| פרק א - משנה ט | |
| המשלשל דפנות | One who lowers the walls |
| מלמעלה למטה | from the top downward |
| אם גבוה מן הארץ | if they are above the ground |
| שלשה טפחים | three tefachim |
| פסולה | it is invalid |
| מלמטה למעלה | [if one builds the walls] from the bottom upwards |
| אם גבוה מן הארץ |
if they are higher than the ground |
| עשרה טפחים | by ten tefachim |
| כשרה | it is valid |
| רבי יוסי אומר | Rebbi Yosi says |
| כשם שמלמטה למעלה | just as from the bottom up |
| עשרה טפחים | ten tefachim [is enough, regardless of the size of the gap above] |
| כך מלמעלה למטה | so from the top down |
| עשרה טפחים | [walls of] ten tefachim [in height are valid, no matter how high they end above the ground]. |
| הרחיק את הסכוך | If the s'chach is distanced [laterally] |
| מן הדפנות | from the walls |
| שלשה טפחים | by three tefachim |
| פסולה | it is invalid. |
| פרק א - משנה י | |
| בית שנפחת | A house that was reduced (i.e. its roof has been demolished) |
| וסכך על גביו | and s'chach is placed atop it |
| אם יש מן הכתל לסכוך | if there is from the wall to the s'chach |
| ארבע אמות | four amos |
| פסולה | it is invalid |
| וכן חצר | and similarly a courtyard |
| שהיא מקפת אכסדרה | that is surrounded by porticos (i.e. roofed porches). |
| סכה גדולה | A large succah |
| שהקיפוה בדבר שאין מסככים בו | that is encircled with [roofing] material that may not be used for s'chach |
| אם יש תחתיו ארבע אמות | if there is beneath it [the invalid s'chach] four amos |
| פסולה | it is invalid. |
NOTES
משנה ט
שלשה טפחים - With a gap this large at the bottom, it is no longer considered a wall. The measurement is said by the גמרא to be the minimum amount of space required for a goat to be able to easily slip through.
אם גבוה מן הארץ עשרה טפחים כשרה - This applies even if the s'chach is significantly higher that the top of the wall, and is based on the principal of גוד אסיק, which means "pull and bring up". This הלכה למשה מסיני allows us to take a valid wall, which is ten tefachim high, and view it as if it actually extends all the way to the s'chach above it.
רבי יוסי - He holds that מחיצה תלויה מתרת, a hanging wall is permissible, and that so long as it is a wall, in that it has ten solid tefachim of height, a gap at the bottom is no problem.
משנה י
בית שנפחת - The walls of this house remain, as well as some of the roof, but the middle of the roof has been removed.
אם יש מן הכתל לסכוך ארבע אמות פסולה - Less than this amount would allow us to use the principal of דופן עמוקה, a "bent wall", by which we would consider the remains of the original roof as a part of the wall that has bent inward, and not as part of the s'chach, for which they are פסול.
חצר שהיא מקפת אכסדרה - In this case, the courtyard is enclosed by the walls of houses, but the front of each house has a covered porch as well. Again, if the wall of the house is within four tefachim of the end of the porch's roof and the start of the valid s'chach, we use the principal of דופן עמוקה to allow such a succha. This case differs from the house with a demolished roof, in that there the walls were there in the service of the roof that was potentially forming part of the s'chach, whereas here the wall of the house really has nothing to do with the porch and its roof.
סכה גדולה שהקיפוה בדבר שאין מסככים בו - This case differs from the previous ones in that the problematic material was put in place for the sake of the succah, and is not just material that happened to be left there from other structures; nonetheless we still say that the principal of דופן עמוקה would apply if less than four tefachim.
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