" Y O U   S H A L L   R E J O I C E . . . . . . on your holiday!" Brought to you by ArtScroll. Sukkot is a time of simchah – of joy – and what rejoicing there was in the Beit Hamikdash on Sukkot! Especially during the Simchat Beit Hashoeyvah – the celebration of Drawing the Water. Water is a blessing. No one can live without water. Therefore, on Sukkot (which is the beginning of the rainy season in the Land of Israel) we ask Hashem to send enough rain and water for the entire world. Each evening during Chol Hamoed Sukkot, a great celebration was held in the Temple. Tens of thousands of people came. The golden lamps were lit. The Leviim sang and played their harps and lyres and cymbals. The people danced all night long holding torches and singing songs of praise to Hashem. All of Jerusalem rejoiced. Then, just as the rosters began to crow and announce the beginning of a new day, the people marched out of the Beit Hamikdash and down to the Shiloach, an ancient spring of water outside the walls of the city. They drew up pitchers of cold, pure water from the spring and brought them back to the Temple. They prayed the morning prayers, brought the daily offering, and then poured the water from the Shiloach on the mizbeach – the altar in the Beit Hamikdash. They ate, drank, studied, rejoiced and prayed again. And, in the evening, they lit the golden lamps and began from the beginning… "Whoever has not seen the joy of the Simchat Beit Hashoeyvah," said the Rabbis, "has never seen joy in his life!" Although we have no Beit Hamikdash today, and even though we do not draw water from the Shiloach, we still celebrate Simchat Beit Hashoeyvah each night of Chol Hamoed Sukkot. We still dance and sing and rejoice with Hashem. And someday soon, with His help, we will rebuild the Beit Hamikdash in Yerushalayim and have a real Simchat Beit Hashoeyvah again!