The Second Temple had a section called the Ezrat Nashim, the Court of Women — a gallery where women could gather for the great ceremonies while men stood on the lower floor. During the festival of Simchat Beit HaShoevah, the Water-Drawing ceremony of Sukkot, both levels filled to capacity.
Young priests climbed enormous chandeliers, filled the lamps with oil, and lit every wick. The light, the sages said, was so bright that it reflected off the Temple walls and lit the streets of Jerusalem. A man in the far alleys of the city could thread a needle by the glow of the Temple court.
Pious Jews — the chassidim of the time — chanted hymns and praises. The Levites stood on fifteen broad steps rising from the lower floor to the women's gallery, and as they ascended they sang fifteen psalms, the Shir HaMa'alot — A Song of Ascents (Psalms 120-134). For each step, one psalm. A massive choir joined them.
And at the center of the celebration stood the ancient Hillel, addressing the crowd. The Mishnah in Sukkah 51a preserves his favorite line: If I am here, all is here. If I am not here, who is here? — spoken, the commentators say, in the voice of God, as if Hillel were channeling the Shechinah among the lamps.
The ceremony lasted all night. And when Jews today light candles at Chanukah or at a wedding, they are remembering — even if they do not know it — the night the Temple's own lamps turned the streets of Jerusalem into day.