If one suspends the walls from above downwards, if [they are] three handbreadths above the ground, it is invalid; from below upwards, if it reaches a height of ten handbreadths from the ground, it is valid.  R’ Yose says: Just as from below upwards ten handbreadths [suffice], so from above downwards ten handbreadths [suffice].  If one moved the s’chach three handbreadths away from the walls, it is invalid.

A house that was breached and he placed s’chach over it, if there are four cubits from the wall to the s’chach, it is invalid. The same [applies to] a courtyard that is surrounded by a portico.  A large succah that they ringed with material that we may not use for s’chach, if there were four cubits beneath it, it is invalid.

If one makes his succah like a conical hut, or he leaned it against the wall, R’ Eliezer invalidates it since it has no roof; but the Sages declare it valid.  A large reed mat —- if made to lie upon, it is susceptible to contamination and we may not use it for s’chach; if for shade, we may use it for s’chach and it is not susceptible to contamination.  R’ Eliezer says: Whether [the mat is] small or large —- if he made it to lie upon, it is susceptible to contamination and we may not use it as s’chach; if for s’chach, we may use it for s’chach and it is not susceptible to contamination.

One who sleeps under the bed in the succah has not fulfilled his obligation [to sleep in a succah].  R’ Yehudah said: We regularly slept under the bed in the presence of the Elders and they said nothing to us.  R’ Shimon said: There is a case of Tavi, Rabban Gamliel’s slave, who used to sleep under the bed. Rabban Gamliel said to the Elders, “Have you observed my slave Tavi? He is a scholar and knows that [gentile] slaves are exempt from [the obligation of] succah —- that is why he sleeps under the bed.” And incidentally we deduced that one who sleeps under the bed does not fulfill his obligation [to sleep in a succah].

If one supports his succah on the legs of a bed, it is valid. R’ Yehudah says: If it cannot stand by itself it is invalid.  A disarranged succah, or one whose shade[d area] is greater than its sun[lit area], is valid. [If the succah] is thickly covered like a house, even though the stars cannot be seen from inside it, it is valid.

If one makes his succah on top of a wagon or on the deck of a ship it is valid, and we may go up into it on the festival. [If he makes a succah] in the top of a tree or on the back of a camel it is valid, but we may not go up into it on the festival.  If two [walls are] in a tree and one is man-made, or two [are] man-made and one [is] in a tree, it is valid, but we may not go up into it on the festival. If three [walls are] man-made and one [is] in a tree, it is valid, and we may go up into it on the festival.  This is the general rule: Wherever the tree can be removed and [the succah] can stand by itself, it is valid, and we may go up into it on the festival.

If one makes his succah between the trees, and the trees serve as its walls, it is valid.  Those who are engaged in the performance of a mitzvah are exempt from the [mitzvah of] succah. Ill people and their attendants are exempt from the [mitzvah of] succah.  We may eat and drink casually outside the succah.

Once they brought Rabban Yochanan ben Zakkai some cooked food to taste, and to Rabban Gamliel [they brought] two dates and a pail of water, and they said, “Bring them up to the succah.” But when they gave R’ Tzaddok food smaller than the volume of an egg, he took it with a cloth and ate it outside the succah, and did not recite the benediction after it.

R’ Eliezer says: A man is obligated to eat fourteen meals in the succah, one each day and one each night. But the Sages say: This matter has no fixed obligation, except for the night of the first Yom Tov of the Festival only.  R’ Eliezer further stated: Whoever did not eat [in the succah] on the night of the first Yom Tov, must compensate for it on the night of the last Yom Tov. But the Sages say: This matter has no compensation. About this matter it is said: A twisted thing cannot be made straight, and what is not there cannot be numbered.

A person who had his head and most of his body inside the succah and his table inside the house —- Beis Shammai invalidate [the succah] and Beis Hillel validate it.  Said Beis Hillel to Beis Shammai, “Did it not happen that the elders of Beis Shammai and the elders of Beis Hillel went to visit R’ Yochanan son of the Choranite and found him sitting with his head and most of his body inside the succah and his table within the house, and they said nothing to him?”  Beis Shammai replied to them, “Is that [your] proof? Actually, they said to him, `If this is how you have [always] conducted yourself, [then] you have never in your life fulfilled the mitzvah of succah.’ ”

Women, slaves, and minors are exempt from the succah. A minor who does not need his mother is obligated [to dwell] in the succah.  It once happened that the daughter-in-law of Shammai the Elder gave birth and he removed the plaster [roof] and placed s’chach above the bed for the child.

All the seven days a man must make his succah [his] permanent [abode] and his house [his] temporary [abode]. If it rained, when is it permissible to leave? When the porridge becomes spoiled.  They illustrated this with a parable: To what is this comparable? To a slave who came to pour a cup for his master, and he poured the jug at his face.

A stolen lulav or a dry one is invalid.  [One] from an asherah or from a city that was led astray is invalid.  If its top was broken off, [or] its leaves severed, it is invalid.  If its leaves spread apart, it is valid. R’ Yehudah says: He should tie them together at the top.  The thorn palms of the Iron Mountain are valid.  A lulav that is three handbreadths long, [long] enough to wave, is valid.

A stolen myrtle twig or a dry one is invalid.  [One] from an asherah or from a city that was led astray is invalid.  If its top was broken off, [or] its leaves were severed, or its berries outnumbered its leaves, it is invalid.  If he decreased them it is valid, but we may not decrease them on Yom Tov.

A stolen willow twig or a dry one is invalid.  [One] from an asherah or from a city that was led astray is invalid.  If its top was broken off, [or] its leaves were severed, or [it is] a tzaftzafah, it is invalid.  [One whose leaves are] wilted, or part of its leaves have fallen off, or [one] from a field, is valid.