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The Sukkot holiday is about to end, but this festival comes with some quirks unique within Judaism. The last day of the week-long festival is marked by a day known as Hoshana Raba, that has more in ...

Rare are the days when history and holiness meet, when the Jewish calendar’s rhythms and the country’s pulse seem to beat as one. Monday was one of those days. Monday was Hoshana Raba, the final day ...

Read Rabbi Dr. Raymond Apple's explanation of Hoshana Rabba here: Hoshana Rabbah - What is it About? It’s the unknown quantity of the Jewish calendar as far as most Jews are concerned. It brings no ...

On Hoshana Raba, the last day of Sukkot and traditionally, the last day to affect one's standing before G-d in the New Year, the Western Wall fills with worshippers before the morning star rises in ...

Transportation notice for my grandmother from Darmstadt to Treblinka, dated 30.9.42, the day before Hoshana Raba. Hoshanah Raba 1942: the day that my grandparents’ transport arrived in Treblinka, ...

But today we are not fearful. The very opposite! These are the days of our joy, the season of rejoicing. These are days when we sense the bounty of Your world, the richness of harvest, the wealth of ...

Known also as zman simchateinu, time of our happiness, Sukkot carries a Torah commandment to rejoice throughout these seven days. The Torah also tells us that during this week we are to remember our ...

Ultra-orthodox Jews take part in the Hoshana Raba ritual at the end of the week-long Sukkot at a synagogue in Rehovot, Israel, on Oct. 6, 2023. The Sukkot, or Feast of Tabernacles, falling from sunset ...

I was hoping to get through this holiday cycle without debating the mechitza — the wall that divides the genders in Orthodox shuls. I’ve committed to sampling all iterations of observance without ...