The Hoshanos Liturgical Poems - Rabbi Isser Springer shlita

00:02 Speaker 1 You’re listening to the “Lema’an Yishme’u” podcast from Machon Halacha Chabad.

00:09 Speaker 2 Happy Yom Tov, and a good, sweet year. With Hashem’s help, in this lesson we’ll talk about the Hoshanos, the special piyutim we say on Sukkos. Each day, it can be a little hard to understand exactly what we’re saying—what phrases like “shrubs to flourish, streams to flow, showers to bring wholeness” mean, and so on. That’s especially true on Hoshana Rabbah, when we say many piyutim and we’re also tired, bleary-eyed after a night of Chumash Devarim and Tehillim. On top of that, holding the lulav and esrog makes it a little harder to concentrate on what we’re saying. So let’s try now to focus on what we say on Hoshana Rabbah. We’ll come to davening better prepared and, with Hashem’s help, be able to concentrate and daven properly. On Hoshana Rabbah we daven a great deal, more than on an ordinary day. It says that this is the main day of judgment concerning water, and that’s why we daven so much. Why is it the main day of judgment concerning water? Because this is the day by which the korbanos must be brought; it is the day that concludes Sukkos. If someone vowed to bring a korban—there are different opinions about how many festivals may pass, and we won’t get into that—but if the festivals pass and he hasn’t brought it, he transgresses bal te’acher, the prohibition against delaying a vow. This is the last day he can bring it during Sukkos. If he doesn’t bring it today, he transgresses bal te’acher. And Tractate Nedarim says that rain is withheld. So we daven a great deal on this day: it is the main day of judgment concerning water, and water has a special place in the prayers. These prayers that we say during Sukkos and on Hoshana Rabbah, all the prayers called Hoshanos, were composed by Rabbi Elazar HaKalir. The days when we say a great deal of Rabbi Elazar HaKalir’s work are Tisha B’Av and Hoshana Rabbah. We say some of his work at other times too, but mainly on Tisha B’Av, when we say about twenty of his piyutim. On Hoshana Rabbah we say fewer,

02:17 Speaker 2 but still a good number of Rabbi Elazar HaKalir’s piyutim. Rabbi Elazar HaKalir used difficult language—difficult language. Ibn Ezra spoke sharply against Rabbi Elazar HaKalir’s style for several reasons, one of them being his difficult language. On the other hand, the Kabbalists and our later sages embraced his piyutim specifically, holding that he possessed ruach hakodesh and was on the spiritual level fitting for his piyutim to be included in the prayers. These are the piyutim we say on Hoshana Rabbah: Rabbi Elazar HaKalir’s piyutim, which are quite difficult. The piyutim are ornamented. We’ll soon see what that means, what formal embellishments Rabbi Elazar HaKalir gave them. But first, let’s briefly go through the seven hakafos. Each day we say a piyut particular to that day, and on Hoshana Rabbah we complete the cycle—we say, we repeat, those of all the preceding days, plus the piyut particular to Hoshana Rabbah. Let’s go through the themes of the short piyutim. The first is “Hosha Na, for the sake of Your truth; Hosha Na, for the sake of Your covenant.” We pray that Hashem save us for the sake of the promises He made in His covenant with us—what He is meant to give us, so to speak. That is the first day: “For the sake of Your truth, Your eternity, Your secret, Your strength,” and so on. On the second day we use expressions that refer to the Beis Hamikdash, various names for it. We pray that Hashem save us in the merit of the Beis Hamikdash, or alternatively, that Hashem save the Beis Hamikdash—that is, rebuild it. In any case, all the words we say on the second day are names for the Beis Hamikdash: the Foundation Stone, the Chosen House, the abode of Your glory, the beauty of Lebanon, the perfection of beauty, the ascent of the tribes, and so on, in alphabetical order; the Holy of Holies, the hill toward which all turn—various names for the Beis Hamikdash. That is the theme of the short piyut for the second day: Hosha Na,

04:35 Speaker 2 Foundation Stone; Hosha Na, Chosen House. On the third day, we name the virtues of the Jewish people: “Hosha Na, nation of ‘I am a wall.’” What does “nation of ‘I am a wall’” mean? It’s shorthand. “Nation” here means the nation of whom it says in Shir Hashirim, “I am a wall, and my breasts are like towers.” That is why it is called the nation of “I am a wall.” “Hosha Na”—then there are more descriptions of the Jewish people: “the one devoted to Your oneness,” “pressed down in exile,” “learning to fear You,” “bearing Your burden,” “poor and pure,” “redeemed from those who would drown her,” and so on. These are descriptions of the Jewish people. Here too, we can consider whether we’re praying for Hashem to save us or emphasizing the merit for which He will save us: because we bear Your name, because we cry out “Hosha Na.” In any case, the theme of the third day is descriptions of the Jewish people. On the fourth day, salvation is mentioned a great deal: “Master who saves,” “none but You can save,” “save and sweeten the fruits,” “save Your city,” “save those You have mercy on.” Some explain that this means salvation through rain. Later, on Hoshana Rabbah, we’ll see a greater emphasis on rain, but some say this piyut too is directed toward rain. That is why it emphasizes “bring forth produce,” “let the voice of the shrubs flourish,” “save the clouds,” “satisfy those who thirst for You.” So there is a theme here of salvation and water—salvation through rain, which is itself a salvation. The central theme of the fourth day, then, is salvation, salvation through rain. On the fifth day, we talk about whom we’re asking Hashem to save: everything in the world—people, animals, the human being who is compared to an animal, trees, flowers, plants. We ask Hashem to save the world and everything in it, and that is the theme of the fifth day. Rain isn’t emphasized so

06:51 Speaker 2 much; what is emphasized is the detailed list of everything that needs salvation. The sixth day also lists things that need salvation. It no longer speaks about people; it speaks about produce: saving the earth, the animals, the threshing floor, the grain, saving them from the troubles that might befall them. So those are these days. Essentially, these three days—the fourth, fifth, and sixth—speak about salvation, about rain. The seventh day’s Hoshana speaks mainly about merit. We spell out in whose merit we ask Hashem for salvation. At first we ask, “Hosha Na, for the sake of the steadfast one cast into a blazing fire.” That refers to Avraham Avinu, who was thrown into the fiery furnace in Ur Kasdim for upholding Hashem’s oneness. We move on to Yitzchak: “For the sake of the son, Yitzchak”—Avraham’s son—“bound upon wood and fire.” “For the sake of the mighty one, Yaakov, who wrestled with the angel of fire.” “For the sake of the banners”—there is an emphasis here on fire. He speaks about the Jewish people, the Patriarchs, the tribes, the Beis Hamikdash, and then the prophets. He moves through the generations, describing the merits the Jewish people have had throughout the ages and our request to be saved in their merit. Those are the seven hakafos. Each hakafah has a particular theme around which it revolves, and each follows alphabetical order. HaKalir is very careful about—well, very often he is very careful about alphabetical order. Before we go further into the subject and content of the piyutim, let’s talk about the word “Hosha Na.” If we split it into two words, we’ll discuss “hosha” and—mainly—the word “na.” We usually understand “na” as an expression of request. After all, we know the expression, “‘Na’ is always an expression of request.” But there are several places where “na” clearly does not mean a request. It has another meaning: “now.” We know the verse in Chumash Bereishis: “Behold, now I know that you are a beautiful woman”

09:19 Speaker 2 “...of beautiful appearance,” and Rashi tells us: Why didn’t he know until now that she was a woman of beautiful appearance? She was his wife! Rashi explains that he did know, but because of the hardships of the journey... He adds that, nevertheless, he had not known because of her modesty. Rashi gives several explanations, but clearly, “Now I know” means: Now I know that you are a woman of beautiful appearance. The same applies to the verse we say in Tachanun on Mondays and Thursdays: “Why should the nations say, ‘Where now is your G-d?’” Clearly, the nations aren’t saying, “Where, please, is your G-d?” The nations are taunting us. They say, “Where now is your G-d?”—where is your G-d at this moment? Moreover, we have seen in the words of our Sages that even where the word na could be understood as a request, they still interpret it as “now.” In Targum Onkelos, ninety-nine percent of the times the word na appears in the Torah, Onkelos renders it as “now.” Ibn Ezra writes that na generally means “now.” In Ramban and in the words of other commentators, we see many times that na means “now.” One verse where this is fairly clear is, “Ana Hashem, hoshiah na.” Ana Hashem means “Please, Hashem”; if we understand na as another “please,” we are repeating ourselves: “Please, Hashem, save us, please.” It makes much more sense—and this is how the commentators and the translation explain it there, in chapter 118 of Tehillim—“Please, Hashem, save us now.” “Ana Hashem, hatzlichah na”—please, Hashem, grant success now. And the same applies when we say Hoshana. It plainly comes from “Ana Hashem, hoshiah na.” Hoshana joins the words hoshiah na, and so what we are actually saying when we say Hoshana, translated into everyday Hebrew, is

11:25 Speaker 2 we want Moshiach now. Not that we want Moshiach to come someday. We want Moshiach. We aren’t discouraged by a long road, and we aren’t afraid—certainly not afraid—but that isn’t what we want. We want Moshiach now, immediately, quite literally. And that, according to most opinions, is the plain meaning of Hoshana as it appears in the Hoshanos. The plain meaning of the word we say so many times during Sukkos is “save us now.” Let’s move on to the rest of the piyutim. We’ll discuss a piyut that we say every day of Sukkos, and then turn to a long, interesting piyut said only on Hoshana Rabbah. Every day after the circuit, we say, “As You saved the eilim in Lod, Your people...” What does “the eilim in Lod” mean? Who are the eilim, and where is Lod? The commentators offer several approaches. The piyutim of the Kalir are difficult, so there are often several ways to solve the riddle. Some say that eilim refers to the Jewish people. Why? Because they are slaughtered like rams. Eilim is an allusion to the suffering of the Jewish people: “As You saved the eilim”—the Jewish people, who are slaughtered and massacred, and so on. Others say the opposite: “the mighty ones of righteousness.” There is a verse that says “the mighty ones of righteousness.” Here the reference is to the praise of the Jewish people—not that they are being slaughtered, but that they serve Hashem. In any case, eilim is a name for the Jewish people. Where did He save them? “In Lod.” What happened in Lod? When did Hashem save the Jewish people particularly in Lod? The commentators say that Lod here is another name for Egypt. What is the connection between Lod and Egypt? In Chumash Bereishis it says, “And Mitzrayim fathered Ludim and Anamim.” The first son of Mitzrayim was Lud. That is why the poet calls Egypt “Lod”: “As You saved the eilim in Lod, Your people...” We ask—“When You went out to the man of the valley, so save us,” and so on. As we continue in this piyut,

13:27 Speaker 2 we ask for several things connected with the Exodus from Egypt, or with later times: just as Hashem saved the Jewish people then, may Hashem save us again, immediately. The phrase “Ani vaHu, hoshiah na” is remarkable. What does “Ani vaHu, hoshiah na” mean? Many explanations of this phrase have been offered, both on the plain level and according to the inner dimension of Torah. The Tosafos Yom Tov says that Rabbi Yehudah probably intended “Ani vaHu, hoshiah na” to allude to all of them—all the dozens of possibilities found among the Rishonim and Acharonim, and before them among the Kabbalists and in the Zohar. But let’s try to understand at least a little. Every day of Sukkos we say “Ani vaHu, hoshiah na” before and after “As You saved the eilim in Lod, Your people,” and on Hoshana Rabbah we add it as well. What does this phrase mean? There are several approaches. First, Rav Hai Gaon. It was said of Rav Hai Gaon that he was the last of the Geonim in time but the foremost among them in stature. He was the son of Rav Sherira Gaon, one of the renowned heads of the yeshivos in Babylonia. Rav Hai Gaon says that we pray for “ani”—for ourselves—and for “hu.” Who is “hu”? We are praying for the altar. The altar brings atonement for us. We pray that both we and the altar be saved. Today, when sadly we have no altar, the plain intent of “Ani vaHu, hoshiah na” is: save us and rebuild it, the altar. That is Rav Hai’s view. Another explanation of “ani vaHu” is given by Rabbeinu Chananel and by several other Rishonim. Rabbeinu Chananel says that “ani vaHu” means me and Hakadosh Boruch Hu. “Hoshiah na”—we pray to Hakadosh Boruch Hu to save whom? Me and Hakadosh Boruch

15:18 Speaker 2 Hu. What does it mean to save Hakadosh Boruch Hu? After all, it says, “I am with him in distress.” Hakadosh Boruch Hu is, as it were, with the Jewish people in the suffering of their exile: “In all their affliction, He is afflicted.” When we pray for ourselves—save me—we also say: save Him, save Yourself, save Hakadosh Boruch Hu. That is Rabbeinu Chananel’s explanation. Rashi gives two explanations. One says that “ani vaHu” has the same gematria as “Ana Hashem.” Ani has a numerical value of sixty-one, and veHu has a numerical value of seventeen; together that makes seventy-eight. The words “Ana Hashem” also have a numerical value of seventy-eight. Ana is fifty-two, and Hashem’s four-letter Name is twenty-six, as is well known. Twenty-six plus fifty-two is, again, seventy-eight. Rashi says that “Ani vaHu, hoshiah na” is actually “Ana Hashem.” It is expressed as an allusion, through gematria, but that is the intent. That is one explanation in Rashi. Rashi’s second explanation is more complex. Rashi says there is the Name of seventy-two. What is the Name of seventy-two? There are several consecutive verses, each containing seventy-two letters. One verse begins, “And the angel of G-d traveled.” Another begins, “And it came between the camp of Egypt,” and a third, “And Moshe stretched out his hand over the sea.” Each of these three verses has seventy-two letters. Rashi says that the first letter of the first verse is a vav. The last letter of the second verse, in the word “night,” is a heh. The first letter of the third verse, “And Moshe stretched out,” is a vav. These three letters form the word veHu. And the thirty-seventh letter—the letter that opens the second half of each of these three verses—forms the word ani. In the first verse, the thirty-seventh letter, which opens the second half, is the aleph in the word “behind them.” In the second verse

17:21 Speaker 2 The letter that begins the second half is the nun in the word “the cloud,” and in the third verse, the letter that begins the second half is the yud in the word “kadim.” So this is what is called the 72-letter Name, which is alluded to in these verses. There are secrets in this, and that is why, when reciting this prayer, they chose to say the... they chose to say this particular name. It is called the 72-letter Name. “I and He” is the 72-letter Name, a name alluded to in these verses, which contain 72 letters. The commentators discuss why this particular name, “I and He,” was chosen here. Perhaps in the Shemoneh Esrei we could say, “Blessed are You, I and He.” Perhaps here we could say, “Blessed are You, Elokim,” and so on. Why was this name chosen here? Tosafos writes that there are allusions connected to the explanations we brought earlier, but, uh, we won’t go any further into “I and He, please save us.” There are many, many more explanations of what this strange expression, “I and He,” means. We’ll make do with the four we brought: either me and the altar; or me and Hakadosh Boruch Hu, so to speak; or that, by way of allusion, it has the numerical value of “Please, Hashem”; or that it refers to the 72-letter Name derived from the three verses, “The angel of Elokim moved,” “It came between the camp of Egypt,” and “Moshe stretched out his hand over the sea”—the 72-letter Name. Now, after speaking about the hakafos in general, looking broadly at what we say during them, and also discussing the piyut said each day, “As You Saved the Divine One, Whom You Resemble,” we’ve gained some understanding of its words and its general idea. We spoke about the phrase that seems puzzling and meaningless, “I and He, please save us,” and saw that it has a great deal of meaning. The Tosafos Yom Tov even says that its true meaning is all of these explanations. It isn’t that just one is right, or that everyone is trying to guess what Rabbi Yehudah meant. Rather, they are all right, and he did indeed mean all of them. So this phrase is

19:14 Speaker 2 a phrase with a great deal of meaning. Let’s say a few words about one of the special piyutim recited only on Hoshana Rabbah: “For the Sake of the One Who Was Perfect in His Generations.” If you have a siddur nearby, it’s worth opening it and following along with this piyut. It’s something else entirely. But we’ll try to explain everything aloud, so that even someone who doesn’t have a siddur close by—or finds it hard to get up and bring one from the shelf—can understand. This piyut, “For the Sake of the One Who Was Perfect in His Generations,” follows the alef-beis from beginning to end, the alef-beis from end to beginning, the order of the generations, and a rhyme scheme. It’s an example of how many literary devices Rabbi Elazar HaKalir could fit into a single piyut: the alef-beis forwards, the alef-beis backwards, rhymes, and the order of the generations. How does it work? Anyone looking in the siddur will see that it begins, first of all, from the end and works backwards. The general structure of the piyut is to speak about one of the forefathers of our people—Avraham, Yitzchak, Yaakov, and so on, as we’ll see. Gideon has two stanzas. Yehoshua, Elish—many of the great figures of the Jewish people throughout the generations, in chronological order. The description of each one follows the alef-beis: Avraham Avinu’s description begins with tav, Yitzchak’s with shin, Yaakov’s with reish, and so on in descending order. For each of them, the piyut mentions his connection to water. As we learned, on this day we pray primarily for water. Each one—Avraham, Yitzchak—is connected to water. And in Avraham’s merit we ask—sorry, the first is Noach. In Noach’s merit, and then Avraham’s, we ask Hashem to save us. There is also a particular description of the Jewish people, and that description follows the alef-beis too, but here in ascending order. In Noach’s stanza, the description of the Jewish

21:27 Speaker 2 people begins with alef; in Avraham’s, with beis; in Yitzchak’s, with gimmel; and so on. The commentators have written about how the description given to the Jewish people relates specifically to the person being discussed. Rabbi Mendel Hartman also compiled material on this in our generation: why, for example, is the description “the nation of ‘I am a wall’” connected specifically to Noach? So the piyut doesn’t merely follow the alef-beis; the commentators have written about these connections too, and, as I said, their explanations have been compiled. That is the general structure of the piyut: a great figure, in the order of the generations, is connected to water; in his merit, Hashem will save the Jewish people; and the description of the Jewish people follows the alef-beis as well. Let’s look at a few examples from the piyut. We won’t go through all of it, because time is short, but we will look at a few examples. The piyut begins, “For the sake of the one who was perfect in his generations.” “Perfect in his generations” is, of course, Noach, who “was a righteous man, perfect in his generations”; “who escaped through his great righteousness”—because he was righteous, he escaped the Flood. And here, the third line, which throughout this piyut is always the person’s connection to water: “Saved from the torrent when the floodwaters came.” So for his sake, for Noach’s sake, save “the nation of ‘I am a wall’”—this nation of which it was said, “I am a wall.” They explain the particular connection to Noach: the ark protected him like a wall. In the next stanza, it’s very interesting to see Rabbi Elazar HaKalir’s rhyme and style of expression. He says, “For the sake of the one perfect in all his deeds.” That is Avraham Avinu, who recognized his Creator from the age of three, “who was tested by ten miracles.” Until today, from kindergarten, from the day we started cheder, we knew that Avraham Avinu was tested with ten trials. Here in this piyut, Avraham Avinu is tested by ten miracles—apparently because it rhymes with “perfect in all his deeds.” The third line is his connection to water. What does it say about water with regard to Avraham Avinu? “When he saw angels, he said, ‘Let a little water be brought.’” What does “when he saw angels” mean? The word used here means seeing. Bilam said, “I see him, but not now; I behold him, but he is not near.” “I behold him” is an expression of seeing. When he saw angels, he “said”—the word used for “said” in piyutim means “said”—“Let a little water be brought.” So in the third line we saw Avraham’s connection to water, and then in the fourth line we ask for salvation for whom? For “her who is pure as the sun,” for the Jewish people, who are called that. The next stanza is about Yitzchak and begins with reish: “For the sake of the tender, only child”—“Take, please, your son, your only son.” The next stanza begins with kuf: “For the sake of the one who got ahead to receive the blessing.” That is Yaakov, who got ahead of Eisav and received the blessings. “His brother opposed him, yet he waited for Your name.” His brother opposed him, hated him, and nevertheless he waited for Your name. What is his connection to water? “He devised with rods at the water troughs.” While with Lavan, Yaakov Avinu used rods at the water troughs where the flocks came to drink. Several of our sages asked: Wait a second—apparently Yaakov pulled a trick here. Yaakov pulled a trick. Yaakov agreed with Lavan that he would receive the... the marked and speckled sheep, and he did the... Lavan’s reasoning in agreeing was that, statistically, there would be certain percentages of speckled and spotted animals. So how does Yaakov Avinu come along and pull a trick on him? And not only does he pull a trick, but we even mention it in the Hoshanos when we ask Hashem to save us. In whose merit do we ask Hashem to save us? Because of the water—Yaakov’s connection to water. And what is Yaakov’s connection to water? The trick he pulled, which seems, at first glance, improper. Several explanations have been given. Some explain it according to the inner dimension of Torah: this involved a Kabbalistic matter of refining the holy souls. Others have written that even on the straightforward level, there was no deception here. Some have written

23:42 Speaker 2 “When he saw angels, he said, ‘Let a little water be brought.’” What does “when he saw angels” mean? “Saw” is a term for seeing. Bilam said, “I see him, but not now; I behold him, but not near.” “I behold him” is a term for seeing. When he saw the angels, he said—“said” is the wording used in the piyutim—“Let a little water be brought.” So in the third section, we saw Avraham’s connection to water, and then in the fourth section we ask for salvation for whom? For the Jewish people, “clear as the sun,” who are in distress. The next passage is about Yitzchak, under the letter reish: “For the sake of the tender and only son—‘Take, please, your son, your only son.’” The following passage, under kuf, is about Yaakov: “For the sake of the one who preceded his brother to take the blessing.” He got ahead of Eisav and received the blessings. “They stopped up [unclear], yet he waited for Your name.” They stopped it up; his brother hated him, and nevertheless he waited for Your name. What is his connection to water? He used rods at the water troughs. While he was with Lavan, Yaakov Avinu put rods in the water troughs where the flocks came to drink. Some of our rabbis asked: One moment—seemingly, Yaakov pulled a trick here. Yaakov pulled a trick. Yaakov had agreed with Lavan that he would receive the— the— the speckled and spotted sheep. Lavan agreed because of the statistical likelihood that a certain percentage would be spotted and a certain percentage would be patched. So how could Yaakov Avinu come along and pull a trick on him? And not only did he pull a trick, but we even mention it in the Hoshanos when we ask Hashem to save us. In whose merit are we asking Hashem to save us? In the merit of water—Yaakov’s connection to water. And what is Yaakov’s connection to water? The trick he pulled, a trick that seems improper. Several explanations have been offered for this. Some explain it according to the inner dimension of Torah: there is a Kabbalistic matter here, involving the refinement of holy souls. Others have written that even on the straightforward level, there was no deception here. Some have written—

26:04 Speaker 2 Yaakov Avinu placed the peeled rods in the watering troughs—not in the troughs of the animals that remained with Lavan, but with the animals he had taken with him. After all, he said, “Let me pass through all your flock today; remove from it every speckled and spotted sheep.” Yaakov took the speckled and spotted animals. Since he had already taken them and put them elsewhere, he was concerned that Lavan might come there, see animals that were not speckled or spotted, and refuse to believe that they had been born from the animals Yaakov had received fairly and honestly. So Yaakov put the rods with his own animals, not with the animals that remained with Lavan. From Lavan’s remaining animals, he really intended to receive only the number the statistical odds would give him. In practice, Hashem made it turn out to be more, but Yaakov wanted to receive only what he was entitled to. He put the rods with his own animals to prevent any suspicion of wrongdoing, so Lavan would not think he was lying. That is how the early commentators explain this story: Yaakov did not act dishonestly, and the poet did not include an improper story and present it as praise. Let’s continue through the piyyut in general; we won’t go into every detail. “For the sake of the righteous one, to have for You a kohen who ministers like a splendid bridegroom”—that is Moshe Rabbeinu, who was—sorry, that is Levi, the tribe of Levi, from whom comes the kohen who ministers like a splendid bridegroom. There are different opinions about this, but that is the straightforward explanation given by the early commentators. Incidentally, they already wrote explanations of the Hoshanos. Rabbeinu Elazar Baal HaRokeach, one of the great early commentators, is familiar to us from Igeres Hateshuvah in Tanya. Not only did the Rokeach explain these piyyutim; he even counted their words and explained the significance of that particular word count.

28:04 Speaker 2 Let’s continue. The piyyut speaks of “for the sake of the splendid one, who became a ruler over his brothers”—that is Yehudah. We continue backward through the letters: “For the sake of the one humbler than all and faithful.” That is clearly Moshe Rabbeinu: “The man Moshe was exceedingly humble, more than any person,” and “He is faithful throughout My house.” The next letter should be samech, but here it is written with a shin. Poets customarily interchange shin and samech. They do not always keep the sounds distinct. In our pronunciation today, tes and tav can be interchanged, as can shin and samech, kuf and chaf, and ches and chaf—that is how our Ashkenazi brethren pronounce them. But in the piyyutim, shin and samech are interchanged. “For the sake of the one You placed among the angels on high, who wears the Urim and Tumim”—that refers to Aharon. We continue backward from samech to nun. “For the sake of the prophetess who danced with the camps”—that is Miriam. The first figure from the Prophets that we discuss here is Gideon. Gideon’s story is very interesting. Incidentally, he is the only figure in this entire long piyyut to whom not one passage but two are devoted. Noach, Avraham, Yitzchak, Yaakov, Levi, Yehudah, Moshe, Aharon, Miriam and Yehoshua each received one passage. With Gideon, there is a special connection to water and a plea for salvation: we ask Hashem to save the Jewish people. He alone has two passages rather than one. What was Gideon’s story? As it appears from the Prophets, Gideon was a simple man. There was idol worship in his family home. On Seder night, his father told him about the Exodus from Egypt. The next day they worked—the implication is that they worked on Yom Tov as usual. Then an angel suddenly appeared to him and said, “Hashem is with you, mighty man of valor.” Gideon replied, “If Hashem is with us, why has all this happened to us?” We are talking about a very painful period,

30:24 Speaker 2 a time when Hashem delivered Israel into the hands of Midian because they had done what was evil in His eyes. The Jewish people would sow, and Midian would take the crops. They ruined the produce of the land, left Israel with nothing to live on, and made a whole mess of things. Gideon said to the angel, “If Hashem is with us, why has all this happened to us? And where are all His wonders that our fathers told us about, saying, ‘Did Hashem not bring us up from Egypt?’ But now Hashem has abandoned us.” Hashem told him, “Go with this strength of yours and save Israel.” Gideon then made a test. First, he smashed his father’s idol, and when the townspeople were angry with him, his father said, “Don’t worry. Are you going to fight for Baal? Let him take care of himself. Baal is a deity, isn’t he? If he is a deity, there’s no problem—let him take care of himself.” Gideon made a test. He said to Hashem, “If You are going to save Israel through me, I want to test it so I can be sure. I’ll put a fleece of wool on the threshing floor. If there is dew only on the fleece and everything around it is dry, then I’ll know that You will save Israel through me, as You said.” And so it happened. Early the next morning, he took the fleece and squeezed a full bowl of water from it, while everything around it was dry. Gideon wasn’t satisfied with that. “Do not be angry with me if I speak once more. This time I’ll do the reverse: the fleece will be dry and everything around it wet.” That is what happened, and he went out to war. This is the first passage, the one beginning with the letter lamed: “For the sake of that one who sought a sign for good, who cried out, ‘Where are the wonders?’ and found dew in the fleece—a bowl full of water.” In this passage about Gideon’s connection to water, he squeezed a full bowl of water from the fleece. But it is not the only passage. Gideon’s story goes on, and it remains fascinating. It says—

32:37 Speaker 2 Hashem says to Gideon, as Gideon goes out to war, “The people with you are too numerous for Me to give Midian into their hands.” Why? There are too many people. “Israel might boast against Me, saying, ‘My own hand saved me.’” Hakadosh Boruch Hu is saying, “I don’t want the Jewish people to think too highly of themselves. I want them to know that I, Hashem, am the One who saved them.” Gideon has more than thirty thousand men. That is too many. So Hashem first tells him to announce that anyone who is afraid should go home. Gideon makes the announcement, and more than two-thirds of the soldiers go home because they are afraid. Twenty-two thousand men leave; ten thousand remain. Hashem tells Gideon that this is still too many. What should they do? Test them. Who has not worshipped idols? How do you test that? “Take them down to the water, and we’ll test them there.” They go to the water and are allowed to drink from the spring. There were no taps or canteens; they drank from the spring. Here is the test: put on one side those who lap up water with their tongues, bending down to drink directly from the water without using their hands, and on the other those who scoop up water with their hands and bring it to their mouths. It turned out that only three hundred men brought water to their mouths with their hands. Only three hundred. Hashem tells Gideon, “We will fight this great war against Midian with those three hundred men.” The way the other 9,700 bent down shows that they have some experience with idol worship; let them go home. These three hundred have no experience with idol worship. They are not accustomed to bowing down, so they had to use their hands. They will be the men through whom the battle is fought, the men through whom we will win. That way it will be clear

34:44 Speaker 2 That it was indeed a miracle performed through people worthy of a miracle. And as we said, let’s return to the piyut. I recommend reading the continuation as well: how exactly the battle unfolded, what other sign Gideon received, and how he actually drove out Midian. It’s worth reading chapters 6 and 7 of Shoftim; those are the chapters that tell Gideon’s story. I highly recommend it. And this appears in the verse beginning with the letter kaf: “For the sake of those chosen to wage Your war, through whose hands You granted Your salvation; those selected from the people when they lapped water with their hands.” “Those selected” means they were tested and chosen from the people—not from the nations, from the people, from the whole nation. They were tested at the water to see whether they were worthy of having a miracle performed through them: they lapped the water with their hands and did not lap it with their tongues. That is how it became clear that they were the ones worthy of a miracle. Let’s move on briefly and look at the next stages. “For the sake of the one who trampled his enemies, who was consecrated as a Nazirite from the womb”—that is Samson. Samson, for whom water came out of the hollow of Lechi. We ask in Samson’s merit. “For the sake of the good one who continued to grow.” The good one who continued to grow is Shmuel; it says of him that he was good and that he grew. I don’t remember the exact wording of the verse. The piyut continues: “For the sake of the one who danced”—that is David, who danced with all his might. And it mentions David’s connection to water. It’s a very interesting connection: during the war, David said, “Who will give me water to drink from the well in Bethlehem?” Getting there was life-threatening. But David wanted it, so they went, risked their lives, and brought him water. David would not drink that water, even though he wanted it so much that they understood they should risk their lives to get it. David poured it out before Hashem. The water he longed to drink, he did not drink; instead, he poured it out before Hashem. In David’s merit, we ask for

36:55 Speaker 2 salvation. He continues with the letter zayin: “For the sake of the pure one who ascended in a whirlwind.” The pure one who ascended to heaven in a whirlwind is, of course, Eliyahu Hanavi. For the sake of the one who faithfully served his master—Elisha, who received a double portion of his spirit. We ask to be saved today in Elisha’s merit. The piyut continues: “For the sake of the one who sought to do Your will.” That is Chizkiyahu, who spent his whole life thinking about how to do Hashem’s will and brought the Jewish people back to teshuvah. “And when the blasphemer came, he stopped up the water springs.” When Sancheriv came to wage war, Chizkiyahu stopped up the springs so that he could not use them. That is Chizkiyahu’s merit. “For the sake of those who sought You in exile”—this is the only stanza that includes several people. “Those who sought You in exile” refers to Daniel, Chananyah, Mishael, and Azaryah, who sought You in exile and had nothing but vegetables and water. Again, we have a connection to water. And the last figure we speak about is the one who attained wisdom and understanding. He was a skilled scribe, [unclear]. Who was he? Ezra the Scribe. He is the last figure we speak about and in whose merit we ask to be saved. His connection to water is figurative: the words of our sages are likened to flowing water, and he was a skilled scribe in the Torah of Hashem. And the last two stanzas are for us: “For the sake of those who come to You today with all their hearts”—those who come and pray with all their hearts, those who say, “May Your name be magnified.” We pray for the true and complete Geulah, in the merit of all our forefathers and in the merit of our prayers and longing. Save us and deliver us, so that, with Hashem’s help, the full, true and complete revelation will come immediately, right now. A happy Yom Tov! Much success.