Sukkah, Daf Nun Aleph, Part 3
Introduction
Today’s section is a long mishnah. My commentary is taken from Mishnah Yomit.
The first four mishnayot of the final chapter of Sukkah are about a Sukkot ritual called Simchat Bet Hashoevah , which is usually translated as the Celebration of the Water-Drawing. The water-drawing refers to the drawing of the water from the Shiloah in order to perform the water-libation, described above in chapter four. At the end of the all-night Simchat Bet Hashoevah ceremony, early in the morning, they would leave the Temple, go down to the Shiloah and draw the water.
It seems that the function of the ceremony was twofold. First of all it highlighted the importance of the water-libation, which as we saw before, was controversial. Secondly, it allowed non-priests a chance to participate in the Sukkot ritual in the Temple. This seems to be one of the major differences between the Pharisees and Sadducees the former encouraged the participation of non-priests in Temple ritual as much as was possible, whereas the Sadducees seemed to have abhorred it.
משנה. מי שלא ראה שמחת בית השואבה לא ראה שמחה מימיו.
Mishnah
They said: he who has not seen the Simchat Bet Hashoevah has never seen rejoicing in his life.
Explanation
The Simchat Bet Hashoevah was supposed to have been the most joyous, celebratory occasion in the Jewish calendar. Indeed, to this day in our tefillot we call Sukkot the time of our rejoicing (z man simchatenu) .
1) במוצאי יום טוב הראשון של חג ירדו לעזרת נשים ומתקנין שם תיקון גדול.
2) מנורות של זהב היו שם, וארבעה ספלים של זהב בראשיהם, וארבעה סולמות לכל אחד ואחד, וארבעה ילדים מפירחי כהונה, ובידיהם כדים של מאה ועשרים לוג שהן מטילין לכל ספל וספל.
1) At the conclusion of the first festival day of Sukkot they descended to the Women s Court (Ezrat Nashim) and they would make there a great enactment.
2) And golden candlesticks were there, and four golden bowls on the top of each of them and four ladders to each, and four youths drawn from the young priests, and in their hands there were jars of oil containing one hundred and twenty logs which they poured into the bowls.
Explanation
Section one: As we learned in yesterday s mishnah, they did not celebrate the Simchat Bet Hashoevah on either Shabbat or on the festival. They would not begin until after the first festival day was completed. The celebration would start with the people going into the Women s Court. This was a section in the Temple into which both men and women could enter, but it was as far as women could go in the Temple. Hence it was called the Women s Court. The mishnah says that they would make their a great enactment but does not explain what this was. The Talmud explains that they separated the men and women, putting the men below and the women up into the balcony so that they wouldn t mix. The fear was that in the midst of such a raucous occasion the mixture of men and women together could lead to transgression. Hence they separated between the sexes. However, on normal occasions men and women seem to have been together in the Women s Court.
Section two: The first thing they would do was light an enormous menorah. On each candlestick there were four golden bowls according to tomorrow s mishnah, there was enough light to light up all of Jerusalem! Children would climb ladders to light the menorah and they would use 120 logs of oil, which is the equivalent of fifteen liters of oil. This works out to about half a liter of oil for each bowl.
1) מבלאי מכנסי כהנים ומהמייניהן, מהן היו מפקיעין, ובהן היו מדליקין.
2) ולא היה חצר בירושלים שאינה מאירה מאור בית השואבה.
Mishnah
1) From the worn-out pants and belts of the priests they made wicks and with them they kindled the lamps.
2) And there was not a courtyard in Jerusalem that was not illuminated by the light of the Bet Hashoevah.
Explanation
Section one: The wicks that they used to light the candles were not made from any old ordinary material. They used the worn-out pants and belts the priests, which they wore in their Temple service. This teaches us that once something has been used for one mitzvah it is fitting that it should be used in another mitzvah as well.
Section two: The light from the menorah was so great that according to the mishnah it lit up all of Jerusalem.
1) חסידים ואנשי מעשה היו מרקדין בפניהם באבוקות של אור שבידיהן, ואומרים לפניהם דברי שירות ותושבחות,
2) והלוים בכנורות ובנבלים ובמצלתים ובחצוצרות ובכלי שיר בלא מספר, על חמש עשרה מעלות היורדות מעזרת ישראל לעזרת נשים כנגד חמש עשרה (מעלות) +מסורת הש"ס: [שיר המעלות]+ שבתהלים, שעליהן לוים עומדין בכלי שיר ואומרים שירה.
3) ועמדו שני כהנים בשער העליון שיורד מעזרת ישראל לעזרת נשים, ושני חצוצרות בידיהן. קרא הגבר, תקעו והריעו ותקעו. הגיעו למעלה עשירית, תקעו והריעו ותקעו. הגיעו לעזרה תקעו והריעו ותקעו. (הגיעו לקרקע תקעו והריעו ותקעו). היו תוקעין והולכין עד שמגיעין לשער היוצא ממזרח.
4) הגיעו לשער היוצא ממזרח, הפכו פניהן ממזרח למערב ואמרו: אבותינו שהיו במקום הזה אחוריהם אל ההיכל ופניהם קדמה, ומשתחוים קדמה לשמש, ואנו ליה עינינו. רבי יהודה אומר: היו שונין ואומרין אנו ליה וליה עינינו.
Mishnah
1) Men of piety and good deeds used to dance before them with lighted torches in their hands, and they would sing songs and praises.
2) And Levites with innumerable harps, lyres, cymbals and trumpets and other musical instruments stood upon the fifteen steps leading down from the Court of the Israelites to the Court of the Women, corresponding to the fifteen songs of ascents in the Psalms, and it was on these [steps] that the Levites stood with their musical instruments and sang their songs.
3) Two priests stood by the upper gate which leads down from the Court of the Israelites to the Court of the Women, with two trumpets in their hands.
When the cock crowed they sounded a teki’ah [drawn-out blast], a teru’ah [staccato note] and again a teki’ah.
When they reached the tenth step they sounded a teki’ah, a teru’ah and again a teki’ah. When they reached the Court [of the Women] they sounded a teki’ah, a teru’ah and again a teki’ah.
They would sound their trumpets and proceed until they reached the gate which leads out to the east.
4) When they reached the gate which leads out to the east, they turned their faces from east to west and said, Our fathers who were in this place their backs were toward the Temple of the Lord, and their faces toward the east, and they worshipped the sun toward the east , but as for us, our eyes are turned to the Lord.
Rabbi Judah said: they used to repeat [the last words] and say We are the Lord s and our eyes are turned to the Lord.
Explanation
Section one: After having lit the menorah, the party kicks off with dancing, singing and the playing of musical instruments. The first participants mentioned are the Hasidim or the men of piety and men whom are known for their good deeds. This group s participation is unusual and noteworthy for these were men chosen based on their deeds and not on their lineage. In my opinion this was indeed one of the functions of the Simchat Bet Hashoevah, to give a greater role to those who are not of the priestly or Levitical clans. It is these people whose dancing, songs and praise would probably have stood out the most. This dancing and singing took place in the Court of the Women.
Section two: The second group is the Levites who would arrange themselves on the fifteen steps leading up from the Court of the Women to the Court of the Israelites. The mishnah notes that these fifteen steps correlate with the fifteen Psalms which begin A Song of Ascents (Shir Hamaalot) (Psalms 120-134). One can only imagine how beautiful, indeed sublime, their music must have been.
Section three: The third group involved is the priests. The priests begin the ceremony standing above everyone else, up in the Court of the Israelites. When the cock crows at the crack of dawn they begin a process of descending and blowing shofar blasts at set stages. Eventually this leads them down through the women s court and out to the eastern gate.
Section four: When they get to the eastern gate they are facing the sun. They turn around so that their backs are to the sun and use this opportunity to profess their faith in God and their denial of the worship of the sun. They quote from Ezekiel 8:16 in order to highlight that the sin of sun-worship is not just something that others or Greeks were engaged in, but something that Israelites themselves were accused of by Ezekiel. It seems to me likely that there is also a polemic here against other contemporary Jewish groups who had a solar calendar. A calendar based on the sun and actual worship of the sun could probably have been associated. Certainly it would make sense that the Pharisees/rabbis would claim that their rivals, the Essenes and perhaps the Sadducees, were not just basing their calendar on the sun but were worshipping the sun as well. We have already seen on a number of occasions that Sukkot was a holiday full of strife between the various sects of ancient Judaism.
The mishnah ends its procession at this point, but it is quite clear that it was not actually over at this moment but that from the eastern gate they would make their way down to the Shiloah spring in order to draw water for the water-libation.