Elephant in the Sukkah — Sukkah 23a — #7

If one used an animal as a wall of the Sukkah, R. Meir declares it invalid and R. Yehudah valid, for R. Meir was wont to say: Whatever contains the breath of life can be made neither a wall for a sukkah, nor a side-post for an alley, nor boards around wells, nor a covering stone for a grave… What is the reason of R. Meir? Abaye replied: Lest it die.  R. Zeira replied: Lest it escape.  Concerning an elephant securely bound, all  agree [that the sukkah is valid], since even if it dies,  there is still ten [handbreadths height] in its carcass.

INTRODUCTION
We may build a sukkah out of anything we like: the frame can be wood, metal, or PVC piping; the walls can be wood, fabric, or tarps. Over the course of time, and three different sukkot, my family has used all three. The Talmud considers a rather unusual “building

material” we have never tried: an elephant. Perhaps you’re thinking: That’s crazy! It makes no sense! Or perhaps you’re thinking: There were precious few elephants in either Eretz Yisrael or Babylonia when the Talmud was written, so what are they talking about? How might we think about this passage?

The Western World discovered the Russian philosopher and literary theorist Mikhail Bakhtin (1895–1975) and his ideas on the “carnivalesque” in the 1960s. Here is the clearest and most succinct description I have found (many thanks to the professor of English 355 at Arizona State University who wrote this—I couldn’t find your name to thank you properly):

“For the literary theorist and philosopher Mikhail Bakhtin, the carnivalesque is both the description of a historical phenomenon and the name he gives to a certain literary tendency. Historically speaking, Bakhtin was interested in great carnivals of Medieval Europe. He saw them as occasions in which the political, legal and ideological  authority of both the church and state were inverted — albeit temporarily — during the anarchic and liberating period of the carnival. The carnival was not only liberating because—for that short period—the church and state had little or no control over the lives of the revelers, although Terry Eagleton points out this would probably be “licensed” transgression at best. But, its true liberating potential can be seen in the fact that set rules and beliefs were not immune to ridicule or reconception at carnival time; it ‘cleared the ground’ for new ideas to enter into public discourse. Bakhtin goes so far as to suggest that the European Renaissance itself was made possible by the spirit of free thinking and impiety that the carnivals engendered.”

Examples of the carnivalesque in our society include: Reality TV, Spring Break, Homecoming, Halloween, Super Bowl, and Mardi Gras. And, of course: Purim. The Jewish scholar Daniel Boyarin applied Bakhtin’s ideas to the Talmud.

COMMENTARY
The premise is absurd, but the conversation proceeds as if it were a sober, serious, significant halakhic issue under consideration: May we use an elephant as a wall of our sukkah? Naturally, there is a disagreement. R. Meir objects and R. Yehudah permits. If you feel you are in the realm of the absurd, you are entirely correct. If you feel you are peeking through the tent flap into a circus—complete with canonical elephant!—you are again correct. The Talmud asks about R. Meir’s objection. Two explanations are offered: First, R. Meir was worried that the elephant would die during Sukkot, raising the absurdity level to a new high. Second, R. Meir was concerned that the elephant would escape. How, after all, do you tie down an elephant who decides he’s leaving? But perhaps we can overcome both concerns: if we can securely leash the elephant, even if he dies and falls on his side, he’s adequately tall sideways to meet the minimum requirement for the height of the walls of a sukkah. Any remaining doubts that we are in the realm of the absurd?

QUESTIONS TO CONSIDER AND DISCUSS

1. Perhaps you wondered: On what basis could R. Yehudah imagine, let alone validate, the use of an elephant, and where on earth would he get one? (How would he get it to his backyard? Would he tape his kids’ artwork to its side and legs?) While Talmud questions R. Meir’s invalidation of the elephant-sukkah, it doesn’t question R. Yehudah’s permission—it simply accepts it. It is as if Talmud is saying: Sure, use an elephant! No problem. This reveals an underlining sense of fun and whimsy. The primary biblical mitzvah of Sukkot is joy—this is z’man simchateinu (“our season of joy”). Perhaps the Rabbis are here fulfilling the mitzvah of joy through humor.
2. The fertile imaginations of the Rabbis are an invitation to engage in the pleasures of imagination. Ushpizin is another example of their vivid imaginations. What does your fantasy sukkah look like? Check out the Sukkah City Contest: http://www.sukkahcity.com/
3. On Sukkot, our world is turned upside down as we move out of our cozy houses and make the fragile sukkah our home for a week. The outside becomes the inside, and the inside becomes the outside. Sometimes circumstance turns our lives upside down or inside out to our detriment. Could Sukkot be a training ground for coping with extreme change?