Daf Yomi - Sukkah 2 - Chanukah Derived from the Torah

The Gemora brings a Mishna in Eruvin which contains an argument regarding a mavuy which is higher than twenty cubits. The sages hold that it not valid and one should lower it and Rabbi Yehuda maintains that lowering it is not necessary. The Gemora explains why our Mishna states that the sukkah is unfit and the Mishna in Eruvin states how to fix the mavuy. One of the distinctions offered is that sukkah is a halacho from the Torah and therefore it says psula, however mavuy which is only from the sages, we do not utilize the word 'pasul,' rather the Mishna states what the options are.

Tosfos asks from a Gemora in Shabbos that states if one placed the menorah for Chanukah higher than twenty cubits from the street, it is passul. Lighting the menorah on Chanukah is only from the sages, so how can we state pesula? The Chasam Sofer offers a novel approach to answer this question. The Gemora in Megillah 14 states that if Klal Yisroel sang praise when leaving Egypt, from slavery to freedom, certainly there would be an obligation to sing praise to Hashem for saving us from death, which is what transpired by Chanukah. A kal vochomer is one of the thirteen principles that the Torah can be expounded by and these are regarded as being from the Torah. The Chasam Sofer concludes that lighting the menorah on Chanukah can be considered a Torah derived law and hence the Gemora can use the word pesula.