The Mishnah on daf TB Sukkah 51a-b teaches us the general outline what happened at the celebration of Simhkat Beit Hashoava.
“MISHNA: One who did not see the
Celebration of the Place of the Drawing of the Water (Simhkat Beit
Hashoava) never saw celebration in his days. This was the sequence of
events: At the conclusion of the first Festival day the priests and the
Levites descended from the Israelites’ courtyard to the Women’s
Courtyard, where they would introduce a significant repair, as the Gemara
will explain. There were golden candelabra atop poles there in
the courtyard. And there were four basins made of gold at the
top of each candelabrum. And there were four ladders for each and
every pole and there were four children from the priesthood
trainees, and in their hands were pitchers with a capacity of 120
log of oil that they would pour into each and every basin. From
the worn trousers of the priests and their belts they would loosen and tear
strips to use as wicks, and with them they would light the candelabra. And
the light from the candelabra was so bright that there was not a courtyard
in Jerusalem that was not illuminated from the light of the Place of the
Drawing of the Water.
“The pious and the men of action would dance before the people
who attended the celebration, with flaming torches that they would
juggle in their hands, and they would say before them passages of song and
praise to God. And the Levites would play on lyres, harps,
cymbals, and trumpets, and countless other musical instruments. The
musicians would stand on the fifteen stairs that descend from the
Israelites’ courtyard to the Women’s Courtyard, corresponding to the fifteen
Songs of the Ascents in Psalms, i.e., chapters 120–134, and upon
which the Levites stand with musical instruments and recite their song.
“And this was the ceremony of the Water Libation: Two
priests stood at the Upper Gate that descends from the Israelites’ courtyard to
the Women’s Courtyard, with two trumpets in their hands. When the
rooster crowed at dawn, they sounded a tekia, and sounded a terua,
and sounded a tekia. When they who would draw the water reached
the tenth stair the trumpeters sounded a tekia, and sounded a terua,
and sounded a tekia, to indicate that the time to draw water from
the Siloam pool had arrived. When they reached the Women’s Courtyard
with the basins of water in their hands, the trumpeters sounded a tekia,
and sounded a terua, and sounded a tekia.
“When they reached the ground of the Women’s Courtyard, the
trumpeters sounded a tekia, and sounded a terua, and sounded a
tekia. They continued sounding the trumpets until they reached
the gate through which one exits to the east, from the
Women’s Courtyard to the eastern slope of the Temple Mount. When they
reached the gate through which one exits to the east, they turned
from facing east to facing west, toward the Holy of Holies, and
said: Our ancestors who were in this place during the First Temple period
who did not conduct themselves appropriately, stood “with their backs toward
the Sanctuary of the Lord, and their faces toward the east; and they worshipped
the sun toward the east” (Ezekiel 8:16), and we, our eyes are to God.
Rabbi Yehuda says that they would repeat and say: We are to God, and our
eyes are to God.”
(Sefaria.org translation)
Today’s daf TB sukkah 53 provides some of the
details how the celebration went that I found interesting. The light of the
candelabra was so bright in the courtyard of Jerusalem that the Gemara says “One of the Sages taught:
It was so bright that a woman would be able to sort wheat (the good kernels from the back kernels –gg)
by the light of the Celebration of the Place of the Drawing
of the Water.” (Sefaria.org translation)
This illumination was even better than our own LED light bulbs.
“It is taught in a baraita:
They said about Rabban Shimon ben Gamliel
that when he would rejoice at the Celebration of the Place of the Drawing
of the Water, he would take eight flaming torches and toss one and catch
another, juggling them, and, though all were in the air at the same
time, they would not touch each other... Apropos the rejoicing of Rabban Shimon ben Gamliel
at the Celebration of the Place of the Drawing of the Water, the Gemara recounts:
Levi would walk
before Rabbi Yehuda HaNasi juggling with eight knives. Shmuel would
juggle before King
Shapur with eight glasses of wine without spilling. Abaye would juggle before Rabba with
eight eggs. Some say he did so with four eggs.” (Sefaria.org
translation) I don’t know of any modern rabbinical school that has juggling as
part of the curriculum, but maybe it should if we want to increase joy in our
synagogues and schools. My son, the rabbi, Hillel taught himself how to juggle
when he was in high school. I wonder whether he uses the skill today as the
teacher in the Gann Academy, the New Jewish High School. I’ll have to ask him.
Simkhat Beit Hashoava was a six or five day and night party depending how
Yom Tov and Shabbat fell during the seven days of Sukkot. “It is taught in a baraita that
Rabbi Yehoshua ben Ḥananya said: When we would rejoice in the
Celebration of the Place of the Drawing of the Water, we did not see
sleep in our eyes the entire Festival. How so? In the first hour
of the day, the daily morning offering was sacrificed and everyone came
to watch. From there they proceeded to engage in prayer in
the synagogue; from there, to watch the sacrifice of the additional
offerings; from there, to the synagogue to recite the additional
prayer. From there they would proceed to the study hall to study
Torah; from there to the eating and drinking in the sukka; from
there to the afternoon prayer. From there they would proceed to the
daily afternoon offering in the Temple. From this point forward,
they proceeded to the Celebration of the Place of the Drawing of the
Water.
“The Gemara wonders: Is that so? But didn’t Rabbi Yoḥanan say: One
who took an oath that I will not sleep three days, one flogs him
immediately for taking an oath in vain, and he may sleep immediately
because it is impossible to stay awake for three days uninterrupted. Rather,
this is what Rabbi Yehoshua is saying: We did not experience the sense
of actual sleep, because they would merely doze on each other’s
shoulders. In any case, they were not actually awake for the entire week.” (Sefaria.org
translation)
By all descriptions Simkhat Beit Hashoava must have been such a joyous time that the
Gemara back on daf TB Sukkah 51b
taught that the rabbis felt compelled to put on the brakes on the celebration so
that the people would not sin. “The Sages taught in the Tosefta: Initially,
women would stand on the inside of the Women’s Courtyard, closer to
the Sanctuary to the west, and the men were on the outside in the
courtyard and on the rampart. And they would come to conduct themselves
with inappropriate levity in each other’s company, as the men needed to
enter closer to the altar when the offerings were being sacrificed and as a
result they would mingle with the women. Therefore, the Sages instituted
that the women should sit on the outside and the men on the inside, and still
they would come to conduct themselves with inappropriate levity.
Therefore, they instituted in the interest of complete separation that
the women would sit above and the men below.” (Sefaria.org translation)
More about the separation between men and
women when I have time later to write about it. Stay tuned.
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