October 7, 2012

• Hoshanna Rabbah – The Seventh Day!

  Last year, I posted this as part of a big thing, combining it with ANOTHER feast day… and I shouldn’t have done that, but I was pressed for time, and thought I should condense, and… that.  Yeah.  Anyhow, this year I want to treat them as separate events, and so I’m putting them into separate posts and have made the changes on the sidebar, as well.

  Having said, the Seventh Day of Sukkot is a special one, and there’s a LOT of information for me to share with you about it, so I’m gonna quote two summaries on Hoshannah Rabbah, to start with.  The first is just a wiki thing, and then second is from a wholly Jewish site, which means it’s talking about Sukkot from a view bereft of Messiah.  But there is much there, regardless.  Let’s get to it:

  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hoshana_Rabbah

  “The seventh day of the Jewish holiday of Sukkot, 21st day of Tishrei, is known as Hoshana Rabbah (Aramaic: “Great Hoshana/Supplication”). This day is marked by a special synagogue service, the Hoshana Rabbah, in which seven circuits are made by the worshippers with their lulav and etrog, while the congregation recites Hoshanot…

  
  

  Hoshana Rabbah is known as the day of the final sealing of judgment which began on Rosh Hashana. The Zohar says that while the judgment for the new year is closed on Yom Kippur, it is not “sealed” until the end of Sukkot (i.e., Hoshana Rabbah, the last day of Sukkot), during which time one can still repent. Consequently, the blessing which Jews give each other on Hoshana Rabbah, (piska tava), which in Yiddish is “A guten kvitel”, or “A good note”, is a wish that the verdict will be positive.”

  http://matzav.com/rav-brazil-on-hoshanah-rabbah-3

  …the essence of today which is Hoshana Rabbah… is brought down in sefarim that Hoshana Rabbah is the final day of chasima – sealing one’s judgment. But did we not have already a sealing of din on Yom Kippur? What then is this seemingly superfluous sealing that we receive on Hoshana Rabba?

  The Shem Mishmuel explains the following. The Ari says that the kedusha of Yom Kippur is likened to the walls of Tziyon while the kedusha of Hoshana Rabba is likened to the walls of Yerushalayim. …When the judgment of Yom Kippur arrives, the middah of emes which is revealed is for our benefit for it states that all the avairos of Yisrael are coincidental and not part of their emes which immediately stops all the prosecution in the heavenly courts. This is the first chasima – sealing [termination of prosecution] of one’s judgment on the day of Yom Kippur.

  …It is the Yom Tov of Succos that becomes our attorney and aids us with our plea for dismissal even when it comes to the spiritual damages we brought upon our physical bodies. Succah is the mitzvah where we enter it totally with our physical bodies in its entirety. It is in the Succah sanctuary where our spiritual wounds of our physical bodies are healed and nourished back to be healthy just as they were before we sinned.  That is why the essential mitzvah of moving into the Succah is sleeping in it. 

  Hoshana Rabba is the 21rst day since the creation of Man. Here again we see the number 21 which corresponds to the name of Hashem:  Aleph Hey Yud Hey. Hoshanah Rabba being the culmination of Succos, makes it also a totality of all the days that preceded it. Therefore once again we arrive at the formula 21 times 21 which brings out the middah of emes. … The only difference between the emes of Yom Kippur and Hoshanah Rabba is that on Yom Kippur the emes reveals our inward and hidden essence while on Hoshana Rabba it reveals our essence of our physical bodies that it is also pure and a vessel for to receive Hashem’s presence within.

  After Hoshana Rabba the Yid can become bonded as one with Hashem’s Torah for the middah of emes of the Torah [venasan lanu Torahs emes] is now parallel to the emes of the Yid’s essence his neshama and his external bodily emes. It is on Simchas Torah that we don’t circle as before the Torah as an outsider but rather we hold the Torah in our hands and dance with it. For Hoshana Rabba with Succos has enabled the Yid to come in contact with his duel emes in order to bond with the Torah which is the emes of creation.
  

   

  Do you understand this?  I’ve had it wrong all this time – I thought that they were three SEPARATE feasts (Rosh Ha’Shana, Yom Kippur, and Sukkot).  But they’re not.  Just like Pesach/Passover, Unleavened Bread, and Firstfruits are not three SEPARATE feasts, but all part of the SAME process.  Passover was the death, Unleavened was the burial, and firstfruits was the resurrection… ALL part of the ‘Redemption of Mankind’ package.  The same is true of the three fall feasts – only if you count Elul, there’s a FOUR-PART (think Mark 12:30-31 ‘more four’ of love) redemption plan here:  Elul is the relational separation (from the world).  Rosh Ha’Shana is the intellectual separation, Yom Kippur is the spiritual separation, and Sukkot is the physical separation.  Until all of these are complete, we are NOT ready, not prepared to come before the Lord – and yes, it says ‘Torah’ here, but torah is Hebrew for ‘The Word’… and as Messianics, we know who the Word is – we’re coming before the Word, not ‘torah’ (as in, a book/law).  We have to be fully redeemed by the Word before we’re able to stand before Him.  Hoshanna Rabbah is the SEVENTH day of Sukkot – the culmination of all that is happening.  We can’t be raptured before the process is complete, like we can’t be redeemed before Messiah is raised from the dead.
  
  

  I get it, now.  It took half my life, but I get it.
  
  ALSO WORTH READING:
  Don’t expect what you expect, expect the unexpected
  
  

  Sukkot – Day 7!

  • 9:51 am
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