Seven Hoshanot for Creation, by Rabbi David Seidenberg (neohasid.org)

Contributor(s):

David Seidenberg and neohasid.org

Shared on:

13 October 2019 under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike (CC BY-SA) 4.0 International copyleft license

Categories:

Sukkot, Hoshana Rabbah

Tags:

ecoḥasid, Needing Translation (into Hebrew), eco-conscious, הושענות hoshanot, 21st century C.E., 58th century A.M., English vernacular prayer

Traditional hoshanot prayers are said every day of Sukkot, one each day, and then all seven on the last day, called Hoshana Rabbah. Here are some modern Hoshanot, corresponding to the ills and dangers we now face, that can be used in the same way. “Hoshana!” (“Please save!”) can be called out after each exclamation point, or after each phrase. Use the seventh Hoshana below for whichever day is Shabbat. Each day would begin the same way: Hoshana Eloheinu Hoshana! Hoshana Bor’einu Hoshana! Hoshana Go’aleinu Hoshana! Hoshana Dorsheinu Hoshana! Our God, Our Creator, Our Redeemer, Our Seeker, Please save!

I was first inspired to write a Hoshana for the planet related to ills we are facing today by the protests against the Dakota access pipeline (DAPL) in 2016. The native American-led protest camp was one of the more extraordinary environmental actions of the decade. The Dakota pipeline protest focused on protecting sacred water as well as sacred land, both important themes of Sukkot.

The Hoshanah I wrote (“A Hoshana for our planet“) focused especially on aspects of climate change like drought, flooding, and ocean acidification and on other impacts of oil and gas, though it also includes a few other ecosystem threats that we face today, as well as a plea for refugees. Similar to traditional Hoshanot, this Hoshana goes (approximately) in alphabetical order, though I don’t try to hit every letter.

The second liturgy [presented here], a cycle of seven Hoshanot roughly corresponding to the days of creation, was written more recently. It includes climate change issues and extinctions, but also more general appreciations and prayers for the order of the natural world.

You are invited to change, add to, or subtract from this liturgy in any way you like. Download this and other hoshanot from here or from neohasid.org. ~ R. David Seidenberg

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Contribute a translation	Source (English)
א. הוֹשַׁעְנָא	1. Hoshana! Please save the Azure of the Sky, the Brightness of the Heavens, the Clarity of the Firmament! Please save the Darkness from Electric Lights, and may we behold the Radiant Stream of the Milky Way! Please save the Glory of the Rainbow, and the Covenant with All Life! Please save this Living Planet, Suspended in Space! Hoshana!
ב. הוֹשַׁעְנָא	2. Hoshana! Please save Oceans from Acidification, Seas from Plastic, Rivers from Sewage! Please save Harbors and Deltas from Runoff! Please save Aquifers from Fracking and from Dessication! Please save Shores from Hurricanes! Hoshana!
ג. הוֹשַׁעְנָא	3. Hoshana! Please save Soil from Erosion, Microbes and Mycelia from Poisons, the Ground from Being Paved Over! Please save Farmland from Industry, Cities from Smog, Mountains from Mining! Please save Fall Trees from Storm Winds, Crops from Drought, Forests from Clearcutting and Conflagration! Hoshana!
ד. הוֹשַׁעְנָא	4. Hoshana! Please save Summer from Scorching, Spring Rivers from Flooding, Islands from Inundation! Please save Glaciers from Vanishing and Winter Snowpack from Melting Away! Please save Clouds from Withholding Rains, Storms from Bringing Deluge, Deserts from Spreading! Hoshana!
ה. הוֹשַׁעְנָא	5. Hoshana! Please save Salmon when they Spawn, Deep Sea Creatures from Oil, Fish from Red Tide! Please save Plankton Shells from Thinning and Corals from Warm Water! Please save Penguins from Homelessness, Sea Turtles from Sickness, Walruses and Polar Bears from Starvation! Hoshana!
ו. הוֹשַׁעְנָא	6. Hoshana! Please save Bee Hives from Collapsing, Bats from Fungus, Tigers from Extinction! Please save Monarchs in their Migration! Please save Condor and Plover, Crane and Warbler! Please save Elephants and Rhinos from Poachers, Mighty Species and Small Ones from Murder! Please save Humans from Our Foolishness, Humility from Arrogance, Love from Hatred and Despair! Hoshana!
ז. הוֹשַׁעְנָא	7. Hoshana! Please save Majesty from the Markets, and Rest from Unceasing Labor! Please save, Let Us Remember the Holiness that Surrounds Us, the Awe that Can Fill Us, the Bounty that Comes to Us! Please save, Nurture the Abundance of Life, Strengthen the Weave of All Living Creatures! Please save, Teach us to Rest and to Release! Please save Creation that was called Very Good! Please save the Radiance of the Earth! Hoshana!

“Seven Hoshanot for Creation,” by Rabbi David Seidenberg was first published on neohasid.org.

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Click to access Seven-Hoshanot-for-Creation-David-Seidenberg-neohasid.org-5780.pdf

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“Seven Hoshanot for Creation, by Rabbi David Seidenberg (neohasid.org)” is shared through the Open Siddur Project with a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International copyleft license.

David Seidenberg

Rabbi David Seidenberg, founder of NeoHasid.org, teaches text and music, Jewish thought and spirituality, in their own right and in relation to ecology and the environment. With smikhah (ordination) from the Jewish Theological Seminary and from Rabbi Zalman Schachter-Shalomi, he has taught at over 100 synagogues, communities, retreats and conferences across North America (and a few in Europe and Israel). Rabbi Seidenberg's teaching empowers learners to become creators of Judaism through deep study and communion with texts and tradition. Areas of specialty include Kabbalah and Ḥasidut, Talmud, davenning, evolution and cosmology, sustainability, Maimonides, Buber, and more. Rabbi Seidenberg has published widely on ecology and Judaism and is the author of Kabbalah and Ecology: God's Image in the More-Than-Human World (Cambridge University Press, 2015).

neohasid.org

NeoHasid.org was created by Rabbi David Seidenberg to help folks integrate ḥasidic song, learning, and nusaḥ into their davenning and communities and to explore embodied Torah. It evolved to focus on eco-Torah and to share liturgy that honors our relationship with the Earth and/or expresses gender parity.

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ויהי נעם אדני אלהינו עלינו ומעשה ידינו כוננה עלינו ומעשה ידינו כוננהו "May the pleasantness of אדֹני our elo’ah be upon us; may our handiwork be established for us — our handiwork, may it be established." –Psalms 90:17