יד יוסף: V'Zos HaBracha / Succos - Our Hearts are to Hashem

The Mishna in tractate Sukka covers the basic laws of the holiday of Succos. It has a chapter on how to build a proper sukka, one about a kosher lulav and esrog, and another on the hakafos made during religious services. The fourth chapter is a narrative about the holiday celebrations. It was customary to hold a Simchas Beis Hashoeva (שמחת בית השואבה) at the Holy Temple when it stood. The term can be loosely translated as water drawing celebration. Succos is the holiday on which the world is judged for rain. Because of this water was drawn from a stream in Jerusalem, brought to the Temple, and poured on the base of the altar, all with great ceremony.

The chapter begins by praising these festivities by saying, “Anyone who has never seen the rejoicing at the place of [water] drawing, has never [really] seen rejoicing in all of his days”. Large gold menorahs with bowls filled with pitchers of oil were lit. The lights could be seen all over Jerusalem. The pious and leaders of the community would dance holding torches in their hand. Rabbi Shimon ben Gamliel would juggle eight faming batons.

The Levi’im, who provided music for Temple observances, would play their instruments during these festivities and were joined by many volunteers. Two priests would stand at the top of the staircase between two sections of the Temple. At daybreak they would descend sounding trumpets in honor of the water libation. They would continue to the eastern gate and when they arrived they would turn their faces to the west and declare, “Our fathers that were in this place had their backs to the sanctuary of Hashem, their faces to the east, and would prostate themselves to the sun. As for us our eyes are to G-d”.

This declaration is based on a condemnation by the prophet Ezekiel when G-d shows him a vision of the Beis Mikdash. He sees at the entrance between the courtyard and the altar about 25 men with their backs to the inner sanctuary and their faces to the east prostrating themselves to the morning sun (see Ezekiel 8:16). The back especially the back of the neck is a Biblical idiom for refusal and obstinacy. The eye is a Biblical idiom for attention and obedience. The priests officiating at the simchas beit shoevah were saying that their ancestors who lost the Temple lost it because they pointedly rejected and violated religious precepts. They themselves are different because they are keeping the Torah with sincerity, joy and diligence.

The Biblical revulsion against worship of the planets and constellations seems to be rooted in outrageous fetishes involving them as well as the grotesque practices connected with their glorification especially by the generations before the Flood. To accentuate the position of the sun on the shortest day of the year huge monuments such as Stonehenge with 25 ton cut stones were built. Another technique was to cut a long path to a small room in a mountain. They held large festivals where thousands of pigs were slaughtered as sacrifices. Alternative archeologists point out that the great pyramids in Egypt mimic the positions of the stars in Orion’s belt. Likewise they claim that the location of many Mayan cities was chosen to mimic the placement of the stars in the constellations. The Aztecs continued an ancient custom of required monthly human sacrifices to their sun god with optional additions being in the thousands. The practice was stopped by the Spanish in the 16^th century. Recently several scientists had their bodies cremated after death with some of the ashes to be brought to the distant planet Pluto.

How far the nation of Israel went with this mania is a matter of conjecture. The prophet Jeremiah rebukes the nation for incense, wine, and grain offerings to the “Queen of Heaven”, mentioning that their intention was to anger Hashem. The Metsudas David and the Metsudas Zion render the queen of heaven as the sun. However Rashi says it was a large star.

The idea of bowing to the sun, though, is mostly an expression of being engrossed in the vanities of the day. The prophets do rebuke Israel for financial corruption, bloodshed, and adultery. While it’s clear that things like this did happen the Jews were not nearly as steeped in it as the swashbuckling swordsmen of days of yore. The main objection voiced by the prophets is that Israel has rejected Hashem and His Torah.

It can be difficult to deal with a Jewish sports junkie or workaholic. Likewise it can be painful to sit in Jewish home which has no mezuzah, no Jewish books, and no Jewish symbols whatsoever; but does have bacon, banal novels, and licentiousness. To blame the very great Jewish suffering through the ages on this seems to be excessive. In any case the Mishna says that we are not like this. Our minds and hearts are attached to the sacred books and our greatest joy is the celebrations in our synagogues on the Jewish holidays.

לע"נ מאיר בן חיים ז"ל נלב"ע כה תשרי תשנ"ב

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