Sukkah 45A

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Text Excerpt

וכי לייבשן הוא צריך? אלא אימא: על גב האיצטבא. אמר רחבא אמר (רב) יהודה: הר הבית סטיו כפול היה, סטיו לפנים מסטיו.

And does he need to dry them? Clearly, that is not his intention. Why, then, would he place the lulavim on the roof? Rather, emend your version and say: On the bench beneath the roof, in a place designated for that purpose. Raḥava said that Rav Yehuda said: The Temple Mount was a double colonnade [setav], a colonnade within a colonnade, and there was room there to place the lulavim.

מתני׳ מצות ערבה כיצד? מקום היה למטה מירושלים ונקרא ״מוצא״, יורדין לשם ומלקטין משם מורביות 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: ״יופי לך מזבח, יופי לך מזבח!״ רבי אלעזר אומר: ״ליה ולך מזבח, ליה ולך מזבח״.

Mishnah: 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: “YHWH, please save us. YHWH, please grant us success” (Psalms 118:25). R' Yehuda says that they would say: Ani vaho, please save us. And on that day, the 7th day of Sukkot, they would circle the altar 7 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 YHWH and to you, altar; to YHWH and to you, altar.

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