The water libation — how so? He would fill up a golden flask holding three logs [(the least of the libations, a quarter of a hin for a lamb)] from the Shiloach [a spring near Jerusalem]. When he reached the Water Gate [(One of the gates of Ezra was thus called because through it was brought the flask of water for the festival libation)], they sounded (on the shofar) tekiah, teruah, tekiah, [in keeping with (Isaiah 12:3): "And you shall draw water with joy." He went up the ramp, [which was in the south of the altar] and turned left, [for the libations are at the southwest corner (of the altar), which is the first (he comes to) when he turns left.] There were two silver basins there. R. Yehudah says: They were of lime, but their surface was blackened because of the wine (poured therein) [so that they looked like silver, which is darker than lime.] And they had outlets [one to each] like two thin snouts, one (relatively) thick (for the wine); the other, (relatively) thin (for the water), so that both (the wine and the water) reach the bottom at the same time. [("like two thin snouts":) the Cohein would stir (the contents) in the mouth of the basins, and the libations would descend through the spouts upon the roof of the altar, where there was a duct whereby the water and the wine descended to the shittin (a pit by the side of the altar), which was hollow and very deep. ("one, thick; the other, thin":) One of the snouts (the wine snout) was thick; and one, (the water snout) was thin. This, so that they (the wine and the water) reach the bottom at the same time. For water flows more quickly than wine, which is thicker, and slower. Thus, the wine snout was made thicker (i.e., wider) than the water snout, so that they reach the bottom at the same time.] The western basin was for water, and the eastern one for wine. If he poured the wine into the water basin or the water into the wine basin, he has still fulfilled his obligation. R. Yehudah says: With one log he performed the libation all eight (days). [He differs with the first tanna in both, three logs and seven days, R. Yehudah saying (only one log, and that) the libation obtains on the eighth day, too. The halachah is not in accordance with R. Yehudah.] And the one performing the libation is told: "Hold your hand high!" [so that we can see if you pour water into the basin (for the Sadducees do not acknowledge the water libation to be a mitzvah)]. For once, one [Sadducee] poured [the water] upon his feet, and all the people "stoned" him with their ethrogim.
Bartenura on Mishnah Sukkah
מן השלוח – it is a spring that is near to Jerusalem.
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English Explanation of Mishnah Sukkah
Introduction
Another one of the unique ceremonies performed at the Temple on Sukkot was the water libation. During the year libations, that is pouring liquid onto the altar, were always performed with wine. The water libation is unique and was vehemently opposed by the Sadducees, as we shall see at the end of the Mishnah.
The water libation functioned as a supplication to God to bring rain in the upcoming season. As I have emphasized in other places, the rainy season in Israel is from Sukkot to Pesah. If enough rain does not fall in this period people’s lives would have been in serious danger. In the Temple they would pour water onto the altar to ask God to bring rain from the heavens to fill the cisterns and underground aquifers below.
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Bartenura on Mishnah Sukkah
שער המים – One of the gates of the [Temple] courtyard is called this, on account of the fact that there they would bring in the flask of water for the libation of the Festival.
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English Explanation of Mishnah Sukkah
How was the water libation [performed]? A golden flask holding three logs was filled from the Shiloah. When they arrived at the water gate, they sounded a teki'ah [long blast], a teru'ah [a staccato note] and again a teki'ah. [The priest then] went up the ascent [of the altar] and turned to his left where there were two silver bowls. Rabbi Judah says: they were of plaster [but they looked silver] because their surfaces were darkened from the wine. They had each a hole like a slender snout, one being wide and the other narrow so that both emptied at the same time. The one on the west was for water and the one on the east for wine. If he poured the flask of water into the bowl for wine, or that of wine into that for water, he has fulfilled his obligation. Rabbi Judah says: with one log he performed the ceremony of the water-libation all eight days. To [the priest] who performed the libation they used to say, “Raise your hand”, for one time, a certain man poured out the water over his feet, and all the people pelted him with their etrogs. The water libation ritual would begin with a procession from the Shiloah, the stream that empties out at the base of the Temple Mount. As we shall see when we learn the fifth chapter, this procession would begin in the morning after Simchat Bet Hashoevah (to be explained below). The people would make their way up to the Temple and enter through a designated gate called “the water gate.” [Made much more famous about 2,000 years later!] Just as we saw with the aravah ritual, here too they blew three shofar blasts. Again, this seems to have been a way of highlighting the event and emphasizing its importance in light of the fact that others disagreed with its fulfillment. They would then pour the water into a special bowl that had a hole in it. The water would go down to a cistern underneath the altar called “shitin”, where according to legend it would cause the waters of the deep to rise and nourish the earth. The wine libation was done simultaneously. Rabbi Judah disagrees with the first opinion in the mishnah concerning two matters: 1) the libation was done with a log and not with three logs. Secondly, he holds that the water libation was for all eight days and not just on the seven days of Sukkot. In the final story a priest, identified in the Talmud as a Sadducee, pours the water onto the floor of the Temple rather than pouring it onto the altar. In response, the people pelt him with their etrogs. There are several fascinating aspects to this story. First of all, although the Sadducean priest disagreed with the water libation, he was still working in the Temple and he ended up with the water flask in his hand. If the Sadducees controlled the Temple why did he have the water flask such that he had to cast it down? Why would they have bothered bringing the water up from the Shiloah in the first place? And if the Pharisees controlled the Temple, why would they have let a Sadducean priest perform a ritual that they surely knew he disagreed with? Another interesting point is that the people’s sentiments clearly lie with the rabbis/Pharisees. Finally, there is a very similar story in Josephus, Antiquities of the Jews, Book 13, Chapter 13: “As to Alexander, his own people were seditious against him; for at a festival which was then celebrated, when he stood upon the altar, and was going to sacrifice, the nation rose upon him, and pelted him with citrons [which they then had in their hands, because] the law of the Jews required that at the feast of tabernacles every one should have branches of the palm tree and citron tree; which thing we have elsewhere related.” This event occurred during the Hasmonean reign, meaning sometime in the early 1st century B.C.E. Alexander Yannai was king and high priest and was known to have had Sadducean leanings. However, there is nothing in Josephus about a water libation. The people pelt him with etrogs (citrons) because they oppose him as king and high priest. It is hard to know if the story in the Mishnah is related to this story from Josephus, either historically or literarily, but one thing we can know for sure if you’re a Sadducee in the Temple on Sukkot, you’d better watch your head!
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Bartenura on Mishnah Sukkah
תקעו הריעו – because it is stated (Isaiah 12:3): “Joyfully shall you draw water [from the fountains of triumph].”
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Bartenura on Mishnah Sukkah
עלה בכבש – [the ramp] was on the southern side of the Altar.
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Bartenura on Mishnah Sukkah
ופנה לשמאלו – for the libations were made in the south-west corner, and when he turns to the left, it is the first.
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Bartenura on Mishnah Sukkah
שהיו משחירים פניהם – on account of the wine, and they were similar to silver which is black from the plaster.
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Bartenura on Mishnah Sukkah
כמין שני חוטמין דקין – one snout in one bowl with one perforation in its nose, and the Kohen/priest would empty into the mouth of the bowls and libations would cause an uninterrupted flow/splash and descend through the spouts on the roof of the Altar, and on the Altar was a perforation where the wine and the water would go down to pits by the side of the altar into which the remainder of the libations were poured which are cavities and very deep.
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Bartenura on Mishnah Sukkah
אחד מעובה ואחד דק – one of the perforations was thick, and that was the one for wine, and one that was thin was for the water.
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Bartenura on Mishnah Sukkah
כדי שיהיו כלין שניהן בבת אחת – for the water would hurry to leave more than the wine, for the wine was thicker and took longer to leave, therefore, the perforation for wine was fatter than the thin perforation for water, in order that they can be emptied at the same time.
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Bartenura on Mishnah Sukkah
ה"ג מערבי של מים, מזרחי של יין – the bowls were placed near the corner nearest this one for the one and the other for the other, one to the western side and one more inside of it, that is, to the east.
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Bartenura on Mishnah Sukkah
ר' יהודה אומר וכו' – in two things he disagreed; on the three logs he disagreed and on the seventh [day] that was stated by the first Teacher. And Rabbi Yehuda came to say that even on the eighth day they would pour a libation, but the Halakha is not according to Rabbi Yehuda.
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Bartenura on Mishnah Sukkah
הגבה את ידך – in order that it could be seen if he was placing water in the bowl, for the Sadducees didn’t accept the libation of the water.
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Bartenura on Mishnah Sukkah
שפעם אחת נסך – one Sadducee [offered a libation] with the water on his feet.
