Beat It!

Sunday is Hoshana Rabbah, the last day of Sukkot. The day gets its name from the “Hoshana” service in the Beit Mikdash in which the people would circle the altar carrying an aravah, a willow branch, calling out “Hoshana,” which means “save us.” On the 7^th day of Sukkot, the service included seven circuits around the altar. More circuits meant more declarations of “Hoshana,” prompting the 7^th day of Sukkot be called “Hoshana Rabbah,” the day of many pleas for salvation.

Nowadays, Hoshana Rabbah is also marked as the last day of the High Holy Day season. In addition to an extended Hoshanot service of 7 circuits around the shul holding the lulav and etrog, there are additional prayers recited, and the tunes of the High Holidays are used. Some people extend a High Holiday greeting of “Gmar chatimah tovah” (a good sealing in the Book of Life) or the Yiddish “a gut kvittel” (a good verdict notice). I’ve always understood this as our verdict is written on Rosh Hashanah, it is sealed on Yom Kippur, and the book goes back on the shelf on Hoshana Rabbah. (Although some Chasidim extend the judgment season through Chanukah!)

The Talmud (Sukkah 43b) mentions another ritual performed with the willow branch on the 7^th day of Sukkot – chibut. Many commentators (including Rambam) say this meant to beat the aravah on the ground. This has developed into the practice known as “klopping hoshanos,” or beating a bundle of 5 aravot on the ground at the end of the Hoshanot service on Hoshana Rabbah.

What is the reason for klopping hoshanos?

Some understand the practice as a more intense way to pray - especially for rain. The Mishnah teaches that Sukkot is the time the world is judged regarding the year’s rainfall. The last day of Sukkot is when the verdict is given. (This is why we subsequently recite “Geshem” and pray for rain on Shemini Atzeret.) The physical movement of beating the branches on the floor is meant to evoke a more passionate plea for rain. Some note that all the branches being beaten at the same time actually sounds like rainfall.

Another way to understand the beating of the branches is that we are beating away sinful behavior. This evokes the malkut, the punishment of lashes Beit Din would impose on certain sins. We klop in the hope that God views this act as expiation for our sins.

Rabbi Avraham Yitzchak Ha-Kohen Kook, in his classic style, offers a deeper explanation. He references the Midrash that the four species represent different types of Jews. The etrog, with its smell and taste, represents a Jew with Torah and good deeds; the hadasim and lulav represent Jews with good deeds but no Torah or no Torah but good deeds; and the aravah, which has neither a nice smell nor a good taste, represents those Jews who have no Torah or good deeds. The aravah, therefore, represents the simple Jew, who often demonstrates intuitive, healthy, and natural religious instincts. On Hoshana Rabbah, Rav Kook explains, we do not “beat the aravot," but “beat WITH the aravot,” invoking that simple religious fervor in our pleas to God.

However you slice it – or beat it, klopping hoshanos can be a very powerful, spiritual, and uplifting ritual. Kids love it! They try to smash the branch to smithereens. (So it can be kind of messy.) This ancient activity is a physical movement at the conclusion of a long series of pleas for salvation, health, wellbeing, and blessing. This is yet another way that Judaism moves us. We don’t just talk the talk; we walk the walk (7 times in fact) and beat our branches in an effort to literally and aggressively propel us forward into the New Year.

Klop on! Beat it!