Siman - Succah Daf 5

• The source that a succah must be at least ten tefachim in height

The Gemara asks what the source is for the Mishnah’s ruling that סוכה שאינה גבוהה עשרה טפחים פסולה – a succah that is not at least ten tefachim high, is invalid. Rav, Rebbe Chanina, Rebbe Yochanan and Rav Chaviva taught: ארון תשעה וכפורת טפח הרי כאן עשרה – The aron was nine tefachim tall and the thickness of the kapores was one tefach; which is a total of ten tefachim. And it is written: "ונועדתי לך שם ודברתי אתך מעל הכפרת" – It is there that I will set My meetings with you, and I shall speak with you from atop the Kapores. And it was taught in a Baraisa: Rebbe Yose says: מעולם לא ירדה שכינה למטה ולא עלו משה ואליהו למרום – The Shechinah never descended below, into the human domain, and Moshe and Eliyahu never ascended into the Heavens, as it is stated, השמים שמים לה' והארץ נתן לבני אדם"” – As for the heavens, the heavens are Hashem’s, but the earth, He has given to mankind. Since Hashem spoke to Moshe from atop the kapores, it follows that ten tefachim from the ground begins a separate domain. Accordingly, ten tefachim is the minimum height of a partition.

• The one tefach thickness of the Kapores is learned from the border of the Shulchan

The Gemara notes that it is correct to say that the aron was nine tefachim tall, since the passuk states its height was an amah and a half, which equals nine tefachim, but where is it known that the kapores was a tefach thick? It is stated in a Baraisa that Rebbe Chanina taught, כל הכלים שעשה משה – All the keilim that Moshe made, the Torah gave their length, width and height measurements, whereas in the case of the kapores, the Torah gave its length and width but it did not give its height measurement. Rather צא ולמד מפחות שבכלים – go and learn the height of the kapores from the least of the keilim, for it is stated with regard to the Shulchan, "ועשית לו מסגרת טפח סביב" – You shall make for it a border of one tefach, all around. Just as there, the border was a tefach high, say here also the kapores measured a tefach high.

• The ten tefachim of airspace requirement is learned from the Keruvim

After establishing that the minimum height of a succah was derived from the Aron and Kapores that were ten tefachim tall, the Gemara asks וממאי דחללה עשרה בר מסככה – from what evidence do you say that the interior space for a succah must be ten tefachim in height, excluding the thickness of its s’chach? Say, rather, that the ten tefachim are measured with its s’chach? Rashi explains that if it is learned from the combination of the aron and the kapores, then the ten tefachim is a combination of the nine tefachim of airspace and one tefach of the kapores, which in the case of the succah would be represented by one tefach of s’chach. The Gemara therefore presents a different source for the ten tefachim height requirement for a succah, from the height of Moshe’s Keruvim. The Gemara determines that the Keruvim were ten tefachim from head to toe, and it is written, "והיו הכרבים פרשי כנפים למעלה סככים בכנפיהם על הכפרת" – The Keruvim shall be with wings spread above, sheltering the Kapores with their wings. קרייה רחמנא סככה למעלה מעשרה – Here we see that the Torah call this sheltering a succah covering because it occurs above an airspace of ten tefachim.