Mishna
What two types of lulavim are invalid according to the Mishna?
Dry and Stolen
What daf of the gemara does the mishna appear on?
Sukkah 29b - .סוכה כט
Why does a dry lulav never work on Sukkot?
The Mishna is referring to which days of Sukkot according to Shmuel?
Yom Tov Rishon - Day 1 only
Explain Shmuel's argument that a borrowed lulav and a stolen lulav are similar
borrowed = not owned and kosher to use 2-7
stolen = not owned SO IT MUST BE kosher to use 2-7 as well.
What is the Hebrew word in the Torah that requires you to own the lulav on day 1?
לכם
The Mishna is referring to which days of Sukkot according to Rabbi Ami?
Yom Tov Sheni - Days 2-7 only
Why is the values-based reason of mitzvah haba b'aveirah weak as a proof for invalidating a mitzvah?
There is no textual proof and values change or people can disagree on them.
Explain a assertion, קושיא and a תירוץ
Assertion = inital claim, statement or presentation of two sides of a machloket in the gemara.
קושיא - a challenge on the assertion
תירוץ - a response/answer or defense of the assertion.
Explain why Shmuel's opinion on what days the mishna is referring to is a major weakness
Why is the text-based reason weak?
The obligation to shake a lulav you own on day 1 is ______________ while the obligation to shake the lulav on days 2-7 is __________________.
[Looking for specific Hebrew/Aramaic words]
(from the תורה) דאורייתא
דרבנן (from the Rabbis)
Why do Rabbi Shimon ben Yochai and Rabbi Ami feel compelled to argue that mitzvah haba b'aveirah invalidates the mitzvah
Because if the mishna is talking about 2-7 then what is it basing this ruling on -- there must be some principle that requires invalidating it, i.e. mitzvah haba b'aveirah.
Explain Rav Nachman bar Yitzchak's challenge on Shmuel.
(Identifing what days the mishna is ACTUALLY referring to:) The Mishnah says, “A dry and a stolen lulav is pasul.”
Implying that a borrowed one is kosher.
When in the holiday is this mishnah referring to?
If we were to interpret the as referring to the first day of the holiday -
that wouldn’t make any sense, since the Torah says “lachem” - meaning belonging to you.
and the stolen lulav does not belong to the thief.
Therefore, no one could ever think that a stolen lulav would be kosher on the first day.
The mishnah therefore couldn’t be talking about the first day since everyone already knows a stolen lulav isn’t kosher at that point.
So is the mishnah not actually talking about the rest of the holiday?!
This implies, yes it must be talking about Yom Tov Sheni [the rest of the holiday].
We don’t need a mishnah to state the obvious, so this interpretation (Shmuel’s) must be wrong. We need an interpretation where the mishnah tells us something we don't already know.
So the mishna teaches, “a stolen lulav is pasul” - meaning specifically on the rest of the holiday [Yom Tov Sheni]!
Why might a stolen lulav actually be considered to be "owned" by the thief, thus requiring the mishna to state it doesn't work explicitly?
You might say that a simple case of theft there would be yeiush [This is a concept that for lost items, eventually an owner gives up (yeiush) on finding the lost item again and therefore the owner gives up their ownership of the item and the finder (or thief) becomes the owner) by the original owner (the victim) - so the stolen lulav actually WOULD belong to the thief! If so, someone might think that a stolen lulav could be used on the first day, since it would be THEIR lulav!