The Mystical Ritual of Hoshana Rabbah: Summoning God

[1] On Shabbat the prayer is recited but there is no lulav and etrog and no circuit.

[2] Each phrase references a different biblical hero.

[3] The meaning of this phrase is debated. I have no suggestions.

[4] Recorded in KTU 1.161. For more on this ritual, see Baruch Levine and J. M. De Tarragon, “Dead Kings and Rephaim: The Patrons of the Ugaritic Dynasty,” Journal of the American Oriental Society 104 (1984): 649–659.

[5] Although the Rabbis admit that the pouring of the water ceremony has no basis in the Torah (see: b. Sukkah 44a), there is still an attempt by the Talmud to find some basis or hint about this ritual in the biblical text (see: b. Ta’anit 2b). According to Rabbinic tradition, this ritual was one of the main points of contention between the Pharisees and the Sadducees, and once even led to a riot when a Sadducee high priest poured the water on his feet instead of on the altar, bringing the Pharisee onlookers to pelt him with their citrons (etrogim; see: m.Sukkah 4:9). (For a different version of that story, see Josephus Antiquities of the Jews, Book 13; Whiston ed. 13.5, Niese ed. 372.)

[6] According to Rashi we even shake them like a lulav (see: Shulchan Aruch, Orach Chaim664:4 in Rama’s gloss.)