We conclude the tractate with the story of one priestly clan’s apostasy during the reign of Antiochus.

The opening and closing music for this podcast is Ufros from The Epichorus album One Bead.

Today we review some liturgical “history” of the psalms recited in the Temple, and how the sacrifices are memorialized in today’s liturgy.

The opening and closing music for this podcast is Ufros from The Epichorus album One Bead.

If you have two mitzvah-opportunities before you, something special and something prosaic and “everyday,” which should you do first?

The opening and closing music for this podcast is Ufros from The Epichorus album One Bead.

Today’s page contains rich and mysterious lore about the divine name and primordial chaos.

The opening and closing music for this podcast is Ufros from The Epichorus album One Bead.

One of the talmud’s classic stories about sexual self-control. When the Babylonian sage Abbaye appoints himself as the “modesty police” and follows a couple to prevent them from engaging in appropriate conduct, he ends up learning an uncomfortable truth about himself.

The opening and closing music for this podcast is Ufros from The Epichorus album One Bead.

What does true celebration look like? And what is the original textual basis for the practice of separation of men and women in prayer?

The opening and closing music for this podcast is Ufros from The Epichorus album One Bead.

What is the right balance between vocal music and instrumental music? What was “Moses’ flute”? And should you be worried that a snake might have deposited some of its venom in your water?

The opening and closing music for this podcast is Ufros from The Epichorus album One Bead.

The Talmud’s classic discussion on the important question: What’s better: Tzedakah (financial generosity), or Gemilut Hasadim (acts of lovingkindness)?

The opening and closing music for this podcast is Ufros from The Epichorus album One Bead.

Why would the ritual of Nisuch Ha-Mayim (water libations) become a flash point for disagreements among different groups of Jews? Why would a misstep in such a ceremony so bother the people at the Temple that they would pelt a priest with their etrogs? And the peculiar story of the two heretics, Sasson and Simcha, and how they feel that the entire Bible is really about them.

The opening and closing music for this podcast is Ufros from The Epichorus album One Bead.

What is the holiday of Shmini Atzeret? What makes it different from the rest of Sukkot — and in what ways does it resemble the rest of Sukkot? (And should we even refer to “the rest of” Sukkot, if Shmini Atzeret is really its own separate holiday?)

The opening and closing music for this podcast is Ufros from The Epichorus album One Bead.

What are the blessings for dwelling in the sukkah, for using the lulav and etrog, and for lighting Hanukkah candles? How have these practices changed over time?

The opening and closing music for this podcast is Ufros from The Epichorus album One Bead.

What can Sukkot teach us about different ways of being in relationship with God? Today’s daf will explore this question through the ritual of hoshanot.

The opening and closing music for this podcast is Ufros from The Epichorus album One Bead.

Why do things sometimes matter to us more than they’re “supposed” to? On Sukkah 44, we explore the tension between the official, authoritative sources for a practice, and the visceral, lived experience of performing that practice.

The opening and closing music for this podcast is Ufros from The Epichorus album One Bead.

What value is there to having a single Temple? And what have we lost with its destruction? Thinking about the lulav might offer an answer that doesn’t require fundamentalist assumptions.

The opening and closing music for this podcast is Ufros from The Epichorus album One Bead.

We see Bar/Bat Mitzvah time as an induction into religious obligation, but today’s daf will provide an alternative view, leaving us with a question: How do we know when it is time for children become participants in Jewish ritual life?

The opening and closing music for this podcast is Ufros from The Epichorus album One Bead.

Today’s daf explores the question of personal ownership of lulavim on Sukkot. Why is such ownership required? Why is giving a lulav to a friend as a temporary gift okay? What do these rules tell us about the purpose of the ritual?

The opening and closing music for this podcast is Ufros from The Epichorus album One Bead.

Today’s daf engages in the question of what sabbatical produce may be used for leading to the question of what the primary purpose of the ban on agricultural labor during the sabbatical year. Is it to give the land a rest or is it to serve as an economic equalizer?

The opening and closing music for this podcast is Ufros from The Epichorus album One Bead.

What assumptions should we make about the religious practice of others? In what ways should these assumptions inform our interactions with them? Today’s daf engages these questions through a discussion of purchasing a etrog in the shmitta (sabbatical) year.

The opening and closing music for this podcast is Ufros from The Epichorus album One Bead.

What happens if one is travelling and didn’t have time to wave the lulav – may one do so even late afternoon? Is a person exempt from Hallel by listening to someone else? And what if that someone happens to be a slave, minor or a woman? Is Hallel and Birkat Hamazon d’oraita or d’rabbanan?

The opening and closing music for this podcast is Ufros from The Epichorus album One Bead.

A kal v’chomer that starts out as a stringency but results in a leniency and why such a kal v’chomer is invalid. How to tie the four species and the different customs of various Jewish communities. The mishna about waving the four species during Hallel, when and when not to wave.

The opening and closing music for this podcast is Ufros from The Epichorus album One Bead.

The different parts of an etrog. What happens when an etrog gets damaged, how much of damage and what is the location of a damage that makes it pasul, or what happens if an etrog gets eaten by mice. How much scrutiny should we pay to pick the best etrog?

The opening and closing music for this podcast is Ufros from The Epichorus album One Bead.

An etrog that is Orlah or Ma’aser Sheni and the mahloket between Rabbi Hiya bar Avin and Rabbi Assi as to the reason an etrog is pasul: is it because of “heter achila” or because of “din mammon”?

The opening and closing music for this podcast is Ufros from The Epichorus album One Bead.

The laws of arava. The principle of “hilkheta gemirei lehu” and “halakha leMoshe meSinai”, although these principles have no actual scriptural source they are still considered of equal authority as laws that have a scriptural basis. The number of species required and can one add to them or is one considered ba’al tosif and finally, the Mishnah of the laws of etrog.

The opening and closing music for this podcast is Ufros from The Epichorus album One Bead.

What are the requirements for a kosher hadas and what species is meant when we are talking about a Hadas. What is meant with “dichuy etzel mitsvot” – the concept of “dichuy” (disqualification) in regards to mitsvot — can something that is unfit become fit again?

The opening and closing music for this podcast is Ufros from The Epichorus album One Bead.

Requirements of a lulav. Difference between a lulav that is “nisdak” “nifredu” and “nitzretu”, a lulav that is split, spread out or has torn off leaves.

The opening and closing music for this podcast is Ufros from The Epichorus album One Bead.

More on mitzvot of and sins, and what thieves owe to those from whom they steal.

The opening and closing music for this podcast is Ufros from The Epichorus album One Bead.

Can you pursue a sacred end with sinful means? Today we discuss the concept of Mitzvah ha’baah ba’aveira, a commandment achieved through a sin.

The opening and closing music for this podcast is Ufros from The Epichorus album One Bead.

Should Jewish norms treat every individual equally, demanding the same behavior of each person or should Jewish norms expect different things from different folks?

The opening and closing music for this podcast is Ufros from The Epichorus album One Bead.

Is rabbinic teaching primarily conservative, a project about maintaining the tradition we’ve received? Or is it about creativity, tapping as yet unexpected sources of meaning?

The opening and closing music for this podcast is Ufros from The Epichorus album One Bead.

How is Sukkot like Passover? And how many Sukkot should there be? Should we each have our own, or should all Israel share one gigantic Sukkah?

The opening and closing music for this podcast is Ufros from The Epichorus album One Bead.

What exempts us from sitting in the Sukkah? A little rain? An illness? An — in a tangential topic — why should a man not sleep in Tefillin? A hint: one answer is a little gross and the other a little sexy.

The opening and closing music for this podcast is Ufros from The Epichorus album One Bead.

Today we explore the Rabbinic principle that “one who is busy with one mitzvah is exempt from other mitzvot.”

The opening and closing music for this podcast is Ufros from The Epichorus album One Bead.

This episode includes further exploration of the opinions of R. Meir and R. Yehudah regarding the use of an animal for a wall. Exploration of conflicting opinions on whether a divorce document can be written on an animal. How R. Yosi Ha-glili and Rabbis drash the verse in Deuteronomy 24. Mishnah about using a tree for the walls of a sukkah and beginning discussion of it.

The opening and closing music for this podcast is Ufros from The Epichorus album One Bead.

A general principle in the mishnah is that if the tree is removed and the sukkah can stand, then the sukkah is considered valid. The mishnah about building a sukkah about a boat is R. Aqiva’s. The mishnah about a sukkah on a camel is R. Meir’s. Conflicting opinions [R. Meir and R. Yehudah] about the use of an animal for a wall of a sukkah and an exploration of the issues.

The opening and closing music for this podcast is Ufros from The Epichorus album One Bead.

This episode includes a clarification of the mishnaic term sukkah mduvlelet and application of the principle of havot rami, lower and cast, by which a roof composed of beams at different levels is said to collapse into one kosher roof for a sukkah.

The opening and closing music for this podcast is Ufros from The Epichorus album One Bead.

Is an ohel any structure or must it be a man-made structure. Exploration of this issue, in particular the ramifications of R. Yehudah’s opinion, and its limitations with reference to a practice related to the red heifer which comes from Tractate Parah; why does the Mishnah specify conversation rather than teaching with regard to learning from Rabban Gamaliel.

The opening and closing music for this podcast is Ufros from The Epichorus album One Bead.

This episode begins with the conclusion of a sugya about large and small reed mats being used for s’khakh; as well as a sugya about mats of different materials and whether or not they constitute vessels for the purposes of contracting impurity> We also begin the 2nd perek with mishnah about sleeping in a sukkah and the story about Tavi, Rabban Gamaliel’s servant sleeping in a sukkah, and what we learn from Rabban Gamaliel’s conversation; beginning of a sugya about whether or not a bed constitutes an ohel, a shelter, by which sleeping underneath it would mean one was not in the sukkah.

The opening and closing music for this podcast is Ufros from The Epichorus album One Bead.

This episode includes the conclusion of a sugya about the columns of a covered porch being used a wall for sukkah; explanation of a baraita which notes that a sukkah whose kosher s’khakh extends beyond the sukkah is treated like a sukkah; mishnah about the validity of a sukkah without a flat roof; story about Rav Yosef and Abbaye in which Rav Yosef uses a bridal bed in a sukkah; mishnah about a large reed mat being used for s’khakh; sugya about the difference between large and small mats.

The opening and closing music for this podcast is Ufros from The Epichorus album One Bead.

Does lavud, the legal fiction by which empty space of a small enough area is said to be filled in, exist on the side adjacent to the wall, or also in the middle; 2 drashot of R. Yehudah bar Ila’i; may the columns of a covered porch be used for the walls of the sukkah?

The opening and closing music for this podcast is Ufros from The Epichorus album One Bead.

The Talmud continues its creative understanding of the walls of the sukkah, with the imaginary “dofen akumah,” the crooked wall. Once again, we learn that a life of emunah–a life of faith and religious meaning– must be willing to go beyond common sense!

The opening and closing music for this podcast is Ufros from The Epichorus album One Bead.

Is Sukkot the holiday of illusion? Two principles which are applied in our mishnah suggest that what matters is not the actual structure of the Sukkah, but the halachic imagination which underlies it.

The opening and closing music for this podcast is Ufros from The Epichorus album One Bead.

Why are the pieces of a wooden bed not permitted to be used as schach for a Sukkah? Perhaps this is the Talmud’s way of teaching us a lesson in Bal Taschit: do not waste!

The opening and closing music for this podcast is Ufros from The Epichorus album One Bead.

“The prayers of the righteous are like pitchforks.” Or are they?

The opening and closing music for this podcast is Ufros from The Epichorus album One Bead.

In the rabbinic mind, some of the plants and species that we see around us were named before the giving of the Torah. It is amazing to think that the natural world and the language we use to describe it have been with us for millennia!

The opening and closing music for this podcast is Ufros from The Epichorus album One Bead.

The principle of Taaseh v’lo Min He’Asui (Make It! And don’t use something that is already made) extends beyond the rules of Schach throughout Jewish law. As in so many cases, it is the action itself, which is at the essence of Jewish life.

The opening and closing music for this podcast is Ufros from The Epichorus album One Bead.

Does our Sukkah represent the actual booths that we built in the desert or the Ananei Kavod (the Clouds of Glory) that protected us as we walked through the wilderness? According to the Vilna Gaon and the Pri Tzaddik, there may be a third option.

The opening and closing music for this podcast is Ufros from The Epichorus album One Bead.

The discussion of the validity of a sukkah built on top of another continues. A new Mishnah raises the issue of a sukkah in which a sheet is spread above or below the roofing, or over a bed that has been placed in the sukkah. The Gemara discusses whether or not such a sheet – or other items–could be considered decorative and not structural, in which case they could be permitted–if the decorations do not compromise the minimum required height of the sukkah. In illustration of this topic, the Gemara cites an episode in which Sages visited a sukkah in which there were hanging decorations.

The opening and closing music for this podcast is Ufros from The Epichorus album One Bead.

This page begins with a continuation of the Mishnah, which records a debate about the validity, for the purposes of the festival, of a sukkah that was built a month or more before the festival and/or for a purpose other than the festival. The question of the validity of a sukkah built during the festival is also discussed. On the subject of purpose-made, the Gemara draws a comparison to tziziot, the ritual fringes on garments, and whether they need to be made for the purpose of the commandment that mandates wearing them. A new Mishnah introduces question of the validity of a sukkah built under a tree and a sukkah built on top of another sukkah, which the Gemara then proceeds to discuss.

The opening and closing music for this podcast is Ufros from The Epichorus album One Bead.

The discussion about the validity of a circular sukkah continues, with mathematical calculations about how to achieve a circular area large enough to fulfill the requirement that a sukkah have dimensions of at least four by four cubits. The discussion about the teaching that the sukkah accommodate twenty-four people also continues. A different topic arises: in what ways can the consideration of the validity of a sukkah for the festival of Sukkot be informed by discussing other types of booths (also called sukkot) not built for a purpose other than celebrating the festival. These could include booths used by craftsmen, shepherds, field workers, and others. One consideration is that a booth built in order to provide shade and shelter could also be used as a sukkah for the festival.

The opening and closing music for this podcast is Ufros from The Epichorus album One Bead.

The Gemara continues the discussion of the required dimensions of the third wall of a sukkah, and raises the issue of a sukkah built in an alleyway. Among other considerations, is the validity of a sukkah built in an alleyway or from upright boards surrounding a well. A further teaching relates the issue of the third wall of a sukkah to the required measure of a partition that demarcates public and private space, a consideration in the laws of Shabbat. The Gemara discusses the Mishnah’s mandate that the shade cast by a sukkah’s roofing be greater than the sunlight that comes through. After considering the validity of a sukkah built on a ship or wagon, the Gemara then considers the validity of a circular sukkah and whether a sukkah should be judged as valid based on whether it can accommodate twenty-four people– or, perhaps, twelve suffice.

The opening and closing music for this podcast is Ufros from The Epichorus album One Bead.

Exploring the topic of oral teachings transmitted by God to Moses at Sinai, the Gemara questions whether certain other halakhic measurements are determined by such teachings or rather from a Torah verse listing the seven fruits of the land of Israel. On a related topic, the question arises as to whether teachings transmitted to Moses at Sinai can account for certain rules about immersion in a mikveh and requirements for partitions. A new topic: what are the implications of the requirement that a sukkah have at least three walls? What is the minimum length of the third wall?

The opening and closing music for this podcast is Ufros from The Epichorus album One Bead.

Based on the teaching that the ten handbreadth minimum height of a sukkah derives from the Torah’s stated measurements of the ark of the covenant, the Gemara discusses the idea of the ark’s cover as the meeting point between heaven and earth, and then considers the possibility that the thickness of the cover might be derived from applications of the word panim, face. This leads to a discussion of the faces of the cherubim, the sculpted figures on the ark cover. The suggestion is then made that the minimum height of a sukkah derives not from the ark, but from the dimensions of Solomon’s Temple in Jerusalem. The page ends with the further suggestion that perhaps the minimum height of a sukkah is not derived from the Bible at all but rather from an oral teaching transmitted by God to Moses at Sinai.

The opening and closing music for this podcast is Ufros from The Epichorus album One Bead.

Continuing a discussion begun on the previous page, the Gemara discusses the possible remedies for a sukkah that exceeds the maximum permissible height of twenty cubits: what is effect of raising the flooring or lowering the roofing. As far as sukkah that is lower than the permissible minimum of ten handbreadths–what circumstances make it possible to achieve the minimum height? Another consideration: the fitness of a sukkah made by erecting structures inside of or on top of an existing sukkah. The page ends with a teaching that the ten handbreadth minimum height of a sukkah is derived from the Torah’s stated measurements of the ark of the covenant and its cover.

The opening and closing music for this podcast is Ufros from The Epichorus album One Bead.

Big-tent Judaism: are super-small personalized sukkot ok?

The opening and closing music for this podcast is Ufros from The Epichorus album One Bead.

How high can your sukkah be? Masechet Sukkot opens with a discussion of what makes a sukkah kosher, and quickly takes us to a lesson about learning itself.

The opening and closing music for this podcast is Ufros from The Epichorus album One Bead.