The Fifteen Steps and the Water-Drawing Joy of Sukkot

Midrash Aggadah Sukkah 51b (via Hebraic Literature, 1901)

Curated by The Jewish Mythology Team · Published January 5, 2025

There were fifteen steps in the Temple that led down from the Court of Israel to the Court of the Women. The rabbis said they matched the fifteen Shir HaMa’alot, the Songs of Ascent, in the Psalms (Psalms 120-134). On these steps the Levites stood and sang.

And the rabbis declared: whoever has not seen the joy of the annual Simchat Beit HaShoeivah, the ceremony of water-drawing on Sukkot, has not seen rejoicing in his life.

At the conclusion of the first day of the Feast of Tabernacles, priests and Levites descended to the Court of the Women, where great preparations were made. Double galleries were erected, the upper for women, the lower for men, so that the sexes could rejoice without mingling. Golden candelabra towered above the court, tall as sycamores, with four bowls at the top. Young priests climbed ladders with pitchers of oil. When the lamps were lit, there was no courtyard in Jerusalem that did not glow with their light.

And the Levites sang, and the sages danced with burning torches in their hands, and the flutes played until the dawn.

The rabbis said joy like that needs witnesses. It could not be remembered — only seen.

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