Beating the Branches the Judaism Site
Torah.org Beating the Branches The Judaism Site https://torah.org/interest/branches/ BEATING THE BRANCHES by Rabbi Yisroel Miller The Torah does not provide explicit reasons for every mitzvah (commandment) and, especially for the negative commandments, we do not have definitive explanations why the Torah prohibits wearing mixtures of wool and linen, eating meat with milk, etc. But for positive commandments, Biblical or Rabbinic, most of us can give at least some explanation for mitzvot like shofar, succah, matzah, mezuzah, and candles on Chanukah. A notable exception occurs on Hoshana Rabbah, the last day of Succot, when we beat the hoshanot -- the cluster of five willow branches -- on the ground. It is a mitzvah act whose reason is not found in the Torah, writings of the prophets, or Talmud, and it is a mitzvah act whose significance most Jews know absolutely nothing about. If hoshanot was a mitzvah written in the Torah, we would simply accept that God did not reveal the reason for His Divine command. But hoshanot is not a Biblical commandment. It is a practice begun by the prophets well over 2,000 years ago, and a custom the prophets encouraged us to follow. If the prophets encouraged a new mitzvah act, and a most unusual act (ask anyone who sees willow branches for the first time), they surely gave some explanation of what it means. But the meaning is not mentioned in most sources, indicating that the meaning is either a secret, or else that to them it was self-evident, even if it is obscure to us.
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