intended to increase the knowledge, interest, and anticipation of the reader, thereby hastening the realization of our hopes and prayers for the rebuilding of Jerusalem and the Beit HaMikdash.

Ma'ayan Shilo'ach - The Siloam Spring
"How was Nisuch HaMayim (Water Libation poured on the Mizbei'ach during Sukkot) performed? ...They (the Kohanim) used to fill a gold flagon holding three logs with water from the Shilo'ach..." (Sukka 4:9) R' Ovadiya MiBartenura explains, "The Shilo'ach is a spring near Jerusalem." Tif'eret Yisrael comments, "The Shilo'achis the name of a spring near Jerusalem." But there is a lot more to the Shilo'ach than simply its location.

Located within walking distance to the southeast of Har HaBayit, the Shilo'ach, i.e. Ma'ayan Gichon, is the most copious of the three natural sources of water in the Jerusalem area, the others are Ein Rogel, a well further to the southeast (Bir Ayoub), and Mei Nafto'ach to the west. Its waters were once famed for their sweetness and purity. "Had you been worthy, you would be dwelling in Jerusalem and drinking the waters of the Shilo'ach, whose waters are pure and sweet… (Eicha Rabba 19). Filthy, the spring water is no longer potable because it has long been polluted by the sewage of the adjacent Arab village, Silwan. Flowing forth from the rocks (the Hebrew root, GIMEL-YUD-CHET means "breaking forth"), the Gichon water is channeled into a pool which is called the Shilo'ach because the excess water was used for irrigation. The name Shilo'ach is derived from SHELACH, "irrigation canal".

The first time the Gichon is mentioned in Tanach is in Melachim Alef which describes the anointing of Shlomo HaMelech in vivid detail. "And the king (David) said unto them (Bathsheva, Tzadok HaKohein, Natan HaNavi and Benayahu): 'Take with you the servants of your lord (i.e. the Chereiti & Peleiti v. 38), and cause Solomon my son to ride upon my own mule (horses did not come into common use in Eretz Yisrael until Solomon's reign), and bring him down to the Gichon. And let Tzadok the Kohen and Natan the Prophet anoint him there king over Israel; and blow the Shofar, and say: Long live King Solomon. Then you shall come up after him and he shall come and sit on my throne; for he shall be king in my stead…" (ibid. 1:33-35). Some 150 years later, his descendent Chezkiyahu HaMelech, foreseeing an imminent Assyrian invasion, took active steps to ensure Jerusalem's water supply and at the same time to deny the much needed water to the enemy. "And when Hezekiah saw that Sennacherib (King of Assyria) was come and proposed to fight against Jerusalem, he took council with his princes and his mighty men to stop the waters of the fountains which were outside the city and they helped him. So there were gathered much people together, and they stopped all the fountains, and the brook that flowed through the midst of the land, saying; 'Why should the kings of Assyria come and find much water'?" (Devrei Hayamim Bet 32:2-4) "This same Hezekiah stopped the upper watercourse of the Gichon and brought it straight down to the west side of the city of David…" (ibid. v. 30).

An incredible feat, Chezkiyahu's engineers had succeeded in closing the outlet of the Gichon at the foot of the City of David and diverting the spring water through a conduit cut through solid rock 533m long, with a height of 1.1-3.4m, a width of 0.58-0.65m and a gradient of about 4%. They succeeded in causing the spring water to flow into a pool within the city walls and thereby denying it to the invader. In 1880, an extraordinary inscription carved in beautiful paleo-Hebrew was discovered on the tunnel wall 6m from the pool. This inscription (now in an Istanbul museum) dramatically describes the final moments of the completion of the excavation when the two teams of tunnelers working from opposite ends met. "And this was the manner of the boring through: when yet the hewers were lifting the pickaxes, each towards his fellow, and when there were 3 Amot yet to be bored (through the rock), the voice of each calling to his fellow was heard ….And at the end of the boring, the hewers struck,each to meet his fellow, pickaxe against pickaxe. Then the waters went from the source to the pool (in the city) for 200 and 1000 Amot. 100 Amot was the height of the rock above the heads of the hewers…". Melachim Bet 20:20 summarizes the achievements of Hezekiah's reign, "And the rest of the acts of Hezekiah… how he made the pool, and the conduit, and brought water into the city, are they not written in the books of the chronicles of the kings of Judah?"

Various Midrashim relate that, with the destruction of Jerusalem, Malchut Beit David, the honor of the Kohein Gadol, Ru'ach Hakodesh, the Sanhedrin, the Beit HaMikdash and the abundance of the waters of the Gichon passed away. The Midrash relates how after the Destruction, G-d reduced the Gichon, which had previously fructified all of Eretz Yisrael, to a comparatively insignificant fountain. We are also told that the Gichon played a vital role in the dawn of human history.

Pirkei Rabbi Eliezer teaches us that "…after his expulsion from Gan Eden, Adam HaRishon betook himself to the waters of the upper Gichon where, without food, he stood up to his neck in the water for seven weeks continually until his body became perforated like a sponge. He then prayed to G-d saying: 'Forgive my sins and accept my repentance, so that all future generations may know that repentance is efficacious and that You will forgive those who return to you.' Whereupon G-d stretched forth His right hand, accepted Adam's repentance and forgave his sins." (The Midrash notes the similarity of Gichon to Gachan - he bent down, i.e. he repented.) Is the theme of repentance the true link between the waters of the Gichon, its adjoining pool the Shilo'ach, and the Nisuch Hamayim? Would this not be a connection of far greater import than mere geographical proximity? Can we picture the Kohanim as they performed Nisuch HaMayim whispering in prayer, "As Adam HaRishon's sin was forgiven as a result of his penitence when he stood in the Gichon, so may the transgressions of Am Yisrael his descendent be forgiven as we pour water from that very same spring on the Mizbei'ach"? Did not Rabbi Akiva visualize G-d saying, "Pour out water before Me on Sukkot, so your rains this year will be blessed"? (Rosh HaShana 16a)

"My transgressions do I recall this day..." I have been living in Jerusalem for almost 35 years and I never "did" Hezekiah's Tunnel, something almost every tourist does. I finally did it only a couple of weeks ago. Armed with flashlights and expendable sneakers, together with a small group I visited the growing Jewish community of Ir David and then entered Hezekiah's conduit, water up to my knees. I found it very meaningful to see the very place where MY king, King Solomon, was anointed and to have the privilege of climbing through the engineering marvel dug by his resourceful descendent, Hezekiah King of Judah. Gazing upon the Shilo'ach, it was not hard for me to "see" thousands of white-clad Kohanim joined by an immense jubilant crowd congregating near the water. To the sound of trumpets, a Kohein approached the Shilo'ach pool, the waters of Gichon where Adam HaRishon obtained forgiveness for his transgression. The Kohein held a golden flagon in his hand...

Catriel is in the process of writing a book: The Temple of Jerusalem, A Pilgrims Prospective; A Guided Tour through the Temple and the Divine Service