And, believe it or not, even the simple act of shaking a lulav on Sukkot plays a part in this grand drama.
Let's dive into a fascinating passage from Zohar" target="_blank" rel="noopener" class="source-link">Tikkunei_Zohar" target="_blank" rel="noopener" class="source-link">Tikkunei Zohar 45, a section of the Tikkunei Zohar, which is itself a later, supplementary part of the core Kabbalistic text, the Zohar. This passage discusses a very specific ritual: the waving of the lulav, the palm branch, along with the etrog (citron), hadass (myrtle), and aravah (willow) during the Jewish holiday of Sukkot.
It states that there are four sets of eighteen shakings required. One during the taking of the lulav itself, and then two more during the recitation of verses from Psalm 118. Specifically, "Please, YHVH, save us!" (Psalm 118:25) and "Give thanks to YHVH, for He is good..." (Psalm 118:1) – both at the beginning and end of the recitation.
So, what's the significance of these shakings? It's more than just a festive tradition. The text tells us that “with these shakings, they bring low, from above to below, the seventy-two nations.”
Whoa.
What does that even mean? The "seventy-two nations" is a Kabbalistic concept referring to the forces of negativity and chaos in the world – those invisible forces we were talking about. According to Kabbalah, the world is constantly in a state of spiritual warfare, and these shakings are a way of subduing those negative energies, drawing down higher energies to purify the world. The lulav, in this context, becomes a kind of spiritual weapon, a tool for cosmic balancing.
And it doesn’t stop there.
After this "victory" over these forces, we say "ANY VaHO Hoshi’ah na" twice. Now, "Hoshi’ah na" means "please save us," but the phrase "ANY VaHO" is where it gets really interesting. The text connects these names to the verses from Exodus 14:19-21, describing the parting of the Red Sea: "And he the angel travelled... And it the cloud came... And he Moses stretched..."
Here, "ANY VaHO" are seen as derived from the sequence of letters in those verses. It's a complex idea, but essentially, it links the waving of the lulav to the miraculous salvation at the Red Sea. The implication? Just as God intervened to save the Israelites from slavery, so too can these ritual actions help us overcome the challenges and negativity we face in our own lives.
Think about that for a moment. Every year, during Sukkot, we have the opportunity to participate in this ancient ritual, to actively engage in the ongoing work of repairing the world – Tikkun Olam. We might just be shaking a palm branch, but according to the Tikkunei Zohar, we are also shaking the foundations of the cosmos, pushing back against the darkness, and drawing closer to the light.
Pretty powerful stuff, isn't it?