https://youtu.be/UF1yI0rbdFA?is=tm78Clxfcp6p9Twf

DAF AGGADAH YOMI — DAY 1 Sukkah 28a–28b How Big Is Torah? Welcome to Day 1 of Daf Aggadah Yomi. We are not racing through Shas simply to say that we finished pages. The purpose of this program is to encounter the passages of Gemara that shape Jewish thought: Aggadah, spiritual psychology, stories of the Sages, theology, ethics, and the roots of the Jewish mystical tradition. And Sukkah 28 is almost a manifesto for the entire program. The daf asks us to imagine a Torah scholar whose world contains Tanach, Mishnah, Halacha, Aggadah, logic, astronomy, gematria, angels, parables, and Maaseh Merkavah—all as parts of one Torah. PART 1 — Rabbi Eliezer: Don’t Pretend You Know The daf begins with Rabbi Eliezer ben Hyrcanus. While spending Shabbat in the Upper Galilee, he was asked thirty questions concerning the laws of sukkah. On some questions he answered: שמעתי — “I heard.” On others: לא שמעתי — “I did not hear.” Meaning: I have a received tradition for this; I do not have a received tradition for that. His students are surprised by his reluctance to improvise. Rabbi Eliezer explains that throughout his life he was extraordinarily disciplined about preserving the Torah he received. He describes a life almost completely oriented around the Beit Midrash: arriving early, remaining until everyone else had left, avoiding idle conversation, and refusing to present something as received Torah when he had not actually received it. His teacher, Rabban Yochanan ben Zakkai, was described in similarly extraordinary terms. Daf principle #1 Knowing what you do not know is part of Torah scholarship. There is tremendous intellectual humility in: לא שמעתי — I have not heard. Torah does not require pretending that every question has already been mastered. For Torah University, this is actually an important academic principle: Received source → interpretation → application should not quietly become: personal speculation → presented as received tradition. PART 2 — Hillel’s 80 Students Now the daf suddenly shifts into extraordinary Aggadah.

Dear students, As we prepare for Sukkot, I want to give you a first doorway into the festival while the full Torah University course is being completed. Our classroom on Skool will soon have a ten module Sukkot course with Hebrew and English sources, short checks, images, lectures and guided assignments. More features are also rolling out at torahuniversity.info. The Torah asks us to dwell in sukkot for seven days so that later generations remember the journey after the Exodus (Leviticus 23:42–43). A sukkah is a temporary dwelling under the open sky. Its walls must be secure and its roof, called sechach, comes from suitable plant material detached from the ground. Those are starting principles, not a complete construction ruling. If you are building one, please check the practical details with a qualified rabbi. The Four Species bring together an etrog (citron), lulav (palm), hadasim (myrtle) and aravot (willow). They invite us to notice that festival joy is something we practice with our bodies and with one another. In the mystical tradition, the sukkah is described as a shelter of faith, and the writings associated with the Arizal explore the Four Species through the language of the sefirot. We will study those interpretations carefully alongside the Torah and Mishnah, rather than treating one symbol as the whole story. A question for our Beit Midrash: What changes when we leave a permanent room and study, eat or welcome someone in a temporary dwelling? Our regular classes resume after the holiday on Monday, October 5 at 5:30 PM Pacific / 8:30 PM Eastern. Meanwhile, watch this community and the classroom for the complete course. Primary text: https://www.sefaria.org/Leviticus.23.39-43 Sukkah basics: https://www.chabad.org/library/article_cdo/aid/609535/jewish/What-Is-a-Sukkah.htm Mystical reading: https://www.chabad.org/kabbalah/article_cdo/aid/1505051/jewish/Origin-of-4-Species.htm