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Taken from Kol HaNeshamah: Limhot Hol/Daily Prayer Book, p. 402

Today’s special Hoshana prayer for Sukkot (see picture above for part of this prayer) spoke to me. How relevant are these words today as our nation is embroiled in a bitter battle over the Supreme Court nominee:

We are crying for relief, and hoping for the end of grief…You are the Tzaddik (Righteous One) for the saved, who come together in the City of Salvation, raising up their heartfelt cry…Hoshana! Hurry forth to save us now! Hoshana! And may these words with which I supplicate before God be near to the Eternal One, our God, by day and night, working justice for God’s servant, and justice for the people of Israel; a timely prayer that all the peoples of the earth may know that the Eternal One is God.

And God is justice.

Right now, Washington, DC is no City of Salvation. It needs salvation. If only our prayers were enough to bring about this salvation, to bring about justice.

And yet we still lift our voices as we prepare for Shabbat, crying the ancient words of the Sukkot liturgy: Hoshana! Save us!

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