Hoshana Rabbah is the seventh and final day of Sukkot. It is a special day, because, in this world, people stay awake all night, and study the Torah and pray. What is the use of this, and why do we do this on that day, specifically? 

We know that each holiday has a spiritual root, and so does the holiday of Hoshana Rabbah. A day is a degree in the upper worlds, and Hoshana Rabbah is a special state wherein a person has already decided to take on the labour for Kedusha [Divinity] in the spiritual state of “Rosh Hashana”; they have already restricted their will to receive on the spiritual state of “Yom Kippur”, and they have gone through a building of the Masach over the course of six days in “Sukkot”. They have gone through all these things, and yet they still feel that they’re completely opposite to the Creator.

“Hoshana Rabbah” literally means “the great supplication”. That is, a person discovers that they are in the depths, inside the will to receive, in a pit they cannot escape on their own, yet they deeply wish to. They want to reach bestowal, which is why he feels this as the depth – because they’re completely opposite to their goal. 

This day [seventh of Sukkot] is the completion of the encompassing of the days of the festival when we pleaded and prayed each day “Do Save.” This day is called “Great Salvation” because there comes a great outcry in the heart to be saved by a great salvation since we feel the deficiency of not having been saved yet. King David is the Ushpizin [guest of honor], for he always had a great outcry in his heart because it always seemed to him like he is still standing outside.

Pri Tzadik, “The Festival of Sukkot,” Item 28

It’s not that they want to receive, succeed, gain, or become great or wise. They want only one thing – to bestow and not to receive, to resemble the Creator. This is called Hoshana [Supplication], which is the state of ‘From the depths I called You,’ a cry from the heart.

Within their desire, they feel on the one hand how much their will doesn’t want to leave the ego, and on the other hand, they have already received from their environment, from study, from the Light that Reforms, enough strength to stand against their own desire. Gradually, they receive new values in life and then begin to understand what is worth asking for, whom to ask, and what they want to be saved from. A person has to undergo very difficult internal scrutiny to stop asking for solutions to his life problems or salvation from minor or more severe obstacles.

Then we include within ourselves two forces – the force of our ego and the force against it. And now we make a calculation. That calculation is exactly “Hoshana Rabbah” – when the counsels, the ways forward, are revealed to him – how to keep advancing toward the Creator. In such a state, a person feels a black cloud suddenly descending on him, and then, on the contrary, everything clears up and becomes transparent, understandable, pleasant, and easy. Then again, an incredible heaviness falls on him, a dullness in his mind and heart.

Because Hoshana indicates the cry of the heart — like someone who, God forbid, is in great distress and cannot utter any requests, pleas, or supplications, but only cries from the depth of the heart — “Save me!” And through the revelation of the counsels, faith grows, and through faith, the holy seal is completed.’

Likutei Halakhot, Laws of Hoshana Rabbah, Law 1

We receive a screen, reflected Light, and by that we can already receive the Upper Light  – the revelation of the Creator within him – because our vessel has become ‘in order to bestow.’ It always happens this way for us – only when a person reaches a state of total despair, utter hopelessness, the very end, then they can cry out in such a way that the Creator saves him. Because only then do they truly cry – not an egoistic cry mixed with self-interest or success – but a genuine cry, only wishing to reach bestowal. Then he receives the power of bestowal from Above. In fact, this is the whole work, which is why we have fallen into the state called “this world,” into complete concealment, an imaginary reality as Kabbalists explain.

When a person is already standing near the place from which he will receive the help from above, and “near” means that the Kli [vessel], meaning the desire to bestow, is far away from him, then he sees that only the Creator can save him. As Baal HaSulam said, this is the most important point in man’s work, for then he has close contact with the Creator because he sees one hundred percent that nothing can help him but the Creator Himself.

RABASH, Article No. 38 (1990), “What Is, ‘A Cup of Blessing Must Be Full,’ in the Work?"

We do not have such organs of perception to sense that the material is illusory while the spiritual exists. We still need to come to this point to see that our current “reality” is only a screen hiding the truth and to reveal this actual world in our new senses. It all depends on our correction. 

The night of Hoshana Rabbah is a common big, complete request, with all the forces and all the necessary corrections. The light that returns to the source penetrates through the covering of the Sukkah and corrects the desire to enjoy below the screen.

Thus we will become worthy of being one union. The main thing is not to forget that the ultimate goal is to correct the whole world and bring it to the Creator so He can rejoice in His creations.

When concealment overpowers a person and he comes to a state where the work becomes tasteless, and he cannot picture or feel any love and fear, and he cannot do anything in Kedusha [holiness], his only counsel is to cry to the Creator to have mercy on him and remove the screen from his eyes and heart. Crying is a very important matter. It is as our sages write: “All the gates were locked except for the gates of tears.”

Baal HaSulam, Shamati, Article No. 18, "My Soul Shall Weep In Secret – 1"

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From several lessons by Dr. Michael Laitman on the topic of Hoshana Rabbah.

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