A Joyful Concert

During the days when the Temple was still standing in Jerusalem, a special ceremony was performed during Sukkot. This ceremony, called Beit Hashoeva, “the place of drawing water,” involved drawing water and pouring it on the altar. The ceremony was accompanied by a celebration, which involved dancing and juggling and was called “Simchat Beit Hashoeva.”

This ceremony is discussed at length in the Talmud, says Rabbi Laibel Blotner of Chabad of Mesa, in an e-mail. “The Talmud describes the ceremony as one that the streets of Jerusalem were lit up and the greatest Rabbis would participate in singing and dancing. The festivities would last throughout the night.”

In the Valley – at the Scottsdale Hilton Resort on Oct. 2 – about 260 people gathered for Chabad of Arizona’s fourth annual Simchat Beit Hashoeva concert, featuring Benny Friedman.

Friedman is one of 14 children; his father is Rabbi Manis Friedman, author of “Doesn’t Anyone Blush Anymore” and dean of the Bais Chana Institute of Jewish Studies in St. Paul, Minn.; his uncle is Chasidic singer Avraham Fried.

“The atmosphere is generally one of extreme happiness that makes us feel as if we are part of the dancing going on in Jerusalem itself,” says Yossi Wolfe, one of the participants, in an e-mail.

Blotner says his favorite part of the celebration was that so many people in the community, from all different segments and levels of religious observance, “can come together in true unity and happiness to celebrate and dance in the true spirit of the holiday.”