Pt1 Sukkot in the Second Temple: Rituals of the Lulav, Willow, and Water Drawing Ceremony (Mishnah Sukkah 4:4-5:4)
This is the first installment of a two-part series. Outline is below.
Outline
Temple Procedure for Fulfilling the Lulav Mitzva on Shabbat Leads to Safety Concerns and Change in Practice
The Mitzvah of the Willow Branch: Rituals and Ceremonies Around the Temple Altar During Sukkot
Unique Customs of Sukkot: The Day of the Beating of Palm Branches
Children grabbing lulavim and eating people’s etrogim
Temple Water Libation Ritual
Flutes and candelabra: A Spectacle of Joy and Ritual at the Drawing of the Water Ceremony
Flaming Torches, Songs, and Music: A Celebration Led by the Pious and Levites
The Passage
Temple Procedure for Fulfilling the Lulav Mitzva on Shabbat Leads to Safety Concerns and Change in Practice
When the first day of Sukkot (חג) falls on Shabbat, people bring their lulavim to the Temple Mount on Friday.
The Temple attendants (חזנין) arrange the lulavim on a bench,1 and elders place theirs in a separate chamber (לשכה).
To avoid people mistakenly taking someone else's lulav, people are instructed to declare that if someone takes a lulav not their own, it is considered a gift.
On Shabbat, the attendants place2 the lulavim, but the crowd rushes to grab them (מחטפין), hitting (מכין) each other, leading to physical harm.
To prevent further danger, the court later ruled that people should fulfill the mitzva at home instead of in the Temple.
מצות לולב כיצד?
יום טוב הראשון של חג שחל להיות בשבת,
מוליכין את לולביהן להר הבית,
והחזנין מקבלין מהן וסודרין אותן על גב האצטבא,
והזקנים מניחין את שלהן בלשכה.
ומלמדים אותם לומר, כל מי שמגיע לולבי בידו, הרי הוא לו במתנה.
למחר משכימין ובאין, והחזנין זורקין אותם לפניהם.
והן מחטפין ומכין איש את חברו.
וכשראו בית דין שבאו לידי סכנה, התקינו שיהא כל אחד ואחד נוטל בביתו
How is the mitzva of lulav fulfilled in the Temple when the first day of the Festival occurs on Shabbat?
If the first day of the Festival occurs on Shabbat,
all the people bring their lulavim to the Temple Mount on Friday.
The attendants receive the lulavim from them and arrange them on a bench [itztaba],
while the Elders place their lulavim in the chamber. They were given permission to do so due to the concern that they would be injured the following morning in the rush of people in search of their lulavim.
And the court teaches the people to say: With regard to anyone whom my lulav reaches his possession, it is his as a gift. They did so to avoid the likely situation where people would inadvertently take lulavim that did not belong to them, as on the first day of the Festival one does not fulfill his obligation with a lulav that does not belong to him.
The next day everyone rises early and comes to the Temple, and the attendants throw the lulavim before them.
And in the confusion, the people snatch the lulavim and in the process strike one another.
And when the court saw that they came to potential danger, they instituted that each and every person will take his lulav in his house and fulfill the mitzva there.
The Mitzvah of the Willow Branch: Rituals and Ceremonies Around the Temple Altar During Sukkot
The mitzvah of the willow branch (aravah)3 was fulfilled by gathering willow branches (מרביות) from a place called Motza, located below Jerusalem.
The branches were brought to the Temple and stood upright on the sides of the altar, with their tops bent over the altar. A series of blasts (tekia, terua, tekia)4 were sounded.
Each day of Sukkot, the priests would circle the altar once, reciting the verse: "Lord, please save us. Lord, please grant us success" (Psalms 118:25). R' Yehuda adds that they also recited "Ani vaho, please save us" (אני והו, הושיעה נא).
On the seventh day of Sukkot, the altar was circled seven times.
Upon departing at the end of the Festival, the people declared either: "It is beautiful for you, altar (יפי לך מזבח); it is beautiful for you, altar," or, according to R' Eliezer, "To Him and to you, altar;5 to Him and to you, altar."
מצות ערבה כיצד?
מקום היה למטה מירושלים, ונקרא מוצא.
יורדין לשם, ומלקטין משם מרביות של ערבה,
ובאין וזוקפין אותן בצדי המזבח,
וראשיהן כפופין על גבי המזבח.
תקעו והריעו ותקעו.
בכל יום מקיפין את המזבח פעם אחת,
ואומרים: "אנא ה' הושיעה נא, אנא ה' הצליחה נא"
רבי יהודה אומר: "אני והו, הושיעה נא"
ואותו היום מקיפין את המזבח שבע פעמים.
בשעת פטירתן, מה הן אומרים?
"יפי לך מזבח, יפי לך מזבח"
רבי אליעזר אומר: "ליה ולך, מזבח. ליה ולך, מזבח"
How is the mitzva of the willow branch fulfilled?
There was a place below Jerusalem, and it was called Motza.
They would descend there and gather willow branches [murbiyyot] from there.
And they would then come and stand them upright at the sides of the altar,
and the tops of the branches would be inclined over the top of the altar.
They then sounded a tekia, a simple uninterrupted blast, sounded a terua, a broken sound and/or a series of short staccato blasts, and sounded another tekia.
Each day they would circle the altar one time and say: “Lord, please save us. Lord, please grant us success” (Psalms 118:25).
R' Yehuda says that they would say: Ani vaho, please save us.
And on that day, the seventh day of Sukkot, they would circle the altar seven times.
At the time of their departure at the end of the Festival, what would they say?
It is beautiful for you, altar; it is beautiful for you, altar.
R' Elazar said that they would say: To the Lord and to you, altar; to the Lord and to you, altar.
אצטבא. Of unclear etymology, see Jastrow, and Hebrew Wiktionary.
זורקין - literally: “throwing".
See מצוות ערבה במקדש – ויקיפדיה.
And see Hoshana Rabbah - Wikipedia:
Hoshana Rabbah (Hebrew: הוֹשַׁעְנָא רַבָּה, lit. 'Great Hoshana/Supplication', Imperial Aramaic: הוֹשַׁעְנָא רַבָּא) is the seventh day of the Jewish holiday of Sukkot, the 21st day of the month of Tishrei. This day is marked by a special synagogue service, the Hoshana Rabbah, in which seven circuits are made by the worshippers with their lulav and etrog, while the congregation recites Hoshanot. It is customary for the scrolls of the Torah to be removed from the ark during this procession. In a few communities a shofar is sounded after each circuit […]
The modern-day observance of the rituals of Hoshana Rabbah is intended to emulate the practices that existed in the times of the Holy Temple in Jerusalem.
See Shofar blowing - Wikipedia > “Types of blast”:
Tekiah (תקיעה) is a single long blast of the shofar […]
Teruah (תרועה) - in most Sephardic and Ashkenazi traditions, this is a string of many short-lived, broken blasts made by the tongue (e.g. tut-tut-tut-tut, etc.). In the Yemenite, Tunisian and Babylonian Jewish communities as well as many Western Ashkenazi communities, it is a single long, reverberating blast.
ליה ולך, מזבח - in Aramaic, see the same word used later in another proclamation. Alternative translation: “To Yah and to you, altar”.