Shiur summary (draft from the recording)
Sefer Kerisus; Sukkah Walls Made of Trees
העושה סוכתו בין האילנות
Sukkah 24b · Wednesday, December 10, 2025
The sugya
The shiur finishes the back-and-forth between R' Yossi HaGlili and the Rabbanan over where each learns that a get cannot be given with money and that a get must make a final severance. It then learns the Mishnah that a sukkah may have trees as its walls. The Gemara asks from Rav Acha bar Yaakov, that a wall which cannot stand in an ordinary wind is no wall: trees sway. The answers are b'kashin, then that he wove the branches with hutza and dafna. The Gemara then asks what the chiddush of the Mishnah is: one might have made a gezeirah that he will come to use the tree.
Step by step (shakla v’tarya)
- ChazarahThe Rebbi frames the sugya as a two-part back-and-forth. For each Tanna: where does he learn the halacha, and what does he do with the other side's pasuk?
- KashaWhere does R' Yossi HaGlili (name garbled in recording) learn that a get cannot be given with money? There is a svara to allow it: marriage can be entered with money, and the pasuk joins entering and leaving marriage, so a specific source is needed.
- TeirutzHe learns it from 'sefer kerisus'. The sefer is what severs, and nothing else severs.
- KashaWhat do the Rabbanan do with 'sefer kerisus', since they already know from elsewhere that money cannot divorce?
- TeirutzThey need it for a davar hakoreis beino l'veinah: the conditions of the get must produce a final severance.
- Ra'ayahBraisa: 'this is your get on condition that you never drink wine / never go to your father's house' (l'olam) is not kerisus, since she is always tied to him to keep the condition. 'For thirty days' is kerisus, because once the time passes she is severed.
- KashaWhere does R' Yossi HaGlili learn the need for a permanent severance?
- TeirutzFrom the doubled 'kras kerisus'. The pasuk went out of its way to add the extra word, showing an emphasis on severance.
- ShitahThe Rabbanan, who learn permanent severance from 'sefer kerisus', do not darshen 'kras kerisus'. There is not enough to build a drasha on; that is simply how the pasuk speaks.
- MishnahMishnah: one who makes his sukkah between trees, with the trees as its walls, it is kosher.
- The RebbiHere the sukkah stands on the ground and the trees only serve as walls. This differs from the earlier Mishnah about resting the sukkah on a tree. The example given is backyard arborvitae used as walls.
- GemaraRav Acha bar Yaakov: any mechitzah that cannot stand in a common wind (ruach metzuyah) is not a mechitzah. The Rebbi notes this rule applies to any mechitzah, not only sukkah.
- RashiRashi: the problem is that the wind makes the wall sway and not stay stationary. It does not necessarily mean the wall will fall.
- KashaTenan, our Mishnah: trees used as walls are kosher. But they go back and forth (ha ka'azil v'asi)!
- TeirutzHacha b'mai askinan: b'kashin, meaning the hard parts of the trees (the trunks).
- KashaBut there are the branches (nofo). The Mishnah does not seem limited to trunks.
- An aside on the halachos of walls: there must be more substance than open space (omed merubeh), roughly 51%.
- TeirutzHe worked the branches with hutza and dafna, weaving or braiding them together. This makes them solid, so there is no problem of Rav Acha bar Yaakov.
- The RebbiRav Acha bar Yaakov is an Amora and cannot argue on the Mishnah. The Gemara shows how his rule fits within it.
- KashaEe hachi, mai l'meimra? If the walls are properly made, everything we know says this is fine. The Mishnah must teach something new.
- TeirutzMahu d'teima nigzar dilma asi l'ishtamushei b'ilan. One might have decreed that, sitting between trees, he will come to use the tree, such as hanging his hat or decorations on it. Kamashma lan: we do not make that gezeirah.
- The RebbiIn the earlier case the sukkah itself rests on the tree, so the tree is already being used. Here the tree is not part of the structure; the only concern is that he may later come to use it.
- The RebbiThe Chachamim forbade using a tree on Yom Tov lest one break off a branch. Forbidding a sukkah between trees lest one use the tree would be a gezeirah l'gezeirah, so it is not made.
- ChazarahFull review of the Mishnah and Gemara, from Rav Acha bar Yaakov through the kamashma lan.
Kashas
- Where does R' Yossi HaGlili learn that a get cannot be given with money?
- What do the Rabbanan do with 'sefer kerisus'?
- Where does R' Yossi HaGlili learn that a get requires permanent severance?
- On Rav Acha bar Yaakov from the Mishnah: trees sway in the wind, so how can they be kosher walls?
- B'kashin does not help, since there are branches and the Mishnah is not limited to trunks.
- If the branches were properly woven into a solid wall, what is the Mishnah's chiddush?
Teirutzim
- Sefer kerisus: only the sefer severs, and nothing else does.
- The Rabbanan use it for a davar hakoreis beino l'veinah, a condition that allows final severance.
- R' Yossi HaGlili learns it from the extra word in 'kras kerisus'; the Rabbanan do not darshen it.
- B'kashin: the hard parts, the trunks.
- He wove the branches with hutza and dafna, making them stable.
- One might have decreed lest he use the tree; the Mishnah teaches that we do not.
Rashi & Tosafos
- Rashi: Ruach metzuyah means the wind makes the wall sway so it is not stationary, not that it will fall.
- Rashi: The concern of using the tree is hanging things on it (the exact word quoted is unclear in recording; the Rebbi's examples are a hat and jacket).
Mareh mekomos
- Pasuk 'sefer kerisus': the source that only a sefer severs.
- Braisa of 'al menas she'lo tishti yayin / she'lo telchi l'beis avich l'olam' versus 'kol shloshim yom'. It shows that a get needs a final severance.
- Contrast with what was learned earlier about a sukkah on a boat and wind.
- Earlier Mishnah (two Mishnahs back): one may not rest the sukkah on a tree.
- The Rebbi notes Rav Acha bar Yaakov's rule will later apply to Eruvin and Shabbos.
The Rebbi’s chiddushim
- The Rabbanan do not darshen 'kras kerisus' because there is not enough meat on the bone for a drasha; it is the natural way the pasuk speaks.
- Practical example: pop-up sukkah poles that need straps would sway. Wood, hard plastic or tightly pulled canvas is fine.
- Hutza and dafna here means he braided or wove the branches, making them like a solid wall.
- Not decreeing here is because it would be a gezeirah l'gezeirah: using a tree on Yom Tov is itself only forbidden lest one break a branch.
Unclear in recording
- Back-and-forth with talmidim about putting schach on trees and the previous Mishnah is unclear in recording.
- Part of the discussion about clusters of trunks shown in pictures is unclear.
- A talmid's suggestion about the chiddush, and the Rebbi's reply, is unclear in recording.
- Exchange contrasting this case with a sukkah resting on a tree is partly garbled.
- The exact wording of which part of using a tree is d'oraisa versus derabbanan is garbled.
Drafted from the recording of the shiur, for chazarah. Torah terms follow the Rebbi’s own words; anything that could not be made out is marked “unclear in recording”. Tap a time to hear that point. Corrections welcome.