Hundreds danced on 40th Street in Miami Beach for Simchas Beis Hashoeva

Hundreds of men, women and children filled 40th Street in Miami Beach on a night of Sukkos for a community-wide Simchas Beis Hashoeva, dancing in the street to about three hours of music from Benny Friedman, COLlive reported.

The party took over the block of 40th Street between Prairie Avenue and Royal Palm Avenue, just south of 41st Street, which the Miami Design Preservation League describes as a longtime hub of Jewish life in Miami Beach. There was a sukkah on site, food was sold, and the children had their own entertainment. Rabbi Leibel Schapiro, Rosh Yeshiva of Yeshiva Gedolah of Greater Miami and Rav of Beis Menachem in Miami Beach, spoke to the crowd, as did local officials. COLlive said many local shuls, organizations and community institutions backed the night, without naming them, and called it "an evening of Sukkos joy and celebration."

Simchas Beis Hashoeva means the celebration of the drawing of the water. When the Beis Hamikdash stood, a kohen poured water on the mizbeach each day of Sukkos alongside the wine, Chabad.org explains. The water came from the Shiloach spring and was carried in through the Water Gate. Sukkos is when the world is judged for rain, and the water offering was tied to that request.

The nights were what people remembered. Crowds packed the outer courtyard while the most pious men danced with burning torches and the Levi'im played harps, lyres, cymbals and trumpets. The Mishnah teaches that anyone who never saw that rejoicing never saw real joy in his life. According to the tradition, Rabban Shimon ben Gamliel juggled eight flaming torches without letting them touch.

Without a Beis Hamikdash, the celebration today is song and dance, usually in a shul or yeshiva with a sukkah close by. Taking it into the street is newer. In 1980, after the Lubavitcher Rebbe spoke about Simchas Beis Hashoeva at 770 Eastern Parkway, people danced through Crown Heights until dawn, Chabad.org recounts. Since then a street celebration has been held every year at Kingston and Montgomery in Brooklyn.

Yeshiva Gedolah Rabbinical College of Greater Miami was founded in September 1972 and opened the following year, according to the yeshiva's own history. Its first talmidim were eleven bochurim from the central Tomchei Tmimim yeshiva in New York, chosen by the Rebbe. A leading graduate of that yeshiva, Rabbi Yehuda Leib Schapiro, was named the first Rosh Yeshiva. In October 1974 the yeshiva moved into a new building across from Flamingo Park, and it now stands at 1140 Alton Road. More than five decades after it opened, COLlive still lists Rabbi Schapiro at its head.

Chabad in Miami Beach goes back further still. In 1965, The Miami News reported that a Lubavitch minyan had formed on the Beach, davening twice a day under Rabbi Avraham Korf, Chabad.org noted in its obituary of Rabbi Korf, who later served as dean of the yeshiva.

Benny Friedman was born Benzion Friedman in St. Paul, Minnesota, in 1984. He is a son of the Chabad shliach Rabbi Manis Friedman, one of fourteen children, and a nephew of the singer Avraham Fried. He learned in Lubavitch yeshivos in Postville, Iowa, and in Tzfas, received semicha and served as a shliach in Tucson. His first solo album, Taamu, came out in 2009. Yesh Tikvah, in 2012, became his breakout song, and his sixth solo album, Be Gebentched!, came out in 2025. He lives in Crown Heights.

How we reported this: This story is based on a COLlive report dated Oct. 5, 2026, with photos by Asher Lens. Background comes from Chabad.org, the yeshiva's published history, Wikipedia entries on Simchas Beis Hashoeva and Benny Friedman, and the Miami Design Preservation League. COLlive did not say which night of Sukkos the event took place, give a crowd count beyond "hundreds," or name the sponsoring shuls and officials. We matched "Rabbi Leibel Schapiro" to the yeshiva's first Rosh Yeshiva, Rabbi Yehuda Leib Schapiro, from Chabad.org's use of both names for the dean; the yeshiva's page does not use the name Leibel. Communities with a Yom Tov story to share can reach us at [email protected].