Si suspendió sobre ella una parra, una calabaza o una hiedra, usándolas como schach, es pasul, [lo que está unido (al suelo) no es kasher como schach]. Pero si el (kasher) schach era más (abundante) que los demás, o si los cortó, es kasher. [("si el schach fuera más" :) Si hubiera mucho más kasher schach que la vid o la calabaza, es kasher. Esto, si los presionó hacia abajo y los mezcló con el kasher schach para que no sean visibles. Porque, predominando el kasher schach, "los cancela" cuando se entremezclan. ("o si los cortó:") Incluso después de que los suspendió como schach es kasher; esto, con la condición de que los mueva después de cortarlos. Porque si no lo hace, es pasul, está escrito (Levítico 16:13): "La fiesta del succoth te harás a ti mismo"—y no de lo que ya está hecho. Es decir, cuando lo hace, debe ser (de lo que es) adecuado para una succah, y no "de lo que está hecho", es decir, algo pasul, que no es apto para una succah, pero que modifica, como cuando intente hacerlo kasher cortándolo (simplemente) y no deshaciéndolo. Pero moverlo es como deshacerlo y luego usarlo como schach, levantar uno y soltarlo, y repetir el proceso con los demás.] Esta es la regla: lo que puede adquirir tumah y no crece en el suelo no se puede usar como schach, [para excluir (del uso) recipientes de madera, ropa de lino y esteras, que, aunque se originan en el suelo, no pueden usarse como schach, ya que pueden adquirir tumah.] Y lo que no puede adquirir tumah y crece en la tierra se puede usar como schach, [está escrito (Deuteronomio 16:13): "El festival de succoth te harás a ti mismo ... desde tu trilla y desde tu lagar". Las Escrituras hablan de los descartes de la era y del lagar, es decir, lo que queda después de que hayas reunido (los frutos de) tu era y tu lagar, como pajas y vides. De ellos, haz una succah.]
Bartenura on Mishnah Sukkah
הדלה עליה – he lifted on its back.
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English Explanation of Mishnah Sukkah
Introduction
This mishnah teaches a few general rules regarding what can be used as skhakh, the covering on top of the sukkah.
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Bartenura on Mishnah Sukkah
קיסום – In a foreign language IDRA, and it grows like a grape-vine and like a gourd.
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English Explanation of Mishnah Sukkah
If he trained a vine or a gourd or ivy over [the sukkah] and put skhakh on top of it, it is not valid. But if the skhakh is more than them, or if he cut them, it is valid. In this section we learn several important rules governing skhakh. The first is that the skhakh must be detached from the ground. If one takes living vines and trains them on top of his sukkah, the sukkah is invalid. This is true even if he put some valid skhakh on top of the vines that were still attached to the ground. The sukkah becomes valid only if he puts more valid skhakh than the invalid attached vines, or if he cuts down the vines. This is an important point. The only thing that makes the vines invalid is that they are still attached to the ground.
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Bartenura on Mishnah Sukkah
פסולה – because we don’t cover [the Sukkah] with something attached [to the ground].
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English Explanation of Mishnah Sukkah
This is the general rule: whatever is susceptible to [ritual] impurity and does not grow from the ground may not be used for skhakh, but whatever is not susceptible to [ritual] impurity and does grow from ground soil may be used for skhakh. There are two general rules presented here. The first is that the skhakh has to be something that cannot receive ritual impurity. This means that clothing, chairs, tables, dishes, sheets, etc. cannot be used as skhakh. Basically, this includes most things that have been “made” or “fashioned” by human hands. Branches of trees cannot become impure and hence can be used for skhakh. Secondly, it has to be something that originally grew from the ground. This rules out metal, stone, clay, plastic etc. Interestingly, these two rules, and that in the previous section, are in a sense foils for one another. The skhakh must be dead, but it must be something that was once alive. Something has to have been done to it by human hands it has to be cut from the ground, but not too much can be done with it humans can’t turn it into useful instruments. The skkakh is then “liminal” it mediates between the natural world and the humanly created world. So too it is above us, mediating between God and humanity.
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Bartenura on Mishnah Sukkah
אם היה הסכוך הרבה מהם – if there was there S’khakh/covering of the festive booth that is much greater than the grape-vines and gourds, it is valid, and it is the case where they press down on them and combine them with the S’khakh it is valid and it is not apparent to the eye, for valid S;khakh is greater than them and cancels them out when they are combined.
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Bartenura on Mishnah Sukkah
או שקצצן – even after he covered the roof with them, it is valid. And it is when he shakes them after cutting the, for if it this were not the case, it would be invalid, for the Torah stated (Deuteronomy 16:13): “You shall hold the Feast of Booths [for seven days], and not from what was done, that is to say, that it shall be done so that it would be appropriate for a Sukkah, and not from what is made which is invalid, for that which is not worthy of a Sukkah and you repair it, that you make it valid with cutting and did not go back and destroy it, but when you shake them, it is like destroying and you go back and cover it again, and raise up each one alone and place it and go back and raise its neighbor and place it [on the roof].
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Bartenura on Mishnah Sukkah
כל דבר שאינו כו' – to exclude a wooden utensil and flax coting and matting, for even though they grow in the ground, we don’t cover the Sukkah with them since they [are receptive] to receiving defilement.
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Bartenura on Mishnah Sukkah
וגידוליו מן הארץ וכו' – as it is written (Deuteronomy 16:13): “[After the ingathering] from your threshing floor and your vat, [you shall hold] the Feast of Booths for seven days,” the verse speaks of the refuse/worthless matter of the granary and the vat, that is to say, from what remains after you have gathered the granary and the vat such as the hard/strong grain and the vine-shoots, from them, make the Sukkah.
