Rosh Hashana 2:3-4

Rosh Hashana 2:3

The mountaintop fires were lit as follows: They brought long cedar poles, shoots, sticks from olive trees and scraps of flax. These were all tied with twine. The person assigned to this task went to the top of the mountain and lit the fire, which he then waved back and forth, up and down, until he could see his counterpart doing the same on the next mountain. This was repeated to the next person, on the top of the third mountain.

Rosh Hashana 2:4

These fires were lit from the Mount of Olives to Sartva, from Sartva to Grofina, from Grofina to Chavran, and from Chavran to Beis Biltin. They didn’t move from Beis Biltin; rather, he would wave the fire back and forth, up and down, until he could see the area outside Israel (i.e., Babylonia) lit up like a torch fire.