SUKKOT
I 5767-2006
"Sukkot- The Festival of Joy"
Rabbi
Ephraim Buchwald
The
festival of Sukkot is regarded as the most joyous of
all the Jewish holidays. In fact, there is not a single
reference in the Torah to "joy" with regard
to Passover or Shavuot, while there are three references
to joy in the verses pertaining to Sukkot (Leviticus
23:40 and Deuteronomy 15:14 & 15).
The
most joyous part of Sukkot was the ritual known as "Nisuch
Ha'Mayim,"--the water libation. While all Peace
and Burnt offerings in the Temple were accompanied by
a Mincha (fine flour mixed with oil and wine),
during the seven days of Sukkot each daily Burnt offering
included a libation of water that was poured on the
altar together with the wine.
The
Mishnah in Sukkah, chapter 4, describes
this joyous ritual in detail. A Cohen filled a golden
pitcher containing three logim of water that were drawn
from the Shilo'ach pool and brought to the Temple
through the Watergate while the shofar was sounded.
Large multitudes of men, women and children, as well
as distinguished dignitaries of Israel, participated
in the festivities that accompanied the water libations.
Known as Simchat Beit Hashoeva, "the festival
of the house of water drawing," the ceremony lasted
for 15 ½ consecutive hours, and was conducted
on each festival day with the exception of Shabbat and
the first day of Sukkot.
Men
of piety and good deeds would dance before the people
with lighted torches in their hands, singing songs and
offering praises to the Al-mighty. The Levites set the
tone for the celebration, playing an array of musical
instruments. The festivities were so extraordinary,
that the Talmud (Sukkah 51a) actually states
that one who has not seen the festival of Simchat
Beit Hashoeva has never experienced true joy in
his life.
And
yet, despite the prominence of these festivities, neither
the celebration of Simchat Beit Hashoeva, nor the ritual
of
Nisuch Ha'Mayim,
is mentioned in the Torah. Instead, it is regarded as
"Halacha l'Moshe mee'Sinai," a law
that was orally communicated to Moses at Sinai, that
has the assumed the force of a scriptural law. While
there are no specific scriptural references, the rabbis
have found allusions in the Torah to the specialness
of the water celebration on Sukkot in three extra letters
that are included in the Torah portions describing the
sacrifices of Sukkot. Those three letters, "Mem,
Yod, Mem," make up the Hebrew word "mayim"
for water, and provide the basis for the celebration.
During
the period of unrest that preceded the destruction of
the Second Temple, the Simchat Beit Hashoeva
ceremony actually became a source of great contention,
specifically because there was no direct scriptural
link to its observance. It was during this time that
a great theological dispute between the Pharisees and
the Sadducees reached its height amongst the people
of Israel. The Sadducees, the literalists, rejected
the Oral Code and subscribed only to laws and practices
that were explicitly stated in scripture, whereas the
Pharisees, the traditionalists, abided by the Oral Code
and the rabbinic interpretations.
The
Talmud, in Sukkah 48b, tells of a Sadducee who,
during the celebration of the water libation, poured
the water on his feet, and the people pelted him with
their etrogs. The incident referred to in the Talmud,
is presumed to be a case that was related by the famed
Jewish historian, Josephus Flavius in Antiquities
13:13,5.
Josephus
writes of the Hasmonean King, Alexander Yannai, who
not only served as King but assumed the office of High
Priest as well and had sympathetic leanings to the Sadducees.
Once, apparently around the year 95 B.C.E., as the nation
was celebrating the water drawing ritual in the Temple,
Alexander Yannai took the pitcher of water, raised his
hands high, and poured the water slowly over his feet
to show his disdain for the Pharisees and their the
traditional customs and rituals. The people standing
in the Temple courtyard who were mostly Pharisees, regarded
the ritual of the pouring of the water as crucial for
achieving the blessings of rain necessary for their
agricultural efforts. Overcome with anger, they began
to pelt the king with their etrogs. Some extremists
began to cry, "It's enough that you [Alexander
Yannai] have taken for yourself the royal crown. The
priesthood belongs to the seed of Aaron, and you are
not fit to be a priest because your mother is unfit."
The king immediately ordered his troops to step in and,
according to some accounts, as many as six thousand
people among the celebrants were killed. Nevertheless,
the kings and princes of Israel learned a stern lesson
from this tragic confrontation, not to take the people's
ritual practices lightly.
Fast
forward 2,000 years.
It
is very likely that after all these centuries only a
small percentage of the 13 million Jews who populate
the world today have ever heard of the celebration of
Simchat Beit Hashoeva or of Nisuch Ha'Mayim,
the festival of the libation of the water. And even
those who do know are probably not familiar with the
confrontation between Alexander Yannai and the people
of Israel. The sad likelihood is that the vast majority
of Jews today never even take a lulav or etrog into
their hands, or ever enter a Sukkah during the festival
of Sukkot. Whereas the Jews of antiquity were prepared
to confront the king when he changed only a minor detail
of the water libation ritual, contemporary Jews are
either ignorant or indifferent to the entire Sukkot
festival.
In
a fascinating sidebar to Jewish history, it was during
the reign of Alexander Yannai, that Alexander's brother-in-law,
Rabbi Shimon the son of Shetach, and Rabbi Yehoshua
the son of Gamla, established universal Jewish education
for the people, the first universal educational system
ever instituted by any nation in the world.
Let
us hope that through our efforts at educating and reaching
out to the non-affiliated and marginally-affiliated
Jewish masses, we will once again be able to celebrate
this most joyous of festivals among the multitudes of
our fellow Jews on the Temple Mount in Jerusalem, soon,
in our days.
Happy
Sukkot.
May
you be blessed.
The
first two days of the Sukkot festival are observed on
Friday evening, October 6th and on Saturday and Sunday,
October 7 and 8, 2006.
