מי שלא ראה שמחת בית השואבה לא ראה שמחה מימיו – Anyone who has not seen the celebration of the water drawing never saw celebration in his life.
On every night of Sukkos when the בית המקדש was standing, the Jewish people would gather in the עזרה for a huge celebration. They would fill a golden pitcher with water from a spring called מי שילוח which was near the הר הבית, they would bring it to the עזרה and would blow the shofar there. They would then bring the water up to the top of the מזבח where there was a trough attached to a pipe that went all the way to תהום (the waters of the deep). These pipes were put in place for this purpose by Hashem Himself during the 6 days of creation. The Kohen would pour the water into the trough and it would go down the pipe. And each night there was a celebration with countless instruments, dancing and singing which lasted all night long.
The גמרא ירושלמי in sukkah asks an obvious question, why was this celebration called the שמחת בית השואבה, the Celebration of the Water Drawing, when in fact the main event was the pouring of the water? It should have been called שמחת בית הניסוך. The גמרא answers that all people would draw רוח הקודש from there, and it references the Pasuk in ישעיה, ושאבתם מים בששון ממעיני הישואה. A pretty strange answer, it seems that neither the drawing of the water from the spring nor the pouring on the מזבח have anything to do with how the celebration got its name. What does this mean, and how would people get רוח הקודש from watching someone pouring water? And what about us, we don’t have a מזבח or the מי שילוח, yet we celebrate שמחת בית השואבות every year, are we completely removed from the essence of the celebration?
If you look inside at the context of that Pasuk in ישעיה, it is discussing the final גאילה when Hashem will bring all the exiled Jews back together, and there’s quite a few references to another time when Hashem rescued exiled Jews. Firstly, and most obviously, the Pasuk right before ושאבתם מים is one that we are very familiar with, הנה א-ל ישועתי אבטח ולא אפחד כי עזי וזמרת י-ה יה-וה ויהי לי לישועה. We say that Pasuk every week in הבדלה, but the second half of that Pasuk “כי עזי וזמרת י-ה ויהי לי לישועה” is a direct quote from אז ישיר. And a few Pesukim before that, ישעיה says Hashem will dry up the Sea of Egypt … and He will break the Euphrates River into seven streams and lead the people across in their shoes (meaning on dry land). All these references are obviously pointing us to kriyas yam suf. It sounds like this Pasuk which is referring to the celebration on sukkos is a parallel to the celebration our ancestors had when they crossed a body of water. And we also know that it says that even Jewish slaves saw Hashem with an extreme clarity from the ים סוף, so it makes sense that the גמרא saw in this Pasuk the fact that everyone would draw רוח הקודש from this celebration. But what exactly is this parallel between sukkos and יציאת מצרים?
קריעת ים סוף was when we left the womb of Egypt and were born as a nation, so if we follow the parallel it seems that the celebration on sukkos in the בית המקדש is one of rebirth. This makes sense since it is a new year with new hopes, we just received complete forgiveness from Hashem a few days ago, and now we can celebrate our new year with a sense of rebirth that is referenced to in תנ”ך in a way that reminds us of קריעת ים סוף and our national birth (on a side note this helps us understand the מדרש in פרקי דרבי אליעזר that the Jewish people would “draw” water from the walls of the ים סוף as they crossed through, there too they were drawing מים בששון from the מעייני הישועה). The celebration in the בית המקדש is one that is the equivalent of יציאת מצרים, and the Jews of that time received a similar sense of רוח הקודש to that of the Jews who left Mitzrayim.
But what does this mean for us in 2017? We no longer have the מעיני הישואה to draw from. What can we strive for this sukkos?
We all know the מדרש that the world was originally covered with water, and Hashem split the waters on the second day of creation into upper waters and lower waters. The upper waters would be in שמים with Hashem and the lower water would be in the תהום, the “deep” underneath the land which was created on the third day. When this happened the מים התחתונים was crying and attempted to rise up to the heavens because they wanted to be closer to Hashem like their counterpart, the מים העליונים. Hashem appeased them by saying, that one day you will be brought before Me when they pour the water on the מזבח. Put yourself in the lower waters shoes so to speak. You’re patiently waiting thousands of years to finally be brought up to meet Hashem just like the waters that you were separated from at the beginning of time. Finally, the בית המקדש is built and they draw the water up from the spring. There’s music and celebration, golden vessels and shofar blasts. Your excitement is building, and then… they pour you through the pipe right back into the תהום! Can you imagine how frustrated the water must have been?? You’ve waited literally millennia to be able to meet Hashem again and then you get poured out only to end up exactly where you’ve been sitting all this time! How unfair, and seemingly tricky. How do we understand the promise that Hashem made to the lower waters?
When talking about the שמחת בית השואבה the גמרא in sukkah makes a point to discuss at great length what it refers to as a תיקון גדול. What was this big fix? They built balconies for the women to stand upon. Originally the women stood inside and the men stood outside of the celebration, however this led to a mingling of men and women which was inappropriate for the הר הבית. So, (presumably because women have more self-control) they had the men stand inside and the women outside, and since the celebration was inside they hoped the men would not mingle with the women. However, even this did not work and there still was inappropriateness. So, they built balconies for the women to stand on and this way everyone could see the celebration without any mingling. After the גמרא says this, it then takes what seems to be a 2-page tangent to discuss the nature of the יצר הרע, the different names that he has and how to beat him in our constant battles with him. For example, the גמרא says that the יצר הרע has 7 different names, it says that he will be slaughtered when משיח comes, and that every single persons יצר הרע overpowers him at least once a day, and if Hashem would not help us, we would not be able to win the fight against our יצר הרע. The גמרא then moves away from the יצר הרע and continues discussing the other parts of the שמחת בית השואבה at length. Let’s analyze this גמרא and see if that helps answer our questions about the שמחת בית השואבה and the lower waters disappointment.
The גמרא is choosing to focus on the balcony that they build as a large part and a תיקון גדול for this huge celebration. But it would seem that this was not a good thing, it was two failed attempts at having a holy experience, if this would happen nowadays many people would want to shut down the whole celebration and not attempt to fix it. Why does the גמרא highlight this process? And why does the גמרא discuss the יצר הרע for two pages smack in the middle of a discussion about the שמחת בית השואבה?
I have no idea what רוח הקודש is, and I doubt that we can “draw” it from the celebrations that we have nowadays. And I think that the גמרא knew this and was telling us what to do in lieu of bona fide רוח הקודש. The גמרא is saying, you want to know what the big תיקון that they made at the celebration was? It was the fact that they could try and try again until they were able to circumvent the יצר הרע. They were able to try a few different options and finally find a solution to the issue of mixed celebrations. The Jews then were not intimidated of the fact that the יצר הרע bested them two years in a row, they kept on trying. And the גמרא then tells us all about the יצר הרע, and says something astounding. יצרו של אדם מתגבר עליו בכל יום, a person will do an עבירה at least once a day. And the גמרא says that if Hashem would not help us we would not be able to win, this is an unbelievable fact! It means that we need to know that we are up against an impossible fight! And our only hope is to cling to Hashem and He will help us.
And I think this is the message that Hashem was giving to the מים התחתונים all the back at the beginning of time. Hashem said one day you will be brought before Me, but you won’t come up to שמים, that is the place of the מים עליונים. You have a different purpose than they do, your mission is in the תהום, way down where Hashem is so hard to find, in a few thousand years there will be a מזבח and through that מזבח you will be able to serve Me even in the תהום, no matter how far down you are.
I think this may be the message for us these days. We may not have the capability to get רוח הקודש in the way they had at קריעת ים סוף, but we too were just reborn and have a reason to celebrate. But our celebration is in the darkness of the תהום where we fight the יצר הרע. And we beg Hashem every day to help us overcome our יצר הרע. And it’s no wonder that the גמרא talks about how they lit מנורות that were 50 אמות high, and how torches of light were juggled in the air, and that every single courtyard in ירושלים was lit up on those nights from the light. That light still exists, and the גמרא gave us the secret to let it shine. To realize that we need Hashem’s help to win our daily battles and that all He wants of us is to work every day and realize that we are partners with Him in this war.
May we all be zoche to the light of the שמחת בית השואבה. Have an amazing rest of יום טוב!