During the festival of Sukkot, there is the mitzvah of "pouring water" in the Holy Temple. This is the basis of the great joy, the joy of "Simchat Beit HaShoevah," about which it was said: "Whoever did not see it, saw no joy in his days." It was the joy of filling the water and then pouring it on the altar. The Talmud tells us about an unpleasant incident that occurred on one of those days of Sukkot. The Kohen who poured the water was a Sadducee (a sect that sanctified only the Written Law and denied the Oral Law). This Kohen did not want to fulfill the mitzvah of pouring the water, which does not appear explicitly in the Written Torah, except by allusion, and instead of pouring the water on the altar, he poured it on his feet. The act caused a great uproar among the people present, and "the whole town stoned him with their etrogi."\"<\/p>\n
This story, like all the stories in the Torah, contains timeless lessons, and to understand them, one must meditate on its details. The Sadducee could have refrained entirely from pouring the water, but he specifically chose to pour it on his feet. An additional detail worth noting is that the Sadducee's punishment was not inflicted by the court, but rather by the people.<\/p>\n
At the heart of the Sadducees' ideology was the position that the Torah should be approached solely from a rational perspective. The Sadducees rejected the principle of faith and acceptance of the Heavenly Yoke found within the Torah. Therefore, they only accepted what was explicitly stated in the Torah, refusing to accept aspects that depended on faith\u2014faith in the tradition of our Sages, that is, the Oral Torah.<\/p>\n
This is the symbolism behind the Sadducees' practice of pouring wine while refusing to pour water: wine has taste and symbolizes fulfilling the commandments with understanding and feeling. In contrast, water lacks taste and symbolizes the "yoke" of faith. The Sadducees agreed to accept only what possessed logical reason and denied the supra-rational aspects of the Torah. They also denied the authority of the Torah Sages to legislate laws for all generations, maintaining that they too could interpret the Torah according to their own understanding. They also understood that not everyone is entitled to interpret the Torah as they see fit, and therefore maintained that while the people must obey the instructions of the leaders, the leaders themselves could interpret the Torah according to their personal criteria.<\/p>\n
That is what the Sadducee meant by pouring water over his feet. The "feet," the common people, require acceptance of the yoke and submission, but he, the Kohen, can interpret the Torah according to his logic and understanding.<\/p>\n
The deserved reaction followed\u2014it was not the leaders, the Kohanim, who punished the Sadducee, but the people. This teaches us: when faced with the Sadducee's arguments, we must not engage in intellectualized discussions ("the leaders"), but rather rely on the firmness and tenacity of the ordinary Jew ("the people"). Specifically, through simple faith and acceptance of the "Yoke of Heaven," the Jewish people can face the challenges of the age and become worthy of the true and complete redemption of the Messiah.<\/p>\n
(Likutei Sichot volume 2, page 429)<\/p>\n
1. Sukkah 51a (in the Mishnah) 2. Ahi 48b 3. Explanation of the Mishnayot by Rambam Sukkah, chapter 4, Mishnah 9<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"En la festividad de Sucot est\u00e1 la mitzv\u00e1 de \"verter el agua\" en el Sagrado Templo. Esta es la base de la gran alegr\u00eda, la alegr\u00eda de \"Simjat Beit Hashoev\u00e1\"sobre la que se dijo1: \"Quien no la vio, no vio alegr\u00eda en sus d\u00edas\" Era la alegr\u00eda al llenar el agua para luego verterla en… Read More \u00bbThe divine yoke<\/span><\/a>","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":3847,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"neve_meta_sidebar":"","neve_meta_container":"","neve_meta_enable_content_width":"","neve_meta_content_width":0,"neve_meta_title_alignment":"","neve_meta_author_avatar":"","neve_post_elements_order":"","neve_meta_disable_header":"","neve_meta_disable_footer":"","neve_meta_disable_title":"","episode_type":"","audio_file":"","podmotor_file_id":"","podmotor_episode_id":"","cover_image":"","cover_image_id":"","duration":"","filesize":"","filesize_raw":"","date_recorded":"","explicit":"","block":"","itunes_episode_number":"","itunes_title":"","itunes_season_number":"","itunes_episode_type":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[92],"tags":[981,954,957,974,942],"series":[],"class_list":["post-1195","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-sucot","tag-alegria","tag-judio","tag-rambam","tag-redencion","tag-tora"],"episode_featured_image":"https:\/\/tuviaserber.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/11\/maim3.jpg","episode_player_image":"https:\/\/tuviaserber.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/02\/avatar1400.jpeg","download_link":"","player_link":"","audio_player":false,"episode_data":{"playerMode":"light","subscribeUrls":{"castbox":{"key":"castbox","url":"","label":"CastBox","class":"castbox","icon":"castbox.png"},"rss":{"key":"rss","url":"","label":"RSS","class":"rss","icon":"rss.png"},"spotify":{"key":"spotify","url":"","label":"Spotify","class":"spotify","icon":"spotify.png"}},"rssFeedUrl":"https:\/\/tuviaserber.com\/en\/feed\/podcast\/rabino-tuvia-serber","embedCode":"El yugo divino<\/a><\/blockquote>