Rabbi Yudin Discusses Hoshanah Rabba, Shemini Atzeret & Simchat Torah on JM in the AM (5787)

Good morning and good everybody. Today is a very special day. Today is Hosano Rabba. It is on the one hand the last day of the Yomtoov of Sukos. And today especially we perform an act which is zer mikdash. We remember that which took place in the ba mikdash. When the Torah says that you are to take the four species and one of the four are the aral which is the willow then the Talmud understands that the ar in the plural comes to hint at the fact that the willow two of them were part of the lul as well as there is a separate independent mitzvah that was performed Med exclusively in the Bay Mikdash. We are taught in the Gmorra Suka that every day of sucrossse they would take very large willow branches um 11 amos tall approximately 16 17 feet. And they would take these willows a and stand them along the misbak the altar. The tops would droop down. It was a beautiful sight. They would blow the chauffeur and the kohanim would go a haka. They would encircle the msbayak the altar each day once. On the seventh day today, they would encircle the Msbayak seven times. How important is this? So important, the Mishna teaches that if and when Hosana Rabba were to fall on a shabus, this procedure was done on Shabas as well. We do not recall Hosana Rabba ever falling on a Shabas. But in addition to the encircling of the uh Msbayak, there was a separate independent uh practice min of Arava of beating the Arava which we'll come to in a moment. understand that our having taken the luav and esrogue and marched around the shul with a hakafa once each day during the yonto of sukos except for shabis but we didn't take the lul and the fact that we walked around seven times today all this is a living zer mdash It's a reenactment. It's a strong reminder to us as to that which took place in the bas mikdash and our strong yearning please God for the quick restoration of this service very quickly in our day. I mentioned that nobody in our listening audience ever remembers Hosana Rabba falling out on a shabas. But this is especially this year an incredible idea. This year the first day of Rashashana was on a shabas. And what did we do? We refrained from blowing the chauffeur. This year the first day of sukos was on a shabas. And what did we do? We refrained from taking the esroke and the lulav. Yet when our rabbis established the calendar, they said, "Lo adur ro that rashash shana cannot fall out on a Sunday, a Wednesday or a Friday." Why? For if rashana were to fall out on a Sunday, then we would not have hosana. Then hosana would fall out on a on a shabas. And the rabbis did not want hosana to fall out on a shabas. So important is hosana and the arova and the beating of the ara that we do. This practice is so significant that our rabbis wanted to make sure that we have it every year and therefore we can suspend chauffeur we can suspend Lula for a day but we cannot suspend Hosanora. Let's understand something that Hosanora according to the zohor is the source of that which we say piscatova. Episctova literally means that the uh ultimate decree which has been determined in terms of the judgment on Yum Kipper and now has been given forth from on high in the written form. this message we say that even today the last day of sukus there's still time for there's still an opportunity for the Jew to have a reversal of the law against him and therefore the lashon of the zohar this stems from the zohar that says on the seventh Day of sukus who this is the culmination of din of judgment the alma of this worldiskin navkin mala literally and the written edicts come forth from God and given that this is that very last chance. Therefore, this day is, as we said in our prayers just moments ago when we took out the Torah kadosh vora shimo. It's an awesome day and it's a day that we are aware of the great significance thereof and it's a day that much of which we are not. Just know that when we were privileged to have a base ham migdash today was the day that more Barbunos were brought on this day than on any other day in the entire calendar year. If you press me, I'll even tell you why. Because unfortunately, the nature of man is to procrastinate, to wait. And there's al that says that if a Jew has taken upon himself to bring a kurabatan then he has until three regulim has passed until pesak shuos and sukos have passed in that order in order for him not to be in violation of baler in order for him not to be in violation of that which the Torah says do not delay and be late in your bringing of the carbon. And therefore he has literally until the end of sukos which is today to bring the carbon and therefore today was a very special busy day of the bringing of carbonos in the bas. Understand that the name itself hosan is given to the name of today because of a the many prayers that we recite whereby we beseech God for rain and we pray again and again and again and therefore the word rabba coming from the word manyfold manyfold prayers. Others say that the word rabb is referring literally to the name of God which in gamatria the name of alf yud followed by the hey in gamatria is 21 and today is the 21st day of tish and abrainu was the tw lived in the 21st generation after the creation of the world. But ultimately, we say alf, which is 51, meaning that it all started 51 days ago on roes. On roesh, we blew the chauffeur. On roes, we began and it all comes to a high and a culmination today on the last day of sucos. We go from Hoshana Rabba today to Sheenateres. Now it's very clear that this could potentially be confusing because we said that today is the last day of Sukos. Yet understand the Yungto that we are ushering in tonight that of Shmini in six ways the Talmud points out. I don't have the time to go into it now. The six manners in which is a yontosmo. The best proof is that tonight when women light the candles, they recite the blessing of not only the blessing over the candles but the blessing of shehanu. When we recite kdish tonight, we say the shehanu. When we pray tonight and tomorrow in our prayers, we don't say but we acknowledge either or at however the in quoting from the gamarra says that one should sit in the suka ones. We sit in the suka, but we do not recite a blessing. Tonight we sit in the suka. Tomorrow for lunch, we sit in the suka until tomorrow afternoon. And the reason for this is that doma just as we kept a second day of yumto coming into the yum to. Now what does that mean? Understand it. It means that we kept the first day the 15th of tre because this is the first day of sukus and then we kept the 16th because maybe that is the first day of sukus. So, so too the Talma tells us that we are to keep the day of Shini ates as if it were the seventh day of sukos and therefore we sit in the suka. We don't make a braha. making a braha would be in violation to the character of schmini ateres. There are some who have a tradition not to sit in the suka and they either make kdish or do other some variations. Just know that the research shows either because families, communities were in an especially cold climate and therefore it was more difficult to sit in a suka and therefore they relaxed the standard ones. Or others suggest that many would go to the Reb forminateris and simastora and practically speaking there was not a suka large enough for them. That explains why they do not conform to that which is found in the shan. Be aware that the theme of Shmini is so powerful. During the week of Sukos, we started and we brought a total of 70 offerings starting with 13 on the first day going in a descending order with seven today. So the natural sequence would be that tomorrow on we should bring six. We do not. The Torah tells us at the end of and what is the of tomorrow? One bull is brought as opposed to the sequential number which would be six. And Rashi cites from the famous medish which tells us what is the theme of Shmini and that is as follows. It reminds us says Rashi as children taking leave of their father who and the father says to them it's so difficult for me to let you go and therefore please stay with me one more day. And whereas throughout the yub of sukose there was this universal flavor our welcoming and our praying for all the other nations of the world. Tomorrow is uniquely Jewish. Tomorrow is a holiday for ami is just us and God. And how do we celebrate it? We celebrate it on Sunday with simas Torah with our dancing with the Torah. A few very important points. Number one, tomorrow we recite ykar. Number two, many synagogues have the custom of reading Cohelles tomorrow, Ecclesiastes, which helps us put things in the right perspective. Namely, as the book of Cohelles concludes that the uh sofar the end put things in the right perspective. That's what cohelis comes to tell us that a person should understand as this is the purpose of what man was put into this world for onra we know that we go please God tomorrow evening Saturday night and on Sunday we take out all the cifrey Torah and we dance we go aos seven times around the bases around the beimma and we dance. But it's very important for people to understand that there's a very strong difference between frivality between God forbid abusing the sanctity of the day by excessive drinking and therefore one has to be so careful. Watch your teenagers. Make sure you know where they are and how they are acting both tomorrow night on the yung to and during the day. make sure that it truly is a day of sim Torah, a day of honor, a day of happiness, a day of co to the Torah and not shalom turned around and a day of god forbid disrespect to the Torah by uh children and unfortunately some adults as well acting incorrectly and improperly on this day. This is a very special yumto that we are about to take in this evening. I pray that it's going to truly be cisuh the simra. It's going to be that joy and of s which is thanking God for what we've accomplished in the past explains the vagon the privilege we've had of studying Torah and observing his mitzvos especially during the season of mitzvos and simho our anticipation of happiness of please God for a forthcoming year filled with the study of Torah and a performance of mitzvos in a year as we walk around seven times today and split the arava and the um lulav and please God seven akos tomorrow night and on Sunday reminding us of the seven times the Jewish people encircled Eureo and the walls came tumbling down and our enemies fell before us and miraculous ridiculously not a Jew was lost in the battle. We pray that that's the kind of a year that we're going to have this forthcoming year. A year of sataya, a year of seeing God's beneficence, his benevolence, and please God, a year of shalom along to all.