rebbi Ḥiyya bar Abba asked before Rebbi Joḥanan, why does one now plough because of old trees? He said to him, when the practice was established it was given so that when they desired to plough they might plough⁷Since the institution of the Sabbatical year is interwoven with that of the Jubilee year and the Jubilee is possible only if the Twelve Tribes are living on their ancestral lands, the Sabbatical in the times of the Second Commonwealth is not a biblical but a rabbinic institution. It is a general rule in dealing with institutions of the Men of the Great Assembly that one is restrictive in interpretation while the Temple exists and lenient when the Temple does not exist. Since one hopes that the Temple will be re-established, the rules have to be stated in the Mishnah for future generations (Interpretation of Rav Ashi in Babli Mo‘ed Qaṭan 4a)..