Study Sukkah folio 37A with parallel Hebrew-English text, traditional commentary, and modern study tools. Free access to Babylonian Talmud online.
According to your reasoning, if one did not find any of the 4 species to roof his sukka, he will sit idly and fail to fulfill the mitzva of sukka; and the Torah states: “You shall reside in sukkot for 7 days” (Leviticus 23:42), meaning a sukka of any material. Likewise, in the book of Ezra, which c
And R' Yehuda holds: These olive branches and pine branches mentioned in the verse were for the walls of the sukka, which need not be built from the 4 species. Myrtle branches, palm branches, and branches of a dense-leaved tree, i.e., again myrtle, all of which are among the 4 species, were for the
The Talmud wonders: And did R' Yehuda say with regard to the materials fit for roofing a sukka that the 4 species, yes, they are fit, but other materials, no, they are not fit? But isn’t it taught in a baraita: If one roofed the sukka with cedar [erez] boards that have 4 handbreadths in their widt
The Talmud responds: What is the erez to which the Mishnah refers? It is in fact a myrtle tree, in accordance with that which Rabba bar Rav Huna said, as Rabba bar Rav Huna said that they say in the school of Rav: There are 10 types of erez, as it is stated: “I will place in the wilderness the cedar
§ The Mishnah continues: R' Meir says: One may tie the lulav even with a cord. It is taught in the Tosefta that R' Meir said: There was an incident involving the prominent residents of Jerusalem who would bind their lulavim with gold rings. The rabbis said to him: Is there proof from there? They