Talmud Illuminated

The Talmud uses the following verse as the basis for separating men from women in the synagogue: " And the land shall mourn separately,...

The water-drawing celebration on Sukkot was the pinnacle of joy. Whoever did not see it never saw rejoicing in his life.  Down from the Temp...

The flute was played in the Temple during the nights of Sukkot. It served as a musical accompaniment before the drawing of the water for lib...

The mitzvah of the water libation was done in the following manner. There was a golden vessel with a capacity of three lugin (between half a...

Earlier, we said that many mitzvot on Sukkot last for seven or even eight days. For example, rejoicing goes on for eight days, and it is exp...

There are seven days in the Holiday of Sukkot, and day number eight is also a Holiday, called "The eighth day," or Shemini Atzeret...

Rabbi Zeira said, "Observe how human properties differ from God's. In the human world, an empty cup can receive liquid, but a full ...

As we mentioned earlier, the willow (aravah) was a special law taught to Moses on Sinai but never written down in the Torah. Nevertheless, i...

Ten saplings, willow, and water are laws never written down in the Torah, representing rules taught to Moses on Sinai. What do they mean? Ev...

Sometimes, the Talmud enumerates various possibilities of the Holidays falling on different days of the week and the resulting count of the ...

Every day during Sukkot, one should take the Sukkot bunch  and wave it. Shabbat is an exception: if one carries it to a Sage to learn the de...

The Sukkot bundle includes the following species: citron, palm, myrtle, and willow . Each student saw his teacher doing this, and the Talmud...

Having just discussed performing the mitzvah with a stolen branch, let us think of what happens when one steals the sukkah of his fellow and...

On Sukkot, people must wave a bunch of branches . One of these is a palm branch (lulav.) However, if he stole his lulav, it is not kosher, a...

The sukkah is intended as a temporary dwelling: it is shaky and not too strong; it lets in sun and rain. However, its residents must behave ...

Another mitzvah of Sukkot is " waving the branches " - the palm branches, citron, and so on. One should own them at the time of wa...

One must eat fourteen meals in the Sukkah during the seven days of the Holiday, one during the day and one in the evening. This is the opini...

Someone who is sick is exempt from the obligation of a sukkah: he does not have to sleep there, and he does not have to eat there. Even his ...

Normally, the sukkah is covered by s'chach made of branches that keep out most of the sun and do not leave large holes. If he places a b...

Earlier, we said that one who puts bundles on the top of the sukkah makes the s'chach invalid. We also explained that the s'chach mu...