Siman - Succah Daf 3
- Machlokes Beis Shammai and Beis Hillel on the minimum size of a succah
Rav Shmuel bar Yitzchak said: הלכה צריכה שתהא מחזקת ראשו ורובו ושולחנו – The halachah is that a succah must be large enough to accommodate one’s head, most of his body and his table. When asked according to whom he is ruling, he answered that he was going according to Beis Shammai, who argues later in a Mishnah with Beis Hillel. Beis Hillel holds that if the table was inside the house, the succah is still valid. Rav Nachman bar Yitzchak challenged Rav Shmuel bar Yitzchak’s premise that Beis Shammai and Beis Hillel were debating a succah’s minimum dimensions. Perhaps they were arguing in a matter of a large succah וכגון דיתיב דמטולתא ושולחנו בתוך הבית – where one sits at the entrance of the succah and his table in his house. Beis Shammai holds גזרינן שמא ימשך אחר שולחנו – we prohibit this lest he is drawn after his table and eats inside the house, and Beis Hillel says we do not prohibit this? After a lengthy analysis, the Gemara concludes that they are arguing in both cases.
- Exemptions for a house that is not four by four amos squared
The Gemara brings a Baraisa that teaches that a house that does not contain an area that is four by four amos, is patur from many halachos. It begins פטור מן המזוזה ומן המעקה ואין מטמא בנגעים – it is patur from the mitzvah of mezuzah, and from the mitzvah of a protective fence, and does not become tamei from tzaraas, ואינו נחלט בבתי ערי חומה – and is not irredeemably sold as are the houses of walled cities, ואין חוזרין עליו מעורכי המלחמה – and we do not return on its account from the battle front. What is the reason? Because the word "בית" is written in the Torah with reference to all of them, and a dwelling less than four amos squared is not considered a bayis.
The Baraisa continues, ואין מערבין בו ואין משתתפין בו ואין מניחין בו עירוב – and we do not make an eruv chatzeiros with such a house, nor do we make a shitufei mevo’os with it, and we do not place an eruv chatzeiros in it. What is the reason? דלא חזי לדירה – Because a structure less than four amos squared is not fit for dwelling. Rashi explains that since the residents of the chatzeir are regarded as dwelling in the house that the eruv is placed in, it stands to reason that the house must be fit for habitation.
- A shituf may be placed in a house that is less than four by four
The Baraisa above stated that an eruv may not be placed in house that is less than four by four amos and infers from this that we may place a shituf in it. What is the reason for the distinction between an eruv and a shituf? דלא גרע מחצר שבמבוי – Because a house smaller than four by four amos squared is no worse than a chatzeir in a mavoi. Rashi explains that if we were to view the house as though its roof and walls were removed it is now simply part of the surrounding open-air chatzeir. The difference between a shituf and an eruv is that an eruv symbolically allows all the residents of a chatzeir to be legally viewed as dwelling in one house. Therefore, the house must be fit for habitation. The function of a shituf, on the other hand, is to merge all the courtyards of the mavoi for their use, not for habitation. As long as the shituf is located in a protected space, the shituf is valid, even if that space is less than by four by four.
