Lovely ideas…
Dear Congregation Beth Israel members and friends,
Today is a minor Jewish holiday which some of us may have never heard of. Today is Hoshanna Rabbah.
Hoshanna Rabbah is the 7th day of Sukkot. The name means “The Great ‘Save Us!'” On this day, tradition calls us to circle seven times around our sanctuary with our lulavim (the bundles of branches which we’ve been shaking in the sukkah every day) and our Torah scrolls, while reciting prayers called Hoshanot which ask God to bring healing and salvation. (Here’s a bit of explanation about the Hoshanot.) Traditionally we would recite one Hoshana prayer each day of Sukkot, and today — the 7th day — we would recite all seven of them.
There’s also a very old custom of taking willow branches (either from our lulavim, or other willow branches we happen to have on hand) and beating them against the…
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Le Chant du Rossignol...(song of the nightingale) 