## Sukkah Daf 53b

###### Sukkah 53b:1
[Sukkah 53b:1](https://torahapp.org/share/book/Sukkah/r/53b:1)

אַחַסְפָּא, וְנִשְׁדְּיֵהּ בִּתְהוֹמָא וּמַנַּח! לֵיכָּא דְּקָאָמַר לֵיהּ מִידֵּי. אֲמַר דָּוִד: כׇּל דְּיָדַע לְמֵימַר וְאֵינוֹ אוֹמֵר, יֵחָנֵק בִּגְרוֹנוֹ. נָשָׂא אֲחִיתוֹפֶל קַל וָחוֹמֶר בְּעַצְמוֹ: וּמָה לַעֲשׂוֹת שָׁלוֹם בֵּין אִישׁ לְאִשְׁתּוֹ, אָמְרָה תּוֹרָה: שְׁמִי שֶׁנִּכְתַּב בִּקְדוּשָּׁה יִמָּחֶה עַל הַמַּיִם, לַעֲשׂוֹת שָׁלוֹם לְכׇל הָעוֹלָם כּוּלּוֹ — עַל אַחַת כַּמָּה וְכַמָּה. אֲמַר לֵיהּ: שְׁרֵי.

**William Davidson Edition - English:**
**on an earthenware shard?** If it is permitted, **we will** write it and **throw it into the depths, and** they **will subside. There was no one who said anything to him. David said: Anyone who knows** what **to say and does not say** anything **may he be strangled in his throat.** Then **Ahithophel raised an *a fortiori* argument on his own** and said: **And just as** in order **to make peace between a man and his wife** in the case of *sota*, when the husband suspects his wife of having committed adultery, **the Torah said: My Name that was written in sanctity will be erased on the water to establish peace for the whole world in its entirety, all the more so** it is permitted. **He said to** David: **It is permitted.**


###### Sukkah 53b:2
[Sukkah 53b:2](https://torahapp.org/share/book/Sukkah/r/53b:2)

כָּתֵב שֵׁם אַחַסְפָּא וְשָׁדֵי לִתְהוֹמָא, וּנְחֵית תְּהוֹמָא שִׁיתְּסַר אַלְפֵי גַּרְמִידֵי. כִּי חָזֵי דְּנָחֵית טוּבָא, אֲמַר: כַּמָּה דְּמִידְּלֵי — טְפֵי מִירְטַב עָלְמָא. אֲמַר חֲמֵשׁ עֶשְׂרֵה מַעֲלוֹת, וְאַסְּקֵיהּ חֲמֵיסַר אַלְפֵי גַּרְמִידֵי, וְאוֹקְמֵיהּ בְּאַלְפָּא גַּרְמִידֵי. אָמַר עוּלָּא: שְׁמַע מִינַּהּ סוּמְכָא דְאַרְעָא אַלְפָּא גַּרְמִידֵי. וְהָא חָזֵינַן דְּכָרֵינַן פּוּרְתָּא וְנָפְקִי מַיָּא! אָמַר רַב מְשַׁרְשְׁיָא: הָהוּא מִסּוּלָּמָא דִפְרָת.

**William Davidson Edition - English:**
**He wrote the** sacred **name on an earthenware shard and cast it into the depths, and the** waters in **the depths subsided sixteen thousand cubits. When he saw that they subsided excessively, he said: The higher** the waters in the aquifers, **the moister** and more fertile the soil of **the world. He recited the fifteen** Songs of the **Ascents and elevated them fifteen thousand cubits, and established them at** a depth of **one thousand cubits. Ulla said: Learn from here that the thickness of the earth** above the waters of the depths **is one thousand cubits.** The Gemara asks: **But don’t we see that** when **we dig a little,** significantly less than one thousand cubits, **water emerges? Rav Mesharshiyya said: That is from the ascent of the Euphrates** River, which flows at a higher altitude than do other rivers. The water flows up through underground passages to reach the river. That is why water emerges when one digs in the hills of Babylonia.


###### Sukkah 53b:3
[Sukkah 53b:3](https://torahapp.org/share/book/Sukkah/r/53b:3)

וְעָמְדוּ כֹּהֲנִים בְּשַׁעַר הָעֶלְיוֹן שֶׁיּוֹרֵד כּוּ׳. בָּעֵי רַבִּי יִרְמְיָה: לְמַעֲלָה עֲשִׂירִית — דְּנָחֵית חַמְשָׁה וְקָאֵי אַעַשְׂרָה, אוֹ דִלְמָא דְּנָחֵית עַשְׂרָה וְקָאֵי אַחַמְשָׁה? תֵּיקוּ.

**William Davidson Edition - English:**
§ The mishna continues: **And two priests stood** with two trumpets **at the Upper Gate that descends** from the Israelites’ courtyard to the Women’s Courtyard, and when those drawing the water reached the tenth stair they sounded the trumpets. **Rabbi Yirmeya raised a dilemma:** Does the phrase reached the **tenth stair** mean **that he would descend five** stairs **and stand on the tenth** from the bottom? **Or perhaps** it means **that he would descend ten** stairs **and stand on the fifth** from the bottom? The Gemara notes: The dilemma **shall stand** unresolved.


###### Sukkah 53b:4
[Sukkah 53b:4](https://torahapp.org/share/book/Sukkah/r/53b:4)

תָּנוּ רַבָּנַן, מִמַּשְׁמַע שֶׁנֶּאֱמַר: ״וּפְנֵיהֶם קֵדְמָה״, אֵינִי יוֹדֵעַ שֶׁ״אֲחוֹרֵיהֶם אֶל הֵיכַל ה׳״?

**William Davidson Edition - English:**
The mishna describes: When they reached the gate through which one exits to the east, they turned from facing east to facing west toward the Holy of Holies, and said: Our ancestors who were in this place during the First Temple period did not conduct themselves appropriately and stood “with their backs toward the Sanctuary of the Lord, and their faces toward the east; and they worshipped the sun toward the east” (Ezekiel 8:16), and we, our eyes are to God. **The Sages taught: By inference, from** the fact **that it is stated: “And their faces toward the east,” don’t I know that “their backs** were **toward the Sanctuary of the Lord”?** The Sanctuary was to the west.


###### Sukkah 53b:5
[Sukkah 53b:5](https://torahapp.org/share/book/Sukkah/r/53b:5)

אֶלָּא מָה תַּלְמוּד לוֹמַר: ״אֲחוֹרֵיהֶם אֶל הֵיכַל ה׳״ — מְלַמֵּד שֶׁהָיוּ פּוֹרְעִין עַצְמָן, וּמַתְרִיזִין כְּלַפֵּי מַטָּה.

**William Davidson Edition - English:**
**Rather,** to **what** purpose **does the verse state: “Their backs toward the Sanctuary of the Lord”?** It is an allusion to the fact that in addition to turning their backs on the Sanctuary of the Lord, they performed an additional evil. **It teaches that they would expose themselves and defecate downward,** a euphemism for the direction of the Divine Presence.


###### Sukkah 53b:6
[Sukkah 53b:6](https://torahapp.org/share/book/Sukkah/r/53b:6)

אָנוּ לְיָהּ וּלְיָהּ עֵינֵינוּ כּוּ׳. אִינִי?! וְהָאָמַר רַבִּי זֵירָא: כׇּל הָאוֹמֵר ״שְׁמַע״ ״שְׁמַע״, כְּאִילּוּ אָמַר ״מוֹדִים״ ״מוֹדִים״! אֶלָּא הָכִי אָמְרִי: הֵמָּה מִשְׁתַּחֲוִים קֵדְמָה, וְאָנוּ לְיָהּ (אֲנַחְנוּ מוֹדִים), וְעֵינֵינוּ לְיָהּ מְיַחֲלוֹת.

**William Davidson Edition - English:**
The mishna continues: In the Second Temple period they would say: **We are to God, and to God are our eyes.** The Gemara asks: **Is that so?** May one pray in that manner? **Didn’t Rabbi Zeira say: One who** repeats himself while reciting *Shema* and **says: Listen, listen, is** like one **who says: We give thanks, we give thanks,** and he is silenced, as it appears that he is worshipping two authorities. How then did they recite God’s name twice, consecutively? **Rather, this is what they said: They bow toward the east,** while **we give thanks to God, and our eyes turn in hope to God,** so that they would not recite God’s name consecutively.


###### Sukkah 53b:7
[Sukkah 53b:7](https://torahapp.org/share/book/Sukkah/r/53b:7)

**מַתְנִי׳** אֵין פּוֹחֲתִין מֵעֶשְׂרִים וְאַחַת תְּקִיעוֹת בַּמִּקְדָּשׁ, וְאֵין מוֹסִיפִין עַל אַרְבָּעִים וּשְׁמֹנֶה. בְּכׇל יוֹם הָיוּ שָׁם עֶשְׂרִים וְאַחַת תְּקִיעוֹת בַּמִּקְדָּשׁ: שָׁלֹשׁ לִפְתִיחַת שְׁעָרִים, וְתֵשַׁע לְתָמִיד שֶׁל שַׁחַר, וְתֵשַׁע לְתָמִיד שֶׁל בֵּין הָעַרְבַּיִם. וּבַמּוּסָפִין הָיוּ מוֹסִיפִין עוֹד תֵּשַׁע.

**William Davidson Edition - English:**
**MISHNA:** **One** sounds **no fewer than twenty-one** trumpet **blasts in the Temple, and one** sounds **no more than forty-eight.** The mishna elaborates: **Each day there were twenty-one** trumpet **blasts in the Temple: Three** blasts were sounded **for the opening of the gates** in the morning, **nine for the daily morning offering, and nine for the daily afternoon offering,** totaling twenty-one. **And** on a day when the additional offerings were sacrificed, e.g., the New Moon, **with the additional offerings they would add nine additional blasts.**


###### Sukkah 53b:8
[Sukkah 53b:8](https://torahapp.org/share/book/Sukkah/r/53b:8)

וּבְעֶרֶב שַׁבָּת הָיוּ מוֹסִיפִין שֵׁשׁ: שָׁלֹשׁ לְהַבְטִיל אֶת הָעָם מִמְּלָאכָה, וְשָׁלֹשׁ לְהַבְדִּיל בֵּין קֹדֶשׁ לְחוֹל.

**William Davidson Edition - English:**
**And on Shabbat eve they would add six** blasts sounded adjacent to the onset of Shabbat: **Three to stop the people from** their **labor,** as the blasts inform the people that Shabbat is approaching and they stop working, **and three** at the onset of Shabbat **to demarcate between sacred and profane.**


###### Sukkah 53b:9
[Sukkah 53b:9](https://torahapp.org/share/book/Sukkah/r/53b:9)

עֶרֶב שַׁבָּת שֶׁבְּתוֹךְ הַחַג הָיוּ שָׁם אַרְבָּעִים וּשְׁמֹנֶה: שָׁלֹשׁ לִפְתִיחַת שְׁעָרִים, שָׁלֹשׁ לְשַׁעַר הָעֶלְיוֹן, וְשָׁלֹשׁ לְשַׁעַר הַתַּחְתּוֹן, וְשָׁלֹשׁ לְמִילּוּי הַמַּיִם, וְשָׁלֹשׁ עַל גַּבֵּי מִזְבֵּחַ, תֵּשַׁע לְתָמִיד שֶׁל שַׁחַר, וְתֵשַׁע לְתָמִיד שֶׁל בֵּין הָעַרְבַּיִם, וְתֵשַׁע לְמוּסָפִין, שָׁלֹשׁ לְהַבְטִיל אֶת הָעָם מִן הַמְּלָאכָה, וְשָׁלֹשׁ לְהַבְדִּיל בֵּין קוֹדֶשׁ לְחוֹל.

**William Davidson Edition - English:**
On **Shabbat eve during the festival** of *Sukkot*, **there were forty-eight** blasts. How so? **Three** in the morning **for the opening of the gates; three for the upper gate; and three for the lower gate; and three for the filling of the** vessel with **water,** as described in the sequence of the ritual of drawing the water for the water libation (48b); **and three** when pouring the water libation **upon the altar; nine for the daily morning offering; and nine for the daily afternoon offering; and nine for the additional offerings; three to stop the people from work; and three** more **to demarcate between sacred and profane,** totaling forty-eight blasts.


###### Sukkah 53b:10
[Sukkah 53b:10](https://torahapp.org/share/book/Sukkah/r/53b:10)

**גְּמָ׳** מַתְנִיתִין דְּלָא כְּרַבִּי יְהוּדָה. דְּתַנְיָא, רַבִּי יְהוּדָה אוֹמֵר: הַפּוֹחֵת לֹא יִפְחוֹת מִשֶּׁבַע, וְהַמּוֹסִיף לֹא יוֹסִיף עַל שֵׁשׁ עֶשְׂרֵה. בְּמַאי קָא מִיפַּלְגִי? רַבִּי יְהוּדָה סָבַר: תְּקִיעָה תְּרוּעָה תְּקִיעָה — אַחַת הִיא, וְרַבָּנַן סָבְרִי: תְּקִיעָה לְחוּד וּתְרוּעָה לְחוּד.

**William Davidson Edition - English:**
**GEMARA:** The Gemara notes: **The mishna is not in accordance with** the opinion of **Rabbi Yehuda, as it is taught** in a *baraita* that **Rabbi Yehuda says: The one who** seeks to **minimize** the number of blasts **shall not minimize** their number to **fewer than seven** blasts. **And one who** seeks to **add** to the number of blasts **shall not add** beyond **sixteen.** The Gemara asks: With regard to **what do they disagree?** The Gemara explains that **Rabbi Yehuda holds:** A series of blasts consisting of ***tekia*, *terua*, *tekia* is** counted as **one blast. And the Rabbis hold: A *tekia*** is counted **separately and a *terua*** is counted **separately.** They agree with regard to the sequence and the number of the blasts, and disagree only with regard to how the blasts are tallied.


###### Sukkah 53b:11
[Sukkah 53b:11](https://torahapp.org/share/book/Sukkah/r/53b:11)

מַאי טַעְמָא דְּרַבִּי יְהוּדָה? אָמַר קְרָא: ״וּתְקַעְתֶּם תְּרוּעָה״ (וּכְתִיב: ״תְּרוּעָה יִתְקְעוּ״, הָא כֵּיצַד? תְּקִיעָה וּתְרוּעָה — אַחַת הִיא). וְרַבָּנַן: הַהוּא לִפְשׁוּטָה לְפָנֶיהָ וּלְאַחֲרֶיהָ הוּא דַּאֲתָא (וְרַבִּי יְהוּדָה, לְפָנֶיהָ וּלְאַחֲרֶיהָ מְנָלֵיהּ? נָפְקָא לֵיהּ מִ״שֵּׁנִית״).

**William Davidson Edition - English:**
The Gemara asks: **What is the rationale** for the opinion **of Rabbi Yehuda?** It is as **the verse states: “And you shall sound [*utkatem*] a *terua*”** (Numbers 10:5), **and it is written: “A *terua* they will sound [*yitke’u*]”** (Numbers 10:6). **How is it** that the Torah uses a verb from the root of *tekia* to describe the sounding of a *terua*? Apparently, **a *tekia* and a *terua*** together compose **one** blast. **And** how do **the Rabbis** interpret these verses? **This comes** to teach that each *terua* blast is accompanied by **a plain** unembellished blast, a *tekia*, **preceding it and following it.** The Gemara asks: **And from where does Rabbi Yehuda derive** that each *terua* must be accompanied by a *tekia* **preceding it and following it?** The Gemara explains: **He derives it from** the verse when it says: “And you shall sound [*utkatem*] a *terua* **a second time”** (Numbers 10:6), indicating an additional *tekia*.


###### Sukkah 53b:12
[Sukkah 53b:12](https://torahapp.org/share/book/Sukkah/r/53b:12)

וְרַבָּנַן, מַאי טַעְמַיְיהוּ? דִּכְתִיב: ״וּבְהַקְהִיל אֶת הַקָּהָל תִּתְקְעוּ וְלֹא תָרִיעוּ״, וְאִי סָלְקָא דַעְתָּךְ: תְּקִיעָה תְּרוּעָה — אַחַת הִיא, אָמַר רַחֲמָנָא פַּלְגָא דְּמִצְוָה עֲבֵיד וּפַלְגָא לָא עֲבֵיד?! וְרַבִּי יְהוּדָה: הָהוּא לְסִימָנָא בְּעָלְמָא הוּא דַּאֲתָא.

**William Davidson Edition - English:**
The Gemara asks: **And what is the rationale** for the opinion of **the Rabbis?** It is **as it is written: “And when congregating the people you shall sound a *tekia* and shall not sound a *terua*”** (Numbers 10:7). **And if it enters your mind** that a ***tekia*** and a ***terua* are** considered **one** blast, **would the Merciful One say to perform half a mitzva and not to perform** the other **half** of the mitzva? Apparently, each is a separate mitzva. The Gemara asks: **And** how does **Rabbi Yehuda** interpret the verse? The Gemara answers: **That** single *tekia* mentioned in the context of congregating the people **came merely as a signal** to the camps and was not for the purpose of fulfilling the mitzva, which, in Rabbi Yehuda’s opinion, always comes in groups of three.


###### Sukkah 53b:13
[Sukkah 53b:13](https://torahapp.org/share/book/Sukkah/r/53b:13)

וְרַבָּנַן: סִימָנָא הוּא, וְרַחֲמָנָא שַׁוְּיֵהּ מִצְוָה. כְּמַאן אָזְלָא הָא דְּאָמַר רַב כָּהֲנָא: אֵין בֵּין תְּקִיעָה לִתְרוּעָה וְלֹא כְּלוּם, כְּמַאן? כְּרַבִּי יְהוּדָה. (אִי רַבִּי יְהוּדָה) פְּשִׁיטָא!

**William Davidson Edition - English:**
**And** how do **the Rabbis** counter that assertion? They say: Indeed, **it is a signal** to assemble the people; however, **the Merciful One rendered it a mitzva.** Therefore, one can derive that a single *tekia* blast is a distinct mitzva. The Gemara asks: **In accordance with whose** opinion **is this statement of Rav Kahana: There is no** pause **between a *tekia* and a *terua* at all** and they are sounded in one continuous blast? **In accordance with whose** opinion is it? It is **in accordance with** the opinion of **Rabbi Yehuda.** The Gemara asks: **If** Rav Kahana’s statement is in accordance with the opinion of **Rabbi Yehuda;** that is **obvious.** Why was it necessary for the Gemara to raise the matter at all?