If one lowers walls from above to below, [i.e., If he began to weave the walls close to the schach and continued weaving them downwards] — If it (the wall) is three handbreadths higher than the ground, it is pasul. [For a goat can then jump in at one bound and it (the lowered wall) is not considered a partition.] From below to above — If it is ten handbreadths higher than the ground, it is kasher [even if it does not reach the schach and is considerably removed from it.] R. Yossi says: Just as ten tefachim [of weaving] suffices from bottom to top, so it suffices from top to bottom, [even if it is well above the ground, R. Yossi holding that a suspended partition validates (the succah). The halachah is not in accordance with R. Yossi.] If he removes the schach three handbreadths from the walls, it is pasul. [This does not refer to (removal from) the top, but to the width; i.e., if he left space between the wall and the schach along the length or breadth of the succah.]
Bartenura on Mishnah Sukkah
המשלשל – lowers, when he began to plait/weave the walls near the festive covering/S’khakh and weaved/plaited and came towards the bottom.
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English Explanation of Mishnah Sukkah
Introduction
This mishnah discusses the height of the walls as well as the proximity of the skhakh to the walls.
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Bartenura on Mishnah Sukkah
שלשה טפחים פסולה – that is the measurement that the young kid/animal will pierce at one time and enter, as we say in such a manner that it is not a divider/separation.
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English Explanation of Mishnah Sukkah
If he hangs walls down from above to below, if they are higher than three handbreadths from the ground, it is invalid. The walls of the sukkah must be ten handbreadths high. However, there is a special rule according to which a gap of less than three handbreadths is not considered sufficient to render a sukkah invalid. Therefore, if he suspends the walls on a pole above the ground and the walls do not fully reach the ground but they are less than three handbreadths from the ground, the sukkah is valid. In other words, we look at those three handbreadths as if they don’t exist. Of course, the total height of the walls must be ten handbreadths, as we learn in the next section. But if the gap is larger than three handbreadths, then we can't count the walls as having reached the ground.
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Bartenura on Mishnah Sukkah
כיון שהגיע לעשרה כשרה – and even if they do not reach the festive covering and are removed from it a great deal.
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English Explanation of Mishnah Sukkah
If he raises them from the bottom to the top, if they are ten handbreadths high, it is valid. If he raises the walls from the ground upwards, the walls do not have to go all the way up to reach the skhakh. It is sufficient for the walls to be ten handbreadths high, when measured from the ground. Ten handbreadths is about one meter high. This is the standard minimum height for matters which require a wall.
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Bartenura on Mishnah Sukkah
רבי יוסי אומר כשם שמלמטה למעלה – it is enough in the weaving/plaiting of the ten [handbreadths].
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English Explanation of Mishnah Sukkah
Rabbi Yose says: just as from the bottom to the top ten handbreadths [suffices] so from the top to the bottom ten handbreadths [suffice]. Rabbi Yose disagrees with the opinion in section one. He says that the same rule concerning raising the walls from the floor to the skhakh applies if he suspends the walls from the skhakh. As long as the walls are ten handbreadths they are valid, even if they don’t reach within three handbreadths of the ground. To reiterate: the debate between Rabbi Yose and the other sages is with regard to a ten handbreadth wall hanging down from the skhakh (assumedly from a pole upon which the skhakh rests) which does not reach to within three handbreadths of the ground. Rabbi Yose says this is valid whereas the other sages say it is not. According to the sages it must reach within three handbreadths of the ground.
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Bartenura on Mishnah Sukkah
כך מלמעלה למטה – and even if hey are higher than the ground a lot, for he holds that a hanging separation is permissible. But the Halakha is not according to Rabbi Yosi.
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English Explanation of Mishnah Sukkah
If he distances the skhakh three handbreadths from the walls, it is invalid. This section discusses how close the walls must be horizontally to the skhakh; the previous discussions were about their vertical distance from the skhakh. The walls must be no less than three handbreadths from the skhakh. Otherwise there is a three handbreadth gap in the roof of the sukkah, which would mean that that wall could count as one of the walls of the sukkah.
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Bartenura on Mishnah Sukkah
הרחיק את הסיכוך – it is not spoken about the height, but its width, when he left space between the wall and the festive covering of the Booth, in he length of the Sukkah or its width.
