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October 1, 1999/21 Tishri 5760, Vol. 52, No.5
Festivals unite all Jews
Torah Study
RABBI SHLOMO RISKIN
Hoshana Rabbah
Think of the sounds we've been hearing in recent days: the plaintive blasts of the shofar (ram's horn) at the start of the month of Elul, calling each of us to repentance; the 100 powerful blasts on Rosh Hashana, lifting us to higher and more exalted spheres; on Yom Kippur, the muted words, inwardly directed, and the thuds of breast-beating. No sooner was the fast day over, than we heard the sounds of the hammers, saws and nails building sukkot (temporary huts) across the land.
Each night of the festival of Sukkot, when we invite a special guest - Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Moses, Aaron, David, Joseph - our voices rise to greet our ancestors, not as dusty historical characters, but as living personalities whose names we give our children and whose presence we feel. For seven days, we have been experiencing the joy that the sukkah creates, the spiritual nectar that embraces us with ethereal music.
Hoshana Rabbah, the seventh day of Sukkot which this year is today (Friday, Oct. 1), marks the culmination of this incredible period. In the synagogue, we go through the ritual of taking a bunch of five willow twigs, which only grow near water, a symbol of rejuvenation through rain and redemption, and hitting the ground with them five times. The sound produced is a whimpery thud, like the slap of rubber against pavement or someone shuffling in slippers across a room.
Why have we moved from the majestic shofar to the dull resonance of twigs hitting earth? How can we understand the transformation from shofar to willow branch, then from willow branch back to the joyous sounds of singing and dancing with the Torah on Simchat Torah (Oct. 3)?
The answer may begin with the Amidah prayer on the eve of Rosh Hashana, in which we request universal acceptance of ethical monotheism: "And may everyone be made into one bond to do thy will with a complete heart." We repeat this petition in every Amidah of the Days of Awe.
The four species of Sukkot are likewise brought together in a bond. The palm frond, myrtle and willow are bound together and held in the right hand, with the etrog (lemon-like fruit) held in the left. All four are brought together for the blessing, and when we participate in the naanuim (wavings) during Hallel.
A classic midrash (rabbinic commentary) compares the qualities of the four species to four types of Jews. The etrog fruit is blessed with good smell and good taste, like sages blessed with Torah and good deeds. The palm frond is blessed with good taste (dates) but no scent, like sages who have Torah but lack good deeds. The myrtle has an exquisite scent but offers no fruit, like Jews who perform good deeds but fall short in Torah knowledge. Finally there is the willow, which has no taste and no smell, much like the Jew who has neither Torah nor good deeds to his credit.
And yet the moral message of the agudah achat (bundle, group, society, amalgamation) in the Talmud, codified in the Shulchan Aruch (Orach Chaim, Section 651), is that just as the mitzvah (commandment) to gather and use the four species requires four different kinds of vegetation, so too we need all four different kinds of Jews, covering the range of people. Whoever thinks that we can ignore those Jews devoid of Torah and good deeds is wrong.
If we want God's benevolence, we must answer the question about how we acted toward the aravot (willow branches), how have we treated the Jew who lacks both Torah and good deeds. It's easy to honor a great sage or a benefactor, but how many of us know how to honor the forgotten willows?
On Shavuot night, we learn Torah until dawn, and those of us who do not really know how to learn the classical texts feel left out. But on Simchat Torah, we dance with the Torah - and dancing is something every Jew can learn to do.
The midrash teaches: "The commandments were only given in order to unite all of the creatures" (Midrash Tanchuma, Parashat Shemini 8). When we learn the importance of the unified bond of Israel, then we will truly be on the road to purification and redemption.
Rabbi Shlomo Riskin is the spiritual leader of the Jewish community in Efrat, Israel.
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