Sukkah, Daf Mem Het, Part 4
גמרא. מנא הני מילי?
אמר רב עינא: דאמר קרא +ישעיהו יב+ ושאבתם מים בששון וגו’.
GEMARA. From where do we know this?
R. Ena said, As the verse says, "You shall draw water with rejoicing" (Isaiah 12:3).
According to Rashi, R. Ena explains how we know that the drawing of water from the Shiloah is accompanied with a celebration. The prooftext cited from Isaiah also serves as a starting point for the following strange story.
הנהו תרי מיני, חד שמיה ששון וחד שמיה שמחה,
אמר ליה ששון לשמחה: אנא עדיפנא מינך, דכתיב +ישעיהו לה+ ששון ושמחה ישיגו וגו’.
אמר ליה שמחה לששון: אנא עדיפנא מינך, דכתיב +אסתר ח+ שמחה וששון ליהודים.
אמר ליה ששון לשמחה: חד יומא שבקוך ושויוך פרוונקא, דכתיב +ישעיהו נה+ כי בשמחה תצאו.
אמר ליה שמחה לששון: חד יומא שבקוך ומלו בך מיא, דכתיב ושאבתם מים בששון.
There were once two minim one was called Sason and the other Simha.
Sason said to Simha: I am better than you, since it is written, "They shall obtain Sason and Simha" (Isaiah 35:10).
Simha said to Sason, "I am better than you, since it is written, "The Jews had Simha and Sason."
Sason said to Simha: One day they will take you out and make you a messenger, since it is written, "For with Simha shall they go forth."
Simha said to Sason: One day they will take you out and draw with you water, for it is written, "Therefore with Sason shall you draw water."
According to some modern scholars, this seemingly silly story is an anti-Christian parody, related to John 7:35-37. In these verses, Jesus speaks to the crowd on the last day of the Festival of Sukkot saying that all who are thirsty should come and drink from him. According to the author of the Gospel, he was referring to a spiritual drinking, not a literal one. The story centers around two "minim," the Hebrew word for heretic. The rabbis portray Jesus as if he is "Sason" (elsewhere understood as the Messiah, based on Psalms 45:8) and the angel/messenger named "Simcha" tells him that he is going to literally become a water skin. The first part of the story, where each claims to be greater than the other, is a further parody on Christian literature.
אמר ליה ההוא מינא דשמיה ששון לרבי אבהו: עתידיתו דתמלו לי מים לעלמא דאתי, דכתיב ושאבתם מים בששון.
אמר ליה: אי הוה כתיב לששון – כדקאמרת, השתא דכתיב בששון – משכיה דההוא גברא משוינן ליה גודא, ומלינן ביה מיא.
A certain min whose name was Sason once said to R. Abbahu: You are destined to draw water for me in the world to come, for it is written, "Therefore be-Sason shall you draw water."
He said back to him: If it had been written, "le-sason" it would be as you say, but as it is written "be-sason" the meaning must be that a water-skin will be made of your skin, and water will be drawn with it .
In this section the parody is further developed, this time in the (imagined) conversation between a min (heretic) and R. Abahu, a sage frequently portrayed as having contact with heretics. The "min" tries to claim that it is R. Abahu that will draw the water in the world to come. But his grammar mistake is corrected. The min (probably representative of Jesus) will be the simple water-skin through which the water is drawn.