The last day of Sukkot is Hoshana Rabbah, the Great Salvation. On this day the simplest of the four species takes the primary focus: the aravah, the willow. It has no taste and no smell. Its only virtue is that it is part of the community, and without it we do not fulfill the mitzvah of the four species.

In this short teaching, Rabbi Amichai looks at why the willow grows by a stream of water, the flow of life, and why its branches move together in the wind. That, he teaches, is what the whole holiday of Sukkot is about: coherence, flow and togetherness, with ourselves and with others. From the Ushpizin of the first days, Avraham and Chesed, Yitzchak and Gevurah, Yaakov and Tiferet, to the last day of King David and Malchut, the quality that holds all of the dimensions together.

And we ask what it means to move from our personal salvation to the great, collective salvation: to listen, to leave room for the other, and to feel what is here for all of us in this moment. Like the willow, rustling in the wind just because that is where the wind is going.

Read more: Hoshana Rabbah: The Willow and the Great Salvation
A guided meditation for the sukkah: Surrounded by Light
Learn with us: livekabbalah.com

Chag Sameach. Many blessings,
Rabbi Amichai

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