Siman - Succah Daf 41
- The source for making a זכר למקדש
The next Mishnah states: בראשונה היה לולב ניטל במקדש שבעה – Originally, in the days of the Beis Hamikdash, the lulav was taken in the Temple all seven days of Succos, ובמדינה יום אחד - and in the provinces on only one day, being the first day. When the Beis Hamikdash was destroyed, Rabban Yochanan ben Zakkai instituted that the lulav be taken in the provinces all seven days of Succos, זכר למקדש – as a remembrance of the Beis Hamikdash. The Gemara asks for the source that we are bidden to make a זכר למקדש, and Rebbe Yochanan said that it states in Yirmiyahu, For I will make a cure for you, and from your wounds I will heal you – the word of Hashem; כי נדחה קראו לך – for they, (referring to the nations of the world), called you “Discarded One,” ציון היא דרש אין לה – saying, “She is Tziyon, there is none who seek her.” From the words "דרש אין לה" – there is none who seek her, מכלל דבעיא דרישה – it is implied that she requires seeking. Rabban Yochanan ben Zakkai determined that the way to fulfill this is through performing the mitzvah of lulav the way it was done in the Beis Hamikdash.
- שיהא יום הנף כולו אסור
The Mishnah stated that Rabban Yochanan ben Zakkai also instituted שיהא יום הנף כולו אסור – that the entire Day of Waving, referring to the waving of the Omer, should be forbidden for eating from חדש – the new crop of grain. Rashi explains that when the Omer is brought, chadash is only permitted afterwards, but when there is no Beis HaMikdash and omer offering, it is permitted immediately upon daybreak of the sixteenth. The Gemara teaches that were it not for Rabban Yochanan ben Zakkai’s institution, in the time when their will be a Beis HaMikdash, people will say, “Last year, on the sixteenth of Nissan, did we not become permitted to eat from the chadash upon daybreak? Now, too, let us eat at daybreak, and they would not realize that now that the Beis Hamikdash stands, it is the bringing of the Omer that permits it.
The Gemara seeks to clarify the day Rabban Yochanan ben Zakkai was concerned that the Temple would be rebuilt, since if it was built on the sixteenth of Nissan, people could eat the chadash at daybreak, and if it was built on the fifteenth or earlier, it would become permissible to eat from midday onward, after the omer was brought. The Gemara concludes that the case is when the Temple was rebuilt the night of the sixteenth or just before shkiyah on the fifteenth, which might cause a delay for it to be brought on the sixteenth. Rashi clarifies that even though the Temple is not permitted to be rebuilt at night or on Yom Tov, the restrictions only apply to human construction. However, the Third Temple will miraculously descend intact from Heaven, as it says in the passuk, מקדש ה' כוננו ידיך – the Mikdash, My Master, that Your Hand established.
- מתנה על מנת להחזיר שמה מתנה
A Baraisa was brought that states that a person cannot fulfill his chiyuv of lulav on the first day of Yom Tov with his friend’s lulav אלא אם כן נתנו לו במתנה – unless the latter gave it to him as a gift, and brings an incident where Rabban Gamliel, who was travelling on a boat with other Rabbanon, gave his lulav worth a thousand zuz, to the other Rabbanan to use, each one gifting the lulav to the next one, and then Rebbe Akiva, who used it last, returned it. The Tanna is coming to teach that, מתנה על מנת להחזיר שמה מתנה – a gift granted on condition that it be returned, is legally considered a gift. Rava taught that if one did not return the lulav afterwards, he has not fulfilled his chiyuv. Since he didn’t fulfill the condition, it is clarified retroactively that the gift was void and that he used a stolen lulav.
