Sukkah 036

1:
I must preface to today's shiur an explanation concerning the dedication of this shiur. Professor Ze'ev Orzech died two months ago, on 14th Elul (13th September). Ze'ev was an ardent (and generous) supporter of the Virtual Bet Midrash from the very first day sixteen years ago. I was privileged to meet with him on several occasions when he visited Israel, the last time being just last summer. I was very pleased when Richard Sapon-White (himself a veteran of the Virtual Bet Midrash) asked to dedicate a shiur in memory of Ze'ev. I hope to dedicate a shiur in memory of Ze'ev every year on his Yahrzeit.

2:
Mishnah 1 of this chapter began with the rather enigmatic sentence "Lulav and Willow — six and seven". In the three previous mishnahs we explained what this means regarding the lulav, and we now turn our attention to "Willow".

3:
During the festival of Sukkot there was in the Bet Mikdash a ceremony held daily that was connected with branches of willow. Our mishnah says that it was customary to reap the willows from a place called 'Motza' which was 'below' Jerusalem. Anyone who has travelled the road from the coast of Israel to Jerusalem will have passed the village of Motza. They will also have noted what seems to be a sheer drop from the city perched high above and the village further below. In that sense Motza really is 'below' Jerusalem. The medieval commentators have a field day regarding the etymology of the name Motza (and the size of the willows that grew there!) but in all probability the name is an abbreviation of Motza Mayim, Water Source. And it is the water which causes the willows to grow there.

4:
Each day new willows were attached to the main altar in the Court of the Priests as decoration. At the four corners of the altar were 'horns', decorative protuberances, and the willows were arranged in such a way as the tops of the plants drooped over the horns of the altar.

:
Each day the priests would encircle the altar carrying their Four Species. A blast on a shofar would herald the beginning of this ceremony. Those who were not priests were allowed inside the priestly court, but not very far into the court. Thus non-priests could only be spectators of this ceremony of encircling the altar. (A line was drawn on the floor of the court just inside the entrance so that non-priests would know how far it was permitted for them to go inside the court.)

6:
As they walked around the altar — which was a massive construction (see Tamid 02, explanation 1) — the priests would chant "O God, deliver us! O God, let us prosper!" This is a verse from Psalm 118, which is a part of Hallel. However, Rabbi Yehudah bar-Ilai says that what they chanted was the Hebrew words Ani vaho, hoshiya-na. Rabbi Yehudah lived and taught some 70 years and more after the destruction of the Bet Mikdash, so what he says is certainly not as an eye-witness. But he must have received a very strong tradition about the words that the priests chanted. Not that this helps very much, because it is very difficult to make any sense of the words as they have reached us. I have a suspicion that the words ani vaho were some kind of corruption of the tetragrammaton, the original pronunciation of God's name.

7:
Such was the ceremony on each day of the festival. However, on the seventh (last) day of the festival the ceremony was enlarged. On the other days of the festival the altar was encircled once each day but on the last day of the festival (which our mishnah calls 'that day') the priests would encircle the altar seven times.

8:
The end of the ceremony on the seventh day of Sukkot marked the end of the special festivities in the Bet Mikdash. Our mishnah tells us that as the people took their leave of the Priestly Court they would take a last look at the decorated altar and say "Nice for you, altar; nice for you, altar". Here, again, there is an alternative tradition preserved. Rabbi Eli'ezer (who could have been an eye-witness to these ceremonies in his youth) says that what they said was "For God and for you, altar; for God and for you, altar".

9:
The Mishnah has more to say concerning this ceremony in the next couple of mishnahs. A distant memory of this 'Willow' ceremony is preserved to this day in the synagogue ritual: worshippers encircle the reader's desk in the centre of the synagogue, carrying their Four Species, chanting specially composed compositions. Each day this is done once, buit on the seventh day, Hosha'na Rabbah, this is done seven times.