Sukkah 044

נושא: Sukkah

BET MIDRASH VIRTUALI

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The pious and [religiously] active men would dance before them holding flaming torches and declaiming before them songs and praises. Levites with lutes, harps, cymbals, trumpets and countless other instruments stood on the fifteen steps that led down from the Court of the Israelites to the Women's Court, ([fifteen] corresponding to the fifteen psalms [called] Shir ha-Ma'alot in the psalter) upon which Levites would stand with their instruments and sing. Two priests would stand in the Upper Gate that led down from the Court of the Israelites to the Women's Court holding two trumpets. When the cock crowed they would sound them. When they came to the tenth step they sounded them [again]. When they reached the [Women's] Court they sound them [yet again]. They would continue sounding them until they reached the gate that leads eastward. When they reached the gate that led eastward they would turn to face the west and they would declare, "Our ancestors in this place had their backs to God's Sanctuary and their faces towards the east; they worshipped eastward towards the sun. But our eyes are only to God." Rabbi Yehudah says that they would repeat,"We are for God and to God are our eyes."

1:
We now come to the description of the festivities that were part and parcel of the Bet Sho'evah ceremonies. Not only were grandstands erected for the women to watch, as we have already seen, but there was music and dancing as well. The music was provided by the orchestra of the Levites that accompanied the daily sacrifices in the Bet Mikdash [see Tamid III].

2:
Our present mishnah hints at some of the items that comprised the festivities: men would dance and perform acrobatic feats with flaming torches — probably casting them into the air and catching them. The Tosefta [Sukkah 4:3] gives further examples:

We are told that Rabban Shim'on ben-Gamli'el would dance with eight flaming torches: not one of them would reach the ground. [Also,] he would bend down, place his finger on the ground, wait, kiss and immediately stand upright. Rabbi Yehoshu'a ben-Ḥananyah says: throughout the days of the Bet Sho'evah celebrations we would not sleep at all! We would rise early for the daily morning sacrifice; from there we would go to the synagogue [for the morning service]; from there we would go to the Bet Midrash [to study]; from there we would go [to the Bet Mikdash for] the Additional sacrifices; from there we would go to eat and drink; from there we would go [back] to the Bet Midrash; from there we would go to the Afternoon Daily Sacrifice; and from there [back] to the Bet Sho'evah celebrations.

Apparently, Rabban Shim'on ben-Gamli'el would somehow support himself on one finger, kiss the ground, and then jump upright.

3:
The Tosefta [Sukkah 4:5] gives more details:

The Levites with lutes and harps and all kinds of musical instuments would sing [Psalm 134] "A song of ascents, Now bless God, all you servants of God who stand nightly in God's house. Lift your hands toward the sanctuary and bless God." When they took leave of each other they would say, "May God, maker of heaven and earth, bless you from Zion." and "live to see your children's children." [Psalm 128:6]

It seems that one of the psalms that the Levites would sing was Psalm 134, which is most appropriate. People would repeat the last verse of the psalm ("May God, maker of heaven and earth, bless you from Zion") when they took their leave from the festivities. From the Tosefta account it seems that another Psalm that they would sing was Psalm 128: 5-6:

May God bless you from Zion; may you share the prosperity of Jerusalem all the days of your life, and live to see your children's children. May all be well with Israel!

4:
Each night of the festivities ended, it seems, at cock crow the following morning. The main Priests' Court was considerably higher that the Women's Court where the festivities were in full swing. There was a magnificent gateway that led from the Priests' Court, down a flight of fifteen steps, into the Women's Court. (A narrow area just inside the Priests' Court was marked with a line on the ground: this was where specially appointed lay representatives of the Jewish people were permitted to stand to observe the sacrificial rites; this narrow area was called the Court of the Israelites.) A straight line through the Women's Court would bring one to the Eastern Gate leading to the outside of the holy area.

5:
Our mishnah describes how, at cock crow, two priests would stand in the Upper Gate that led down from the Court of the Israelites to the Women's Court and they would blow on them: Teki'ah, Teru'ah, Teki'ah. Then they would make their way down the fifteen steps. On the tenth step they would blow on their trumpets again and continue down into the Women's Court where they would blow then yet a third time. Then they would make their way right through the Women's Court to the Eastern Gate at its farthest end, constantly sounding their trumpets. What a magnificent way to terminate the festivities this must have been!

6:
At the Eastern Gate the priests would turn round the face the Sanctuary. They would then make a declaration: "Our ancestors in this place had their backs to God's Sanctuary and their faces towards the east; they worshipped eastward towards the sun. But our eyes are only to God." It seems that this declaration was intended to remind people that the celebrations were religious in nature, not secular. Their declaration contained a reference to what is reported in Ezeki'el 8:16-18:

Then He [God] brought me into the inner court of the God's House, and there, at the entrance to God's Temple, between the portico and the altar, were about twenty-five men, their backs to God's Temple and their faces to the east; they were bowing low to the sun in the east. And He said to me, "Do you see, O mortal? Is it not enough for the House of Judah to practice the abominations that they have committed here, that they must fill the country with lawlessness and provoke Me still further… I will show no pity or compassion; though they cry aloud to Me, I will not listen to them."

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