(1) A song of ascents. When the LORD restores the fortunes of Zion —we see it as in a dream— (2) our mouths shall be filled with laughter, our tongues, with songs of joy. Then shall they say among the nations, “The LORD has done great things for them!” (3) The LORD will do great things for us and we shall rejoice. (4) Restore our fortunes, O LORD, like watercourses in the Negeb. (5) They who sow in tears shall reap with songs of joy. (6) Though he goes along weeping, carrying the seed-bag, he shall come back with songs of joy, carrying his sheaves.
Sukkot marks the transition from summer to fall. In the land of Israel, crops are still dependent on winter rains and drought is an ever-present threat. At the end of Sukkot, on Shemini Atzeret, we recite Teffilat Geshem, the prayer for rain, and begin inserting a request for rainfall into our daily prayers.
The cries of the shofar on Rosh Hashanah and tears of our heartfelt prayers on Yom Kippur are like the sowing/weeping in verses 5-6 of Psalms 126, whereas the celebration of Sukkot ("z'man simchateinu") is like the reaping/singing at the end of those lines. During the first seven days of Sukkot, we give thanks to the Holy Blessed One for signing and sealing us in the Book of Life, for allowing us to gather in the spiritual harvest. We wave fruits and foliage (the Arba Minim consisting of etrog/citron, lulav/palm, aravot/willows and hadasim/myrtles) and circumambulate holy spaces (Hoshanot) requesting ongoing salvation. But throughout all of this intense period of elongated and embodied prayer, we do not explicitly ask for rain. In fact, during the Hoshana service, we say: "Do not do bad to the valley - sweeten the delicacies and bring salvation, to carry the clouds, to move the rains. Restrain the clouds, open the hand and satiate - satiate Your thirsty ones."
"After so many long days in synagogue," asks Alieza Salzberg Yizhar, "why couldn't we just pray for rain during the Rosh Hashanah or Yom Kippur? What change occurs over the course of Sukkot to ready us to ask for rain only on Shemini Atzeret?"
Read Yizhar's essay "Simhat Beit HaShoevah: Sukkot Rituals that Spillover" (PDF) in Connection Points, Hadar's High Holidays Reader for 5781, for an exploration of the role of water and (not) praying for it during this special time and continue below to explore the watery depths in text.
(1)...They said: Whoever has not seen the Simchat Bet Hashoevah [the Joy of the Water Drawing Ceremony] has never seen rejoicing in his life.
(4) Men of piety and good deeds used to dance before them with lighted torches in their hands, and they would sing songs and praises. 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. 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, a teru'ah 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. 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.”
The flute is played on the festival of Sukkot for five or six days. This is the flute of the Place of the Drawing of the Water, whose playing overrides neither Shabbat nor the Festival. Therefore, if the first Festival day occurred on Shabbat, they would play the flute for six days that year. However, if Shabbat coincided with one of the intermediate days of the Festival, they would play the flute for only five days. One who did not see the Celebration of the Place of the Drawing of the Water 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.
One sounds no fewer than twenty-one trumpet blasts in the Temple, and one sounds no more than forty-eight. The mishna elaborates: Each day there were twenty-one trumpet blasts in the Temple: Three blasts were sounded for the opening of the gates in the morning, nine for the daily morning offering, and nine for the daily afternoon offering, totaling twenty-one. And on a day when the additional offerings were sacrificed, e.g., the New Moon, with the additional offerings they would add nine additional blasts. And on Shabbat eve they would add six blasts sounded adjacent to the onset of Shabbat: Three to stop the people from their labor, as the blasts inform the people that Shabbat is approaching and they stop working, and three at the onset of Shabbat to demarcate between sacred and profane. On Shabbat eve during the festival of Sukkot, there were forty-eight blasts. How so? Three in the morning for the opening of the gates; three for the upper gate; and three for the lower gate; and three for the filling of the vessel with water, as described in the sequence of the ritual of drawing the water for the water libation (48b); and three when pouring the water libation upon the altar; nine for the daily morning offering; and nine for the daily afternoon offering; and nine for the additional offerings; three to stop the people from work; and three more to demarcate between sacred and profane, totaling forty-eight blasts.
On the first Festival day of Sukkot there were thirteen bulls, two rams, and one goat there. The mishna proceeds to discuss the division of labor for the Festival offerings among the twenty-four priestly watches, all of which serve in the Temple on the pilgrimage Festivals. The sixteen offerings mentioned above were divided among sixteen priestly watches, one offering per watch. Fourteen sheep remained to be divided among the eight remaining watches. On the first day of the Festival, six of the eight remaining watches sacrifice two sheep each for a total of twelve, and the remaining two watches sacrifice one sheep each. On the second day of the Festival, i.e., the first day of the intermediate days, when twelve bulls were sacrificed, fifteen of the priestly watches sacrifice the bulls, rams, and goat, five of the remaining watches sacrifice two sheep each, and the remaining four watches sacrifice one sheep each. On the third day of the Festival, when eleven bulls were sacrificed, fourteen of the priestly watches sacrifice the bulls, rams, and goat, four of the remaining watches sacrifice two sheep each, and the remaining six watches sacrifice one sheep each. On the fourth day of the Festival, when ten bulls were sacrificed, thirteen of the priestly watches sacrifice the bulls, rams, and goat, three of the remaining watches sacrifice two sheep each, and the remaining eight watches sacrifice one sheep each. On the fifth day, when nine bulls were sacrificed, twelve watches sacrifice the bulls, rams, and goat, two of the twelve remaining watches sacrifice two sheep each, and the remaining ten watches sacrifice one sheep each. On the sixth day, when eight bulls were sacrificed, eleven watches sacrifice the bulls, rams, and goat, one of the remaining watches sacrifices two sheep, and the remaining twelve watches sacrifice one sheep each. On the seventh day they are all equal and bring one offering each. On the eighth day, when there was a completely different configuration of offerings, they returned to the standard lottery system used to determine which of the priestly watches would sacrifice the offerings, as they did on the other pilgrimage Festivals, which do not have as many offerings as does Sukkot. They said about the ordering of the priestly watches: One who sacrificed bulls today will not sacrifice bulls tomorrow; rather, they will sacrifice one of the other types of offerings. They rotate, so that each of the watches will have the opportunity to sacrifice bulls as well as other animals.
וְאָמַר רַבִּי יוֹחָנָן: לֵידַע שֶׁהוּקְבַּע רֹאשׁ חוֹדֶשׁ בִּזְמַנּוֹ. תְּרֵי הֶיכֵּירָא עָבְדִינַן. דְּחָזֵי הַאי — חָזֵי, וְחָזֵי בְּהַאי — חָזֵי. And Rabbi Yoḥanan said: Why was it placed in this manner? It was as an indicator for the people to know that the New Moon was established at its proper time, after the twenty-ninth day of the previous month. The Gemara answers: This is not difficult, as they implemented two indicators: One who saw this one, i.e., the sequence of the songs, saw it; and one who saw that one, i.e., where the fats were placed, saw it, and there is no contradiction.
מֵיתִיבִי, דְּתָנֵי רָבָא בַּר שְׁמוּאֵל: יָכוֹל כְּשֵׁם שֶׁתּוֹקְעִין עַל שַׁבָּת בִּפְנֵי עַצְמוֹ וְעַל רֹאשׁ חֹדֶשׁ בִּפְנֵי עַצְמוֹ, כָּךְ יִהְיוּ תּוֹקְעִין עַל כׇּל מוּסָף וּמוּסָף — תַּלְמוּד לוֹמַר: ״וּבְרָאשֵׁי חׇדְשֵׁיכֶם״, תְּיוּבְתָּא דְּרַבִּי אַחָא! תְּיוּבְתָּא. The Gemara raises another objection to the opinion of Rabbi Aḥa, as Rava bar Shmuel taught this baraita: I might have thought that just as when Shabbat and the New Moon do not coincide they sound the trumpets for the additional Shabbat offering in and of itself, and for the additional New Moon offering in and of itself, so too would they sound the trumpets for each and every additional offering when the days coincide. Therefore, the verse states: “And on the day of your rejoicing, and at your appointed times, and on your New Moons, and you shall sound the trumpets for your burnt-offerings and your peace-offerings, and they will be a memorial for you before your God. I am the Lord your God” (Numbers 10:10), indicating that one blast is sounded for all. The Gemara suggests: This is a conclusive refutation of the opinion of Rabbi Aḥa. The Gemara concludes: Indeed, it is a conclusive refutation.
מַאי תַּלְמוּדָא? אָמַר אַבָּיֵי, אָמַר קְרָא: ״וּבְרָאשֵׁי חׇדְשֵׁיכֶם״ — הוּקְּשׁוּ כׇּל חֳדָשִׁים כּוּלָּם זֶה לָזֶה. רַב אָשֵׁי אָמַר: כְּתִיב ״חׇדְשְׁכֶם״, וּכְתִיב ״וּבְרָאשֵׁי״ — וְאֵיזֶה חֹדֶשׁ שֶׁיֵּשׁ לוֹ שְׁנֵי רָאשִׁים, הֱוֵי אוֹמֵר: זֶה רֹאשׁ הַשָּׁנָה, וְאָמַר רַחֲמָנָא ״חׇדְשְׁכֶם״, חַד הִיא. Since the baraita was cited, the Gemara asks: What is the derivation cited in this baraita? How does the phrase: And on your New Moons, prove that the trumpets are sounded once for all the additional offerings? Abaye said: The verse states: “And on your New Moons,” in plural, indicating that all the months are equated to each other, and just as on a typical New Moon the trumpets are sounded once for the additional offering, so too when Shabbat and the New Moon coincide the trumpets are sounded once and no more. Rav Ashi said that in this verse it is written: Your moon [ḥodshekhem], without a yod, in the singular, and in the same verse it is written: “And on your new [uverashei],” in the plural. And which is the month that has two new beginnings? You must say it is Rosh HaShana, which is the beginning of both the new year and the new month. And yet the Merciful One says: Your moon, in the singular, indicating it is one and the trumpets are sounded once.
וְעוֹד, תַּנְיָא: בְּחוּלּוֹ שֶׁל מוֹעֵד, בָּרִאשׁוֹן מֶה הָיוּ אוֹמְרִים: ״הָבוּ לַה׳ בְּנֵי אֵלִים״. בַּשֵּׁנִי מֶה הָיוּ אוֹמְרִים: ״וְלָרָשָׁע אָמַר אֱלֹהִים״. בַּשְּׁלִישִׁי מֶה הָיוּ אוֹמְרִים: ״מִי יָקוּם לִי עִם מְרֵעִים״. And furthermore, contrary to the statement of Rabbi Aḥa, it was taught in a baraita: On the intermediate days of the Festival, on the first day, what would they say as the song accompanying the offering on that day? “Ascribe [havu] unto the Lord, O you sons of might” (Psalms 29:1). On the second day, what would they say? The psalm that contains the verse: “But unto the wicked [velarasha] God says: What have you to do to declare My statutes?” (Psalms 50:16). On the third day, what would they say? The psalm containing the verse: “Who [mi] will rise up for me against the evildoers?” (Psalms 94:16).
בָּרְבִיעִי מֶה הָיוּ אוֹמְרִים: ״בִּינוּ בּוֹעֲרִים בָּעָם״. בַּחֲמִישִׁי מֶה הָיוּ אוֹמְרִים: ״הֲסִירוֹתִי מִסֵּבֶל שִׁכְמוֹ״. בַּשִּׁשִּׁי מֶה הָיוּ אוֹמְרִים: ״יִמּוֹטוּ כׇּל מוֹסְדֵי אָרֶץ״. וְאִם חָל שַׁבָּת בְּאֶחָד מֵהֶם, ״יִמּוֹטוּ״ יִדָּחֶה. On the fourth day, what would they say? “Consider [binu], you brutish among the people” (Psalms 94:8). On the fifth day, what would they say? “I removed [hasiroti] his shoulder from the burden” (Psalms 81:7). On the sixth day, what would they say? “All the foundations of the earth are moved [yimotu]” (Psalms 82:5). And if Shabbat occurred on any of the intermediate days of the Festival, since Shabbat has its own song (Psalms 92), the last of the songs of the intermediate days, i.e., “All the foundations of the earth are moved,” is superseded, and all the other songs are recited in their proper sequence.
רַב סָפְרָא מַנַּח בְּהוּ סִימָנָא: ״הוּמְבָּהֵ״י״. רַב פָּפָּא מַנַּח בְּהוּ סִימָנָא: ״הוּמְהָבֵּ״י״. וְסִימָנָךְ, ״אַמְבּוּהָא דְסָפְרֵי״. Rav Safra established a mnemonic for the sequence of the psalms recited during the intermediate days of the Festival: Heh, vav, mem, beit, heh, yod, the first letters of the transliterated word in the verses cited. Rav Pappa established a different mnemonic for a different sequence of the Psalms: Heh, vav, mem, heh, beit, yod, as in his opinion, the psalm containing: “I removed” is recited before the psalm containing: “Consider.” The Gemara notes: A mnemonic to identify which amora established which mnemonic is the expression: Convoy [ambuha] of scribes [desafrei], as the spelling of ambuha is like the mnemonic of Rav Safra.
תְּיוּבְתָּא דְּרַבִּי אַחָא בַּר חֲנִינָא! תְּיוּבְתָּא. וְהָא רַבִּי אַחָא בַּר חֲנִינָא קְרָא וּמַתְנִיתָא קָאָמַר? The Gemara concludes: This baraita is a conclusive refutation of the opinion of Rabbi Aḥa bar Ḥanina, as on Shabbat the song for Shabbat was recited alone without the song for the Festival, and similarly, separate trumpet blasts are not sounded for the various additional offerings. Rabbi Aḥa’s opinion was rejected based on several sources. The Gemara asks: But didn’t Rabbi Aḥa say a verse and a baraita in support of his opinion? How can those citations be rejected?
אָמַר רָבִינָא: לוֹמַר שֶׁמַּאֲרִיכִין בִּתְקִיעוֹת. רַבָּנַן דְּקֵיסָרִי מִשְּׁמֵיהּ דְּרַבִּי אַחָא אָמְרִי: לוֹמַר שֶׁמַּרְבֶּה בְּתוֹקְעִין. Ravina said: The verse and the baraita that he cited do not teach that trumpet blasts were sounded for each additional offering. Rather, they come to say that one extends the duration of the blasts to honor the added additional offerings, but does not sound even one additional blast. The Sages of Caesarea, in the name of Rabbi Aḥa, said: The verse and the baraita cited by Rabbi Aḥa come to say that one increases the number of trumpeters to honor the added additional offerings, but not the number of blasts sounded.
וַאֲנַן, דְּאִית לַן תְּרֵי יוֹמֵי, הֵיכִי עָבְדִינַן? אַבָּיֵי אָמַר: שֵׁנִי יִדָּחֶה. Apropos the psalms recited during the Festival, the Gemara asks: And we, outside Eretz Yisrael, who have two days of Festival due to the uncertainty, as well as uncertainty with regard to each of the intermediate days, how do we conduct ourselves with regard to the mention of the additional offerings in the additional prayer of the Festival during the intermediate days, and with regard to Torah reading on those days? Abaye said: Mention of the second day will be superseded. Since the first of the intermediate days outside Eretz Yisrael is the third day of the Festival in Eretz Yisrael, the additional offering for the third day alone is mentioned, and the offerings for the fourth day on the fourth day, etc. No mention is made of the second day outside Eretz Yisrael.
רָבָא אָמַר: שְׁבִיעִי יִדָּחֶה. תַּנְיָא כְּוָתֵיהּ דְּרָבָא: אִם חָל שַׁבָּת לִהְיוֹת בְּאֶחָד מֵהֶן, ״יִמּוֹטוּ״ יִדָּחֶה. Rava said: Mention of the seventh day will be superseded. On the first of the intermediate days outside Eretz Yisrael, the third day of the Festival, the passage beginning “And on the second day” (Numbers 29:17) is mentioned in the additional Amida prayer and read in the Torah, and on each succeeding day the succeeding passage is mentioned and read. There is no mention of the seventh day on the eighth day, as that is no longer Sukkot but rather the Eighth Day of Assembly. The Gemara notes: A baraita was taught in accordance with the opinion of Rava: And if Shabbat occurs on any of the intermediate days of the Festival, the song of the seventh day of Sukkot: “All the foundations of the earth are moved,” is superseded.
אַתְקִין אַמֵּימָר בִּנְהַרְדְּעָא, דִּמְדַלְּגִי דַּלּוֹגֵי. The Gemara cites a third opinion: Ameimar instituted in his city of Neharde’a that during the intermediate days, one repeats the second of the additional offerings that he mentioned the day before and adds the additional offerings of the subsequent day. On the first of the intermediate days in the Diaspora, one mentions the additional offerings of both the second and third days of Sukkot. On the second of the intermediate days, one repeats the verses of the third day of Sukkot and adds the verses of the fourth day.
