Sukkot: Prayer
Save
Copy
Add to Collection
Export to Google Docs
ShareWhat are Hoshanot?
Prayer תפילה
Each day of Sukkot, we say Hoshanot, prayers to God for help, centered around the words הוֹשַׁע נָא (hosha na, “please save us”).
These words come from a verse in Tehillim (118:25) that we say in Hallel:
These words come from a verse in Tehillim (118:25) that we say in Hallel:
אָנָּא ה' הוֹשִׁיעָה נָּא.
“Please, God, save us.”
When we say Hoshanot, the אֲרוֹן קֹדֶשׁ (aron kodesh, ark) is opened, and a Torah scroll is brought to the place where it is read. Everyone takes their lulav and etrog and walks in a circle around the Torah (Shulhan Arukh Orah Hayyim 660:1).
The Hoshanot prayers follow an alef-bet pattern, with each line beginning with the next letter of the Hebrew alphabet. Each day of Sukkot has its own Hoshanot. The seventh day of Sukkot is called Hoshana Rabbah (“the big Hoshana”), and on that day we circle the Torah seven times!
Hoshanot begin like this:
The Hoshanot prayers follow an alef-bet pattern, with each line beginning with the next letter of the Hebrew alphabet. Each day of Sukkot has its own Hoshanot. The seventh day of Sukkot is called Hoshana Rabbah (“the big Hoshana”), and on that day we circle the Torah seven times!
Hoshanot begin like this:
הוֹשַׁע נָא לְמַעַנְךָ אֱלֹקֵינוּ הוֹשַׁע נָא.
הוֹשַׁע נָא לְמַעַנְךָ בּוֹרְאֵנוּ הוֹשַׁע נָא.
הוֹשַׁע נָא לְמַעַנְךָ גּוֹאֲלֵנוּ הוֹשַׁע נָא.
הוֹשַׁע נָא לְמַעַנְךָ דוֹרְשֵׁנוּ הוֹשַׁע נָא.
Please save us, for Your sake, our God. Please save us.
Please save us, for Your sake, our Creator. Please save us.
Please save us, for Your sake, our Redeemer. Please save us.
Please save us, for Your sake, the One Who seeks us out. Please save us.
- Why would we circle the Torah and hold the lulav and etrog while asking God to save us? How does this shape our understanding of what it means to shake a lulav and etrog?
- Sukkot is a time for joy! Why would it also be the time we ask, over and over, to be saved? How does this connect Sukkot with Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur?
Click here to return to the Table of Contents for Sukkot from Devash
-------------------
