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Hi Chevra,
Typically, I will send some thoughts on Saturday nights concerning [some of] the 14 Mishnayot coming up that week. But our first two Mishnayot of Sukkah are actually scheduled for Shabbat itself, so here's a special edition just on Sukkah, Perek One, Mishnayot 1-2.
The Mishnayot describe some of the physical requirements for a Sukkah, many of which have to do with ensuring that the person inside the Sukkah has an awareness and an experience of being beneath a thatched roof. The one law in the Mishna that's a little bit different is the one that Bet Hillel and Bet Shamai debate, with the latter requiring that the Sukkah be built for the sake of the Mitzvah, and the former not believing that there is any such requirement.
The question at the root of the debate is whether the Sukkah is a "ritual object", the way that Tefillin, Tzitzit, and (perhaps) Matza are. The latter all have to be produced "lishma" (for the sake of the Miztvah) because they are all symbolic objects which we believe need to be infused with meaning at the time of their manufacture in order to achieve their religious purpose. Bet Shamai places the Sukkah in the same category. (And perhaps might even require a bracha over the construction of the Sukkah.)
But Bet Hillel's approach to Sukkah is different. In their view the Sukkah is not a symbolic / ritual object. It is something, like Lulav and Etrog was for farmers, and like the wine we use for Kiddush is for us, an object which arouses the desired experience and emotions completely intuitively - just as long as it meets the physical requirements of a "temporary dwelling".
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