Hoshana Rabbah
[A] (halacha 673)
Question: What is the special significance of Hoshana Rabbah?
Answer: The Gemara in Maseches Sukkah1 says: 'On each day they would circle the altar one time .. and on that day they would circle the altar seven times. At the time of their departure what would they say? Beauty is yours, O altar, beauty is yours, O altar. Rabbi Elazar says: To Him and to you, O altar, to Him and to you, O altar'.
And in the Talmud Yerushalmi Maseches Rosh Hashanah2: 'R. Yonah said, it is written3 "וְאוֹתִי יוֹם יוֹם יִדְרֹשׁוּן" ("And Me they seek daily") — this refers to the shofar-blowing and the aravah'.
And the Pnei Moshe explained: 'R. Yonah said. For it is different on Rosh Hashanah, since certainly all the people gather and come to the synagogue, as it is written "And Me they seek daily" — this is the day of shofar-blowing and the day of aravah, when all come to pray together in the synagogue'.
And in the Zohar, Chelek Gimmel4 it is said about this day that it is the final conclusion of the days of judgment, Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur, and this is its language: 'On the seventh day of the festival it is the conclusion of the judgment of the world, and the notes go forth from the House of the King, and the powers are aroused and are concluded on this day .. R. Yosi said, we have learned this, that the aravah which resembles lips [is used] on this day, and what is it? R. Chiya said, although it comes as a homiletical teaching, so it certainly is, for on this day it depends upon the lips; on this day the King commands that the notes be given to the officer, and the judgments are concluded, and the evil tongue is sealed off from the world; on the first day of the month is the beginning of the judgment, and the conclusion is on this day, and this has been stated ..'.
And the Mateh Moshe5 wrote: 'The seventh day is Hoshana Rabbah. And why was it called Hoshana Rabbah? The Holy One, blessed be He, said to Avraham, I am unique and you are unique, I shall give to your children a day designated to atone thereon for their sins, and this is Hoshana Rabbah, meaning "My Name shall be" [אהיה] is the gematria of 21, and you are the twenty-first, ten generations from Adam to Noach, and ten generations from Noach to Avraham, and Hoshana Rabbah is the twenty-first day of the month of Tishrei. The Holy One, blessed be He, said to Avraham, if there is no atonement for your children on Rosh Hashanah it shall be on Yom Kippur, and if not it shall be on Hoshana Rabbah. And this is His unity upon My Name (Hagahos Minhagim, 216). And the secret of the sealing, which is on the night of Hoshana Rabbah and not on Yom Kippur, ought to have been on a fast day. But the intent in this, know, that Yom Kippur is on the tenth of the month, and the Yom Tov of Sukkos after five days makes fifteen days, and Hoshana Rabbah after six makes twenty-one. Multiply twenty-one times twenty-one, it comes to 441 in reverse, which is אמ"ת (truth), and the seal of the Holy One, blessed be He, is truth, and therefore the sealing is on the night of Hoshana Rabbah. And further, since Yom Kippur is on the tenth of the month corresponding to the yud of the Name, and after five days is Sukkos corresponding to the hei, and Hoshana Rabbah after six days, this is the completion of the four-letter Name, with the final hei doubled.
On this day we find a special order of conduct as explained in the Rishonim, and as the Shibolei HaLeket6 wrote: 'On the day of the aravah, after the Musaf prayer, some draw the Ark to the middle of the synagogue, and some take out all the Torah scrolls and make a kind of round threshing floor in the middle of the synagogue, and the chazzan begins and says Hoshana, and the congregation responds after him, and they circle seven times as a remembrance of circling the altar, and he says one alpha-beta each time, and afterward they return the Ark or the Torah scroll to their place, and they conclude all the Hoshanos in the order written in the machzorim, and a complete Kaddish. And it is a minhag to light all the candles in the synagogue in honor of the Torah, based on "for a mitzvah is a lamp and the Torah is light" .. And the day of the aravah is the day of the sealing of the judgment like Yom Kippur, as we learned "and on the festival they are judged concerning the water," for on it they would conclude the water libation'.
An additional minhag we find in the Minhagei MaHaRIL7: 'And that morning Maharil Segal, the chazzan, did as he did on Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur, and he wore his sargenes as on Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur, and the rest of the garments he did not change, except for the kota and matron of Shabbos which he wore all the days of Chol HaMoed, for even a weekday tallis he wore and not the one designated for him for Shabbos'.
And the Tur8 wrote: 'On the fifth day of Chol HaMoed, which is Hoshana Rabbah, the minhag is to increase psalms as on Yom Tov, and one says Kedushah Rabbah at Musaf, and we increase somewhat in candles as on Yom Kippur, since on the festival they are judged concerning the water and everything follows the seal, and all of a person's life depends on water, and they circle seven times and increase supplications concerning the water'.
And so too wrote the Mechaber9: 'On the seventh day, which is Hoshana Rabbah, the minhag is to increase psalms as on Yom Tov, and we increase somewhat in candles as on Yom Kippur since on the festival they are judged concerning the water .. and they circle seven times, and increase supplications concerning the water'.
And the Rema wrote there in the gloss: And one does not say Nishmas, and one says: Mizmor LeSodah, and one says: Ein Kamocha, Shema Yisrael etc., as on Yom Tov; and one says the Kaddish that follows the Musaf prayer in the Yom Tov melody; and it is not customary to do weekday work until after leaving the synagogue; and one may say the piyyut Zechor Bris when there is a bris on Hoshana Rabbah, and one says it before Ana Azon Chin etc. And some have the minhag to wear the kittel as on Yom Kippur'10.
In practice, in the siddur of the Alter Rebbe no special additions or changes for the day of Hoshana Rabbah were brought, apart from the Hoshanos special to this day.
And so too wrote the Kaf HaChaim11: 'And the minhag of the chassidim of Beis El, may God protect and preserve it, who go according to the words of the Arizal, is that they do not add anything to the order of the tefillah beyond the other days of Chol HaMoed at all, only in the saying of the Hoshanos in the order of the hakafos, and after the completion of the hakafos and the saying of the Hoshanos they say Kaddish Tiskabel, and they set down the lulav and perform the beating with the aravah as written afterward in the name of Shaar HaKavanos, and afterward they read from the Torah and pray Musaf like every day. And such is the minhag of the holy community of Frankfurt, that they change nothing at all, only Adon Olam and the final Kaddish they say in a melody as the Mateh Moshe wrote in siman 960, see there'.
Thus we have seen the significance of the day of Hoshana Rabbah, and the minhogim of the tefillos. There are also minhogim special to this night, which we will study in the following halacha
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Notes:
1 מה, א ↩
2 פ"ד ה"ח ↩
3 ישעי' נח ב ↩
4 צו לא, ב ↩
5 עמוד העבודה הושע"ר, סי' תתקנז ↩
6 סדר חגה"ס סי' שעא ↩
7 סדר תפילות חג הסוכות ↩
8 או"ח סי' תרסד ↩
9 שו"ע או"ח סי' תרסד ס"א ↩
10 והמגן אברהם ס"ק ג כתב: 'ללבוש הקיט"ל. מהרי"ל לבש הקיט"ל אבל שאר בגדי ח"ה לא הי' משנה [ד"מ] ובמדינתנו נהגו ללבוש בגדי שבת ולא הקיט"ל ערסי' תק"ל מ"ש'. אך ראה א"ר ס"ק ו ופמ"ג שמנהגם שהחזן כן לבש ↩
11 סי' תרסד ס"ק יא ↩
[B] (halacha 674)
In the previous halacha we saw the great significance of Hoshana Rabbah
Question: What are the minhogim regarding the night of Hoshana Rabbah?
Answer: The Shibolei HaLeket1 wrote: 'And there are those who have the minhag on the night of the day of the aravah to remain awake all night, and they sit and engage in Torah and begin from Bereishis and continue until VeZos HaBerachah, since on the following day they must complete the Torah, and if there is anyone who did not review his portions with the congregation each week, then now each and every one arranges them .. '.
And in the Sefer HaMinhagim (Tirna)2 he wrote: 'On Hoshana Rabbah the modest ones are accustomed to immerse or to purify themselves in nine kavin even with lukewarm water'.
And so too wrote the Rema3 in the gloss: 'And the meticulous ones have the minhag to immerse themselves before dawn, as on the eve of Yom Kippur, and some have the minhag to wear the kittel as on Yom Kippur'.
And the Shiyarei Knesses HaGedolah4 wrote: 'The minhag is to read all night because it is the night of the sealing. And I wrote in siman 240 in the gloss on the Tur, ose 1, that it is not fitting for a person to be intimate with his wife on the night of Hoshana Rabbah, because it is the night of the sealing'.
And he further wrote5: 'There are chassidim and men of deeds who immerse on Hoshana Rabbah before dawn, and so it is written in the Sefer HaMappah. And it seems correct to me to immerse from the eve of Hoshana Rabbah, in order to learn all night in holiness and purity'.
And the Magen Avraham wrote6: 'Israel has the minhag to remain awake on the night of the aravah [Shibolei Leket] and the order has already been printed, and see what I wrote in siman 494'.
And the Bikkurei Yaakov wrote7: 'Israel has the minhag to remain awake on the night of the aravah, and they learn the order of the tikkun which is Mishneh Torah with all of Tehillim with the Yehi Ratzon and passages of Zohar .. and the meticulous ones engage in Mishneh Torah before midnight and in Tehillim after midnight specifically, for so it is according to the sod'.
And the Eliyah Rabbah wrote8: 'And they rise early to the synagogue, and it is one of the five early risings, Rosh Hashanah, Yom Kippur, Hoshana Rabbah, Tisha B'Av, Purim'.
And regarding the Chabad minhag, in the Sefer HaMinhagim9 it is written regarding the night of Hoshana Rabbah: 'They would remain awake on the night of the last day of Pesach, also on the night of Shavuos and Hoshana Rabbah, and they must engage in learning all night'.
And further brought there10 (part of the matters are from a talk of the Rebbe the Rayatz on Hoshana Rabbah and Shemini Atzeres 5708) several minhogim regarding this night: 1) In the tikkun of the night of Hoshana Rabbah, even the portion of Berachah is said only as scripture and only one time; the saying of twice scripture and once Targum is on the eve of Simchas Torah.
2) The saying of Tehillim on the night of Hoshana Rabbah is after midnight and while girded with a gartel, and one does not prolong its recitation.
3) After each book of Tehillim one says the Yehi Ratzon of Hoshana Rabbah and the Yehi Ratzon which is after the emergence of the moon, but not the Yehi Ratzon of Yom Tov.
But to note that nevertheless several times the Rebbe also mentioned the saying of the Yehi Ratzon of Yom Tov11.
In addition to the saying of the book of Devarim and the saying of Tehillim, the Rebbe also mentioned the saying of the passages of Zohar12 which are in the tikkun of Hoshana Rabbah.
And likewise the Rebbe mentioned13 the minhag of the distribution of a sweet apple by the gabbaim to all who say Tehillim.
And regarding the minhag of going to the mikvah that was brought above, it appears that Anash did not have this minhag14.
Notes:
1 סדר חגה"ס סי' שעה ↩
2 חגה"ס, הובא בדרכי משה או"ח סי' תרסד סק"ב ↩
3 שו"ע או"ח סי' תרס"ד ס"א ↩
4 הגה"ט או"ח סי' תרסד אות א ↩
5 שם אות ו ↩
6 סי' תרסד בהקדמה ↩
7 סי' תרסד ס"ק ד ↩
8 סי' תרסד ס"ק ג ↩
9 ע' 42 ↩
10 ע' 68 ↩
11 ראה שיחת ליל הושע"ר תשמ"ג (תו"מ תשמ"ג א 249). וליל הושע"ר תשמ"ט (תו"מ ח"א ע' 189). ובשיחת ליל הושע"ר תש"נ (תו"מ ח"א ע' 193) ↩
12 ראה שיחת ליל הושע"ר תשמ"ג (תו"מ תשמ"ג ח"א ע' 247). ותשמ"ו (תו"מ ח"א ע' 308). ותשמ"ח (תו"מ ח"א ע' 247) ↩
13 ליל הושע"ר תשמ"ה (תו"מ ח"א ע' 346). ולהעיר משיחת ליל ה' דחה"ס תשמ"ט (תו"מ ח"א ע' 161- 162 הערה 44) ↩
14 להעיר מאוצר מנהגי חב"ד תשרי ע' שלג אות ריד - ג ↩
[C] (halacha 675)
Question: Why do we remove the loops from the lulav on Hoshana Rabbah?
Answer: The Raavyah1 wrote: 'It was taught, Rabbi Yehudah says in the name of Rabbi Tarfon, "כַּפֹּת תְּמָרִים" — that if it was split apart he shall bind it. And I heard a reason for כפת which is missing a vav, that for six days it is bound and resembles a single palm [כף אחת], and on the seventh day we untie it'.
And the Rokeach2 wrote: 'And we untie the binding of the lulav on Hoshana Rabbah in order to fulfill both views, six according to the Rabbanan'3.
The Mordechai4 brought the Raavyah, and this is his language: 'כַּפֹּת תְּמָרִים — the Raavyah wrote, I heard כפת is missing a vav, since for six days it is bound and resembles a single palm, and on the seventh day we untie it'.
And so too wrote the Tur5: 'And some have the minhag to untie on it the binding of one's lulav, a support for the matter being that it is written כפת missing a vav, meaning six days it shall be bound and no more'. And so too wrote the Mechaber6: 'And the minhag is to untie on it the binding of the lulav'7.
And we find among the Acharonim several explanations for this minhag:
The Bach wrote: 'And the reason is because the shaking is to withhold the harmful dews and the harmful winds, and when its binding is undone one shakes with it more, and since now it is the completion of the sealing concerning the water, we untie its binding in order to shake with it well'.
And the Levush8 wrote: 'And the minhag is to untie the binding of the lulav on Hoshana Rabbah, and a support for the matter being that it is written כפת missing a vav, to say six days it shall be bound, that is, in the binding, and no more, but the primary reason is in order to increase the joy, for there is more joy in it when one shakes without the binding, only that they attached it as an asmachta to this verse'.
And in the Bigdei Yesha9 he wrote: 'And in the kabbalistic writings the reason is that the lulav indicates the vav, which indicates mercy, and for this reason we untie it so that there be an intensification of mercy on it, for this day is an intensification of mercy'.
And in the Sefer Mat'amim10 he wrote: 'A reason that we separate and untie the bindings of the lulav on Hoshana Rabbah is to make known that its obligation is completed and that it is of Rabbinic origin. Chida'.
★ ★ ★
Question: How many wrappings are removed?
Answer: According to the words of the Rishonim it can be understood that they opened the binding of the lulav and the hadassim and held it without the binding, but from the words of the Maharil it appears that he untied only the binding that was on the lulav, and as written in the Minhagei Maharil11: 'And he would prepare a new lulav for himself and would untie the binding of the pulma down to its midpoint. And on the rest of the days it was open above only a tefach, and the hadas he left bound as at first to the pulma by the leaves of the pulma'.
And also according to the explanation of the Bach that this is for the purpose of the rustling of the leaves, there are those who had the minhag to untie only the upper rings, and as the Pri Megadim12 wrote: 'And that which is written, the minhag is to untie the binding of the lulav, in the Tur, see the Bach, one shakes to remove harmful dews, therefore one unties its binding to shake nicely. And according to this it may be said that one binding remains, and it is a mitzvah to bind it, "This is my God and I will glorify Him," only that we untie the two additional knots, see siman 651 [se'if 1], see the Taz [there, se'if katan] 1'.
And similarly the Bikkurei Yaakov13 wrote: 'To untie on it. In order to shake with it more (Bach). And nevertheless it appears in the Maharil that he would only untie it down to its midpoint, and it is obvious that one should not untie the lower binding, for it is a mitzvah to bind it because of "This is my God and I will glorify Him," as explained in siman 651 (se'if 1)'.
★ ★ ★
Question: When is the time at which the rings are lowered?
Answer: From the language of the Yaavetz in his siddur in the order of Hoshana Rabbah it appears that he held that the removal of the rings is done after the saying of Hallel, before the Hoshanos. Except that we have already seen that there are those who explained that the reason for removing the rings is so that the shaking should be better, and according to this one must remove them before Hallel14, since during Hallel one shakes the four species.
And such is the Chabad minhag, as written in the Sefer HaMinhagim15: 'On Hoshana Rabbah before Hallel16 - we remove the two wrappings which are on the lulav, and there remain only the three wrappings which bind together the lulav, the hadassim and the aravos17'.
Notes:
1 הל' לולב סי' תרנט ↩
2 הל' סוכות סי' רכג ↩
3 כתב בשלחן גבוה (סי' תרסד ס"ק ז): 'ולא ידעתי פירושו מאי קאמר כדי לקיים דברי שניהם כל ששה כרבנן, ואחר זמן רב נדפס ספר בית דוד למורי הרב ז"ל, ושם ראיתי בסי' תס"א שנרגש מזה שאחר שהביא לשון הרוקח הנ"ל כתב וז"ל משמע דר"ל כל ששה אוגדין אותו כרבנן דסברי דמצוה לאוגדו משום נוי, וביום השביעי מתירין אגודו אלא שאינו מובן מ"ש לקיים דברי שניהם דמאן נינהו שניהם אי רבי יאודה ורבנן דפליגי בפרק הקומץ דף כז ובסוכה דף יא ונ"ל באגוד הלולב, הלא אפכא הוא דרבי יאודה סבר צריך אגד, ורבנן סברי אי"צ אגד, ושמא ט"ס יש וצ"ל דכל ששה אוגדין כרבי יהודה כיון דאף לרבנן מצוה משום נוי וביום השביעי אין אוגדין לגלות סברת רבנן, שאי"צ לאגד עכ"ד' ↩
4 סוכה רמז תשנא ↩
5 או"ח סי' תרסד ↩
6 שו"ע או"ח סי' תרסד ס"א ↩
7 ולהעיר ממ"ש בכף החיים סי' תרס"ד אות כה: 'ואם למודים לבא אצלו לברך על הלולב לא יעשה בו מאומה עד הערב כי שמא יתקלקל ע"י היתר האגודה ולזכות אחרים יותר עדיף' ↩
8 או"ח סי' תרסד ס"א ↩
9 סי' תרסד ↩
10 אות קכד ↩
11 במנהגים סדר תפילות חג הסוכות ↩
12 או"ח משב"ז סי' תרסד ס"ק א ↩
13 סי' תרסד אות י ↩
14 ראה דרכי חיים ושלום אות תשצ"א ↩
15 ע' 68 ↩
16 ובהערה נכתב: 'ודלא כמשמע בסי' היעב"ץ' ↩
17 וראה משנ"ת בשיחת ליל שמח"ת התשח"י (תו"מ חכ"א ע' 102 - 103) ↩
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