One who never saw the Water-Drawing Celebration has never seen joy in his life. (Talmud)

The Biggest Party in Ancient Israel

From the time King Solomon built the Temple in Jerusalem until the day it was destroyed by the Romans (with a brief interim for temporary exile to Babylonia), the can’t-miss-it event-of-the-year for Jews was the Water-Drawing Celebration.

Envision streams of Jewish families—farmers, vintners, shepherds, merchants, craftspeople, and scholars—streaming in from every part of Israel, Syria, Babylonia, Egypt, and other nearby lands, converging upon Jerusalem and celebrating day and night, non-stop for eight days. The hot spot was, of course, the Temple Mount.

At the close of the first day of Sukkot, Temple workers furiously began inserting sturdy poles into their brackets in the walls of the Temple courtyard. Over the poles they lay wooden boards, creating cascades of bleachers so that women could stand on the higher bleachers, with the men below—the original synagogue mechitzah.

Torch-laden boys scrambled up ladders scaling candelabras 75, perhaps 150 feet tall to light the thick wicks of the candelabras’ four enormous lanterns so that all of Jerusalem was filled with light like day. TheThe most illustrious sage, Rabban Shimon ben Gamliel, who presided over the supreme court of seventy elders, would juggle eight flaming torches—and never would one torch touch another. kohanim began sounding their trumpets, the levi’im played their flutes, lyres, cymbals, and every sort of instrument in thunderous, heavenly music, while all the people joined in song.

The most wondrous spectacle of all was the sight of the distinguished elders, with their long white beards, singing at the top of their lungs, dancing wildly, performing acrobatic feats, and even juggling acts. The most illustrious sage, Rabban Shimon ben Gamliel, who presided over the supreme court of seventy elders, would juggle eight flaming torches—and never would one torch touch another.

“If you never saw the celebration of the water-drawing,” Rabbi Yehoshua ben Levi would say, “you never saw a celebration in your life.”

Drawing Water, Drawing Divine Inspiration

Until dawn. Then came the water pouring.

What’s so exciting about pouring water? We can’t fathom. This is one of those things you just had to be there to understand.

Fresh water was drawn from a wellspring called“From this we understand that the divine spirit only rests upon a joyous heart.” Mayan Hashiloach, just outside Jerusalem. As the flasks of water were ushered in through the Water Gate of the Temple, trumpets sounded and fanfare ensued.

On a regular morning, the offering in the Temple was the meat of one sheep accompanied by a flour-and-oil mix, both thrown into the fire of the altar, along with one flask of wine poured by a kohen at the altar’s corner. But on the days of Sukkot, there was another flask, filled with this water freshly drawn from the Mayan Shiloach, poured by the same kohen together with that flask of wine.

That’s why the celebration was called Simchat Beit Hashoeva שמחת בית השואבה—literally, “The Celebration of the House of Drawing Water.” Even though the people didn’t attend the actually water-drawing, and it didn’t happen in the Temple, they drew something else there. Here’s a passage from the Jerusalem Talmud:

Rabbi Yehoshua ben Levi said, “Do you know why it was called ‘The Celebration of the House of Drawing Water?’ Because from there they drew divine inspiration.”

Rabbi Jonah said, “The prophet Jonah ben Amitai was one of the holiday pilgrims to the Temple. He walked into the Simchat Beit Hashoeva and the divine spirit rested upon him.”

From this we understand that the divine spirit only rests upon a joyous heart. As the verse says, “As soon as the musician began to play music, the spirit of G‑d rested upon the prophet.”

After the morning offerings, the communal prayers, the priestly blessings, the additional offerings, and more prayers and priestly blessings, the people parted to the study halls to review their Torah knowledge and hear the talks of great scholars, then to homes throughout Jerusalem to feast, sing and celebrate some more until returning to the Temple Mount for the afternoon offerings, followed by, once again, a night of music, spectacles, and celebration.

Every night for six nights—excluding the night of Shabbat—beginning as soon as the afternoon offering was complete, for around 15 ½ hours until the morning offerings. As Rabbi Yehoshua ben Chananya would say, “Our eyes never saw sleep.”

“But how is that possible?” the Talmud asks. “A person can’t go without sleep for even three days!”

And the Talmud answers: They must have dozed off once in a while on each other’s shoulders while standing.

Celebration Renewed

Despite the destruction of the Temple by the Romans, many Jews continued to make a kind of remembrance of the water-drawing celebration, gathering together on Sukkot to sing and tell stories. Sukkot has always been the most joyous of the festivals—three times the Torah repeats that a Jew must rejoice and bring others to rejoice on Sukkot.

And then came Sukkot of the Hebrew year 5741—the fall of 1980—in Brooklyn, N.Y. On the first night of Sukkot that year, in the large prayer hall of Chabad-Lubavitch World Headquarters, 770 Eastern Parkway, the Rebbe turned to speak to the crowd after the evening prayers.

The Rebbe spoke about Simchat Beit Hashoeva. He was discussing how the celebration only began in the Temple on the second night—because they couldn’t use musical instruments on Yom Tov. He continued explaining how, when there is no Temple and no Levite orchestra, we actually have a certain advantage, because the celebration can start on the first night. We can sing and dance accompanied by our own voices. And some understood that’s what they have to do.

About ten of them started dancing in a circle in front of the building. Eventually, they continued singing down Kingston Ave., the main street of the neighborhood. People came out of their sukkahs to join. They wound back and forth through the streets of the neighborhood gathering more and more until several hundred joyous, singing Jews found themselves at the intersection of Kingston and Montgomery, where a failure in the traffic lights had brought out some police cars. Delighted to have the protection, many hundreds“If you want to find G‑d this Sukkot,” he said, “you’ll find Him dancing on the streets.” of Jews continued dancing and singing there until the light of dawn.

The next night, the Rebbe spoke again. He was obviously very pleased. “If you want to find G‑d this Sukkot,” he said, “you’ll find Him dancing on the streets.”

A new institution of Jewish life was born—in a way, reborn. Every year since then, Jews come from every part of New York and the tri-state area to sing and dance with some of the best Jewish bands at the Kingston and Montgomery Simchat Beit Hashoeva. A little taste of the celebration in the Temple had returned.

In that year and the coming years until 1991, the Rebbe spoke publicly every night of Sukkot. A common theme of those talks was the Ushpiz—the special guest to the Sukkah that night. Every night of Sukkot, the Zohar tells us, a party of special guests arrive in every Sukkah, each night led by a different member of the party, beginning with Abraham, ending with David. The Rebbe discussed another tradition that the previous Rebbe, his father-in-law, Rabbi Yosef Yitzchak Schneersohn, of righteous memory, had divulged—that there’s a party of Chassidic Ushpizin as well. In each talk, the Rebbe would discuss the similarities and differences between the Zohar’s Ushpiz of that night and theWherever a Jew is found, he or she has a holy mission to zap the streets with the light of the Sukkah celebration. Chassidic ushpiz, and most importantly, what we need to learn from them in our times.

It’s not just the streets of Brooklyn that need that Simchat Beit Hashoeva divine energy. And no one has tabs on the Ushpizin either. Wherever a Jew is found, he or she has a holy mission to zap the streets with the light of the Sukkah celebration. And wherever there’s a Sukkah, two sets of heavenly guests await us to greet them with song, words of Torah, and inspiring stories about them, about Sukkot and about the Jewish spirit.