I’m assuming that by the time you read this, you’ll already have done your hoshanot, but the lesson is there regardless.
Hoshana Raba is called that for many reasons, one of which is that we say the word Hashana, Raba- a lot.
We walk around seven times, and make different requests. As we do so, we keep raising the bar. First we say Hoshana- save us.
Then we say :אָנָּא הוֹשִׁיעָה נָּא:Please save us,
Then we go on to
אֲנִי וָהוּ הוֹשִׁיעָה נָּא
The many names of G-d should save us.
Then we say,
אָנָּא אֵל נָא הוֹשַׁעֲנָא וְהוֹשִׁיעָה נָּא:
Please,G-d please, save us,
אָנָּא אֵל נָא הוֹשַׁעֲנָא וְהַצְלִיחָה נָא:
Then we add to give us success
Then we say,
אָנָּא אֵל נָא הוֹשַׁעֲנָא וְהַרְוִיחָה נָא אָבִינוּ אַתָּה:
Let us have salvation, let us have space -You are our Father.
Then we raise the bar further,
אָנָּא אֵל נָא. רְפָא נָא. סְלַח נָא. הוֹשַׁעֲנָא וְהַרְוִיחָה נָא. אָבִינוּ אַתָּה:
Please, G-d please, heal us please, forgive us please, save us, You are our Father
We keep going on, higher and higher, until we get to the last line, which says,
כִּי לִישׁוּעָתְךָ קִוִּינוּ ה:
Save us because we look forward to Your salvation
Finally we say
קוֹל מְבַשֵֹּר מְבַשֵֹּר וְאוֹמֵר:
We hear the sounds, the announcement of the good news that Mashiach is coming.
What is this constant raising of levels of requests, as we go on through the Hoshanot?
I will use a mashal to explain: There was a king whose son was sent away for his crimes. After years of separation, and all of his groveling and trying to return to the king, he finally came back to the palace, but he was afraid to reveal his identity, so he remained under cover. He asked the king for a request. He said he needed $100,000, and the king granted his request. Then he asked for $200,000 and the king granted his request. Then he said he needed more than that; he said he needed a house. And he continued to ask for more and more from the king. The king couldn’t figure out what was going on. Why did this man keep asking him for more and more and more? Finally, the man said, “You’re my father. I am your prince. And none these things are enough, until I can come back to the king’s palace.”
That is what we are looking forward to. We are looking for the good news that the King will take us back into his palace. Those are the levels of request that we make in the early morning of Hoshana Raba.
This is the introduction to Shemini Aseret. Our Father, Our King has been the theme throughout the holidays. On Rosh Hashana He is our King. He’s our Father from Yom Kippur through Succot, and finally on Shemini Aseret, after days of serving everyone, we spend time alone with the King. On Shmini Aseret and Simchat Torah, the Zohar says that a person is alone with the King, and he can ask Him for whatever he wants.
That’s our Hoshana Raba thought.
Our Shmini Aseret/Simchat Torah goes as follows:
The Torah says,
ושמחת בחגך
You should be happy on your holiday, referring to Succot.
And the Gemarah says that this next phrase
והיית אך שמח
And you should only be happy,
refers to Shemini Aseret, which is not a part of the seven days of Succot, but rather a separate holiday. On this (8th) day, in Israel they do not eat in the Succah.
(We, who are outside of Israel, do eat in the Succah, because of the doubt of the days, but on Simchat Torah, which is our Shemini Aseret, we don’t eat in the Succah)
Shemini Aseret is its own holiday, and we know we have to be happy on this day because it says,
והיית אך שמח
And you should only be happy
The Gaon of Vilna asks a question. The Gemarah says that the word אך/only indicates exclusion or limitation, unlike inclusionary words such as כל/all
Therefore, how can the limiting term
אך שמח
Ach Sameach Only be happy, come to include the eighth day?
His answer is beautiful:
During that holiday of Succot, we have the Succah, we have the Arba Minim, we have the Hoshanot, we bang the Aravot... we are doing things. There is a lot of activity. Pesach also has much to do. But why it comes to Shmini Aseret, we say- אך- Ach-only
We are excluding everything- no Lulav, no Etrog, no Succah, no Hoshanot, only Simcha. We exclude everything else, but Simcha. There are no utensils, or vehicles. On Shemini Aseret and Simchat Torah, there is only Simcha with Hashem.
Shemini Aseret is the culmination of the entire 51 day period.
The cherry on top of all of this is that Hoshana Raba is called that because it’s הושע נאHosha Na (the numerical value of נא is 51)
We started on Rosh Hodesh Elul and we are are now up to the 21st day of Tishre, which is day 51. The next day, day 52 is בן- “son”
Which means that after 52 days, we have reached the full level of the son to our Father, who is our King.
That is the simcha of Shemini Aseret, and that is supposed to keep us going for the entire year. One great rabbi said that Shemini Aseret is like a concentrated syrup. In the old days, we didn’t buy orange juice in a container. We bought a small can of frozen orange juice concentrate, poured it into a larger pitcher, filled it with water, and that’s how we got orange juice. We didn’t have regular Tropicana orange juice. Concentrate can last a person a long time. Shemini Aseret is like concentrate syrup that we add to our day. It is supposed to last us for the entire year. That is the power of Shemini Aseret -the happiness of the realization that regardless of the situation, Hashem is taking care of us, bringing us closer to our perfection, and doing exactly what we need to accomplish that.
Bezrat Hashem, we will all be able to have that simcha, regardless of the situations and challenges around us.
We wish everybody a Hag Kasher V’Sameach.