Bundles of straw and bundles of wood and bundles of zradin [kinds of reeds, used as animal food when moist, and as fuel, when dry] are not to be used as schach [when they are tied. Not because they are pasul; but sometimes one comes with his bundle on his shoulder and places it on top of the succah to dry — and then he decides to use it as schach. But Scripture states: "shall you make" — and not from what is already made with what is pasul (see 1:4). And this is not even made for shade but for drying, so that it is made "with what is pasul."] And all of them [that we learned to be pasul as schach] — if he untied them, they are kasher. And they are all kasher as walls. [For "succah" connotes schach and not walls.]
Bartenura on Mishnah Sukkah
וחבילי זרדין – kind of reeds, and while they are still moist, animals eat them, and when they dry out, they are readied for kindling.
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English Explanation of Mishnah Sukkah
Introduction
This mishnah deals with material that fits all of the criteria brought up in yesterday’s mishnah it comes from the ground, it is detached from the ground and it is not receptive to impurity and yet still cannot be used as skhakh.
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Bartenura on Mishnah Sukkah
אין מסככין – when they are tied together, and not because they are invalid, but sometimes a person comes with his package on his shoulder and he raises and places it on the Sukkah to dry and he decides to use it as S’khakh/festive covering for the Sukkah, but the Torah stated, “you shall make/hold” (Deuteronomy 16:13) and not from what is already made, with that which is invalid, and this is not made even from the shade, but rather to dry out and it is already made with something invalid.
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English Explanation of Mishnah Sukkah
Bundles of straw, bundles of wood, and bundles of brushwood they do not use them as skhakh. The Talmud Yerushalmi explains that these bundles cannot be used as skhakh because it might look as if he is putting them up there for storage or to dry them out and not to use them for shade.
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Bartenura on Mishnah Sukkah
וכולן – those invalid things that we taught regarding the festive covering for the Sukkah.
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English Explanation of Mishnah Sukkah
But all of them, if he untied them, are valid. However, if he unties them, it no longer looks like he put them up there to dry or to store them and therefore the sukkah is valid.
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Bartenura on Mishnah Sukkah
כשרים לדפנות – that Sukkah implies the festive covering, but not the walls. Therefore, “After the ingathering from your threshing floor and your vat, you shall hold the Feast of Booths…’, the festive covering of the Sukkah is implied and not the walls.
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English Explanation of Mishnah Sukkah
And they are all valid for the walls. Everything that is invalid for the skhakh is valid for the walls. When it comes to the walls all we are concerned about is that there are walls we are not at all concerned with the material of the walls. We should note that the word “sukkah” itself means “to cover” and the word “skhakh” is from the same root as the word for “sukkah.” A “sukkah” is defined by its skhakh but not by its walls.
