והקרבתם עולה אשה ריח ניחוח לה' פרים בני בקר שלושה עשר, “You shall offer a burnt-offering, a fire-offering, a sweet-smelling aroma to Hashem; thirteen young bulls;” the total number of bulls to be offered on the festival of Tabernacles was 70. They were offered in a descending order, i.e. 13 on the first day of the Holiday, 12 on the second day, 11 on the third day, etc. The total number served as a reminder of the fact that eventually all the seventy Gentile nations are destined to perish (see Rashi and ancient Midrashim); [The symbolic killing of these animals on the festival which foresees that event as we read in the portions from the prophets on that festival are most appropriate. Ed.]. The original seventy nations, the ones enumerated after the Tower of Babel, each have a representative in the celestial regions as alluded to in Daniel 10,13, where the particular representative of the empire of Persia is singled out as well as the representative of the Greek Empire. You will observe that in this entire chapter dealing with these bulls being offered as burnt-offerings the customary expression “for Hashem” occurs only in connection with the first day of that festival. The reason for this is that if the Israelites appear to pay some kind of tribute to the 70 representatives of these nations by offering a bull in respect of each one of them this must be understood as something which only has the purpose of unifying all of them under the guidance of Hashem. All of them owe whatever power they appear to possess in history to the One and Only Original Cause, to Hashem.” This is also what our sages had in mind when they said in Sukkah 55: “woe to the nations of the world which are lost and which do not even realise the extent of their loss; as long as there was a Temple in Jerusalem the offerings brought on their behalf by the priests of the Jewish people would atone for them. Nowadays, after they have destroyed the Temple, what instrument of atonement do they have left?” This teaches that the seventy bulls which the Israelites offered on the festival of Tabernacles served as atonement for the seventy nations of the world. The offering (collectively speaking) was designed to unify the religiously pluralistic nations under the One and Only Creator at least to the extent that they see in Him the original Cause of the universe.

A Midrashic approach based on Tanchuma Pinchas 16: When the Torah writes: “you are to present a fire-offering,” this is reminiscent of Psalms 109,4: “they answer my love with accusations and I am all prayer.” This was Israel speaking to G’d about the 70 nations on whose behalf the Jewish priests offered sacrifices on Tabernacles. Instead of these nations appreciating this they heaped scorn upon us, hated and persecuted us.” A further Midrashic exegesis concerning the bulls of the festival (Tanchuma Pinchas 17): “the Torah taught us some good manners in connection with these sacrifices; if a person is entertained as a guest, the host will welcome him and offer him fowl on the first day. If the guest stays another day the host will serve him fish. If the guest still lingers the host will serve him vegetables on the third day of his (unexpected) stay. Eventually, he will serve him only inferior fare until the guest realizes that he has overstayed his welcome.”

ומנחתם ונסכיהם, “and their respective gift-offerings plus the appropriate libations.” Taanit 2 draws attention to the different versions of the word נסך used by the Torah for these libations on different days. On the second day of the festival the Torah describes the libations as ונסכיהם, on the sixth day they are described as ונסכה, and on the seventh day the word כמשפט “as required” is spelled as כמשפטם. The extra three letters מ-י-ם spell the word מים suggesting that on the Sukkot festival the libations consisted of water in addition to the wine.

You must understand the reason why these allusions commenced only with the list of offerings and libations offered on the second day of the festival. The reason is that on the second day of creation the original waters were divided into the “upper” waters and the waters “below” (Genesis 1,6). It is clear therefore that “water” and its activities are appropriately featured on the “second” day. [In order to understand what follows you must know that in times when rain had not materialized at the expected times, efforts were made to intercede with G’d both in the Temple and in all parts of the country. The people chosen to represent their brethren in such prayers and fasts were known as אנשי מעמד. Ed.]. Our sages (Taanit 27) have explained that the אנשי המעמד, used to fast on Mondays (second day) in supplication for rain to materialize seeing that on that day of the week G’d dealt with the waters. They also fasted on Fridays, the day on which man had been created, seeing man cannot survive without water. The Torah had told us that as long as man was not yet on earth there had not been any rain, only mist rose from the earth (Genesis 2,6). When the Torah reports once more on the creation of man in the verse following (Genesis 2,7), this is an allusion that as of that time rain became necessary and materialized. If the last letter ם appears during the mussaf offerings of the seventh day of the festival Tabernacles this is because the seventh day symbolizes completion of G’d’s universe. In Rosh Hashanah 16 the sages quote G’d as having said: “present libations of water for Me on the Sukkot festival in order that the rains you will receive will prove beneficial.” As a result of such instructions these libations of water were presented on the altar on every single day of the festival. This procedure is known as הלכה של משה מסיני, a decree going back to Sinai when Moses received the Torah. It is not spelled out in the written Torah. The procedure took place during the offering of the daily morning burnt-offering at the same time as the wine-libation was presented. It took place on the south west corner of the altar on the upper half of the altar. The entire amount of water descended to the hole known a “shittin.” The priests would take a bottle made of gold containing three login of water; the bottle was filled from the well known as מי שילוח. When the bearers would arrive at the Temple gate they would blow tekiah teruah tekiah. The priest would ascend the ramp to the altar and turn left after he had arrived at the top and pour the water out of the bottle into a bowl provided for the purpose. There were two such silver bowls. The one on the western side would be filled with the water, the one on the eastern side would be filled with the wine for the libation. Both bowls had two small holes just like the bottom of the nose. The hole in the vessel containing the water was thinner than that in the vessel containing the wine (as water is apt to flow more quickly than wine) so that both libations would arrive at their ultimate destination, the shittin, simultaneously. The priest about to pour the water would be told to raise his hand, seeing it had happened once that a priest poured the water on his feet and the people present pelted him with their citrons believing that he had done so for heretical reasons. [The Sadducees rejected the whole procedure as not written in the Torah. Ed.] Our sages in Sukkah 51 said that anyone who had not witnessed the joy with which this whole procedure of the preparation for the water-libation was celebrated has no idea what true joy is all about. The whole procedure was known as בית השואבה, based on Isaiah 12,3: “you will draw water amidst great joy.” The drawing of the requisite water took place on each of the seven nights (except Sabbath) of the festival for the needs of the daily burnt-offering.

ביום השמיני עצרת תהיה לכם, “On the eighth day shall be a solemn assembly for you.” According to the plain meaning of the text the word עצרת means: “to be prevented from performing one’s regular work” (compare Chagigah 18). The Talmud Sukkah 48 states that this was a separate festival distinguished by seven features. It required a separate drawing of lots for who should present the offerings. It qualifies for a separate benediction sanctifying the day; the duty to perform the pilgrimage to Jerusalem applied to it, i.e. anyone who had not come for Sukkot due to whatever reason was obligated to come now if he could. A special mussaf offering was dedicated to this day (as we read in the following verse). The Levites sang a special hymn saluting that festival. It is mentioned in our prayers as a separate festival. One does not dwell in the Sukkah on that day. If someone had buried a close relative on the eve of that day, its arrival cancels (most of) the remainder of the shloshim, the mandatory thirty days during which the mourner may not shave, etc. The day before, i.e. the one on which the dead was buried, is considered as equivalent to the mandatory seven days of intensive mourning. The festival of Sukkot itself is considered as equivalent to a further seven days, and the eighth day being a separate festival is also considered as seven days so that at the conclusion of this day 21 of the thirty days of extended mourning are considered as having passed. The mourner needs to abstain from shaving only nine more days (compare Moed Katan 20). Our sages in Sukkah 47 draw attention to the wording פר, bull, in our verse as compared to the seven days previously on which a number of פרים were offered each day. They also draw attention to the word וביום which introduces the second to seventh day of Sukkot, whereas here the Torah merely writes ביום, without the connecting letter ו which would have linked this day conceptually to the ones preceding it. The significance of all this is that whereas on each of the seven days of the festival of Sukkot bulls (pl.) had been offered as a part of the mussaf offering, on this day only a single bull representing the Jewish people was offered. The missing letter ו at the beginning of the words ביום השמיני makes clear that this day had a significance all its own, is a separate festival.

A Midrashic approach: the words ביום השמיני עצרת may be understood as “on the eighth day a ‘detention.’” G’d is supposed to have asked the Israelites to remain in Jerusalem an additional day as He wants to enjoy their company for another day. It is similar to a king who had entertained his sons for a whole week and who finds it difficult to part from them at the end of that period. He asks them to remain with him for an extra day. In the Talmud Sukkah 55 Abbaye states that whereas the 70 bulls presented on the altar during the seven preceding days were in respect of the seventy nations of the world, the single bull offered on the eighth day was in respect of the unique people, the Jewish people. The commandment by G’d to the Jewish people to offer this single bull on the eighth day is comparable to a king who had told all his servants to prepare a meal for him. At the end of that meal he said to his most intimate friend: “make for me a small dinner so that I can enjoy your presence on an intimate basis.”

A kabbalistic approach: The word עצרת is a term describing the כנסת ישראל, the spiritual concept known as “Israel.” The reason that this term is an apt description is that (in colloquial parlance: ‘this people is where the buck stops.’) In other words, were it not for the concept represented by the Jewish people the whole universe would lack meaning and purpose. It is also an expression denoting מלכות, authority, dominion, such as in Samuel I 9,17 זה יעצור בעמי, “this one will rule over My people” (G’d speaking). The word occurs in that meaning also in Rosh Hashanah 16 meaning “crown-prince,” i.e. the prince who will assume the authority of the king. For the above-mentioned reasons Shemini Atzeret is a festival all by itself. We may see reflected in this day the practice that among the four species of plants with which we praise the Lord on the festival of Sukkot it is the etrog which represents the Jewish people and which is held separately, not being bound up with the other species. The Shemini Atzeret festival is perceived as the festival of the giving of the Torah which the Talmud always refers to as עצרת, meaning the festival of Shavuot, the recurrence of the calendar date on which the Torah was received. We find that the name עצרת is also applied by the Torah to the seventh day of Passover (Deut. 16,8) although that day is an integral part of the festival. In other words, the term appears in connection with all three pilgrimage holidays. What does all this mean? Just as the word שבת is applied by the Torah to the various festivals on various occasions to show that the כנסת ישראל is the “bride” of the Sabbath, [and that without this “bride” the entire legislation would be devoid of meaning, Ed.] so the word עצרת when used in connection with the festivals conveys the idea that the Jewish people, spiritually speaking, are the purpose of all these festivals. In kabbalistic terms, they are the יסוד [borrowed from the emanation by that name] “foundation,” without which the entire legislation of the festivals would lack meaning. David gave expression to this feeling when he composed the hymn of the Sabbath commencing with the words מזמור שיר ליום השבת, “a song to the Sabbath Day.” Naturally, he did not mean to address the “day,” [in fact this might have been idolatrous, Ed.] but he addressed the spiritual concept of כנסת ישראל which represents this emanation יסוד. When David similarly exalted למנצח על השמינית (Psalms 12,1) he referred to similar thoughts, i.e. calling כנסת ישראל as the concept which has not been upheld by its representatives on earth. It pays to consider the way G’d phrased the introduction to this special festival by saying עצרת תהיה לכם, similar to להיות לכם לאלו-הים, “in order to be your G’d.” The other festivals in this chapter were introduced as being לה', “for Hashem;” this one is being introduced as being “for you,” i.e. for the Jewish people. On the other hand, in Leviticus 23,36 the same day is described as עצרת היא, instead of as עצרת תהיה לכם. What is the difference? The explanation is that the words עצרת היא should be understood as עצרת של היא, not “it is a detention,” or some such, but it is the detention of היא, the word היא referring to the Sabbath, the companion of the “festival,” i.e. the Jewish people. The Sabbath is featured in a similar manner when the Torah wrote concerning it in Exodus 31,13: אות היא ביני וביניכם, “it is a sign between Me and between you.” When you consider this you will appreciate why the sages in the above-quoted Midrash referred to the meal on the eighth day as a “small” meal. It was an allusion to the letter ה in the word בהבראם, in Genesis 2,4 (compare author’s comments on this. One must remember that the various letters in the word היא appear at different times in smaller than usual script to make these points) as well as the small letter י in the word תשי in Deut. 32,18, and the small letter א in the word ויקרא in Leviticus 1,1. This is the mystical dimension of Berachot 48 that “nine adults plus one minor (usually understood as under-aged individual) may be combined to form a quorum for the sake of making a מנין enabling congregational prayer or use of the word אלוקינו when reciting grace after meals.” [This view is not halachically accepted. Ed.] This is also the mystical dimension of the verse quoting David (in Psalms 37,25) which we recite near the conclusion of the grace after meals prayer נער הייתי גם זקנתי, “I used to be a minor, though in the interval I have come of age and become old,” a verse recited by the שר של העולם, the angel Mattatron who runs the universe on behalf of the Lord. The prophet Isaiah refers to the period of the first Temple as such a “minor” (i.e. peopled by spiritually immature Jews) when he said (Isaiah 28,10) זעיר שם, זעיר שם, “now a little here, now a little there.” (Compare Yevamot 16 on the verse in Psalms 37,25).

אלה תעשו לה' במועדיכם לבד מנדריכם ונדבותיכם, “these (offerings) you are to present for Hashem on your appointed festivals apart from your vows and free-will offerings, etc.” Actually, the Torah should have written: “your burnt-offerings and your peace-offerings” first, seeing these are offerings consisting of meat before switching to offerings which consist of meal-offerings and libations, instead of mentioning the most important offerings, i.e. the total (burnt) offerings only after the vows and free-will offerings. After all, our sages in Yuma 34 are specific about the burnt-offering always preceding other offerings and being the first offering presented on the altar each morning. The Torah concluded its list with the peace-offerings as the purpose of these offerings is להשלים המדות, “to strive to perfect one’s character traits” (compare author’s comments on Genesis 46,1). Moreover, it is the custom for the Torah whenever it enumerates a number of different offerings to conclude with the “peace-offerings.” Furthermore the greatest and concluding blessing of the priests is the blessing of peace, i.e. שלום. This then is the reason why here too the “peace-offerings” are mentioned last. Just as the tetragrammaton had been associated with these offerings at the beginning of the chapter, the Torah also concludes with mentioning the fact that these offerings are addressed to Hashem. The Torah wishes to underline that all the offerings must always be addressed to this attribute and none other. The reason that the seventy bulls are mentioned between the beginning and the end of our chapter is to remind us that although they were offered on behalf of the seventy nations who are under the immediate care of their celestial representatives, the offerings were all addressed to the attribute Hashem, not to any underlings, angels, etc. The blessings which humanity enjoys from celestial sources are due to the seventy bulls offered to Hashem on behalf of the nations by the priests in the Holy Temple in Jerusalem. Each “force” in the terrestrial world must recognize that there is a “force” above it, until eventually the highest “force” Hashem is reached. This is the meaning of Kohelet 5,7: “for there is One higher than high Who watches and there are high ones above them.”