If the Sukah was lower than 10 tefachim because of the decorations that hang down, if the decorations are from materials that are valid to use as Schach, they reduce the height to disqualify the Sukah; if not, they are ignored and the Sukah is valid.

If the Sukah was taller than 20 Amos and the decorations hanged down below 20; if the decorations are from materials that are valid Schach, they reduce the height and validate the Sukah; if not, the Sukah remains invalid. (Note: The last two entries follow the explanation of the Pnei Moshe.)

R. Simi: Just as it is reduced above, it is reduced below by raising the floor, as follows -

Stubble and straw do not reduce the height of the Sukah by raising the floor (because people do not annul it there since it is animal fodder); pebbles reduce.

R. Yosa bei R. Bun: If grasses grew inside a Sukah that was taller than 20 Amos, they do not reduce the height (as they do not grow evenly; alternatively, it is because he does not allow them to remain there).

Question: What is the source to say that above 10 Tefachim is considered a different domain?

Answer (R. Abahu quoting R"SBL): The Pasuk states (Shemos 25, 22), "I will meet with you there and I will speak with you from above the cover [of the Ark]"; another Pasuk states (Shemos 20, 19), "You have seen that I spoke to you from the heavens". Just as the speaking that was done there came from another domain (the heavens), so here the speaking that was done (above the cover) came from another domain (even though it was only above ten Tefachim).

Question: But the Aron was only nine Tefachim tall?

Answer (House of R. Yanai): The cover was a Tefach thick (high).

Question (R. Zeira): What is the source to say that the cover was a Tefach?

Answer (Beraisa - R. Chanina ben Shmuel): For all of the vessels in the Temple (Mishkan) the Torah gave measurements of their length, breadth and height, except for the cover of the Aron, that the Torah gave measurements of its length and breadth but not its height -

Let us learn from the smallest vessel in the Temple, as the Pasuk states (Shemos 25, 25), "You shall make for it a frame of a Tefach around it" - just as the frame was a Tefach, so the thickness of the cover was a Tefach.

Question: Or perhaps learn it from (ibid), "and you shall make a golden crown on the frame around it" - just as the crown was any minimal thickness (the Torah did not specify), so the thickness of the cover was any minimal amount?

Question: If so, what is the source to say that the cover was a Tefach?

Answer (R. Acha bar Yaakov): The Pasuk states (Vayikra 16, 14), "[He shall take from the blood of the cow and sprinkle with his finger on the eastern] face [of the cover]. (The blood was sprinkled on the side (thickness) of the cover and uses the word "Pnei" - "face" - and a face is not less than a Tefach wide.

Rejection (R. Yosa): (How can we learn from the Aron that there is another domain above ten?) If there was a tall cupboard inside a house, would it not be permitted to take from the cupboard to the house or vice-versa [on Shabbos]?

Rather, we are referring to when the Aron was taken outside into the public domain and in a miraculous way, it moved around to face eastwards. The Mishkan was then set up in that direction. At that time, if Hash-m would have spoken from above the cover, it would be coming from a different domain.

Question: This is fine according the opinion that the vessels were built using a six Tefach-long Amah measurement (the Torah states that the Ark was 1 1/2 Amos which is nine Tefachim); but according to the opinion that the vessels were built using a five Tefach-long Amah, the Ark was 7 1/2 Tefachim tall?!

Answer (R. Yaakov bar Acha): One of the House of R. Yanai and R. Shimon ben Yutzedek disagreed - one said that we learn from the Ark and the other said that we learn from the wagons and we do not know who said which one.

It is logical that the one of the House of Yanai learns it from the Aron, as he holds that the Ark was nine Tefachim and the cover was one Tefach; and R. Shimon ben Yutzedek learns it from the wagons.

Question (R. Zeira): What is the source to say that the wagons were ten tefachim tall?

Question (R. Yosa): (Could one learn from the wagons?) Even if you say that the wagons were ten Tefachim tall, you still cannot learn from them that above ten is another domain. Did R. Nechemiya not teach that the wagons were like a 'turtle wagon' - a covered wagon that contains holes in which the beams of the Mishkan were resting?

Conclusion of question: If there was a hole in a public domain that was ten Tefachim deep and four Tefachim wide, would it be permitted to transfer from it into the public domain or vice-versa?!

Rather, when they would pass the beams from wagon to another, the covers of the wagons were open and they were therefore a private domain.