To Shepherd and To Carry: A Closer Look at the Hoshana Hope
As we close the chapter on the Yamim Noraim and begin to focus on Sukkot, it’s time to see if I actually have any sort of a green thumb as I plot and plan about how I will keep my aravot alive. Should I immerse them in a pitcher of water? Wrap them in wet paper towels? Store them in the fridge? All of the above? The bottom line is that the aravot, willow branches, are the most fragile of the Four Species and must be tended to carefully to remain alive throughout the chag. We need our willow branches in full strength not only to fulfill the mitzvah of taking the lulav, but also for us to optimally recite certain tefilot on Sukkot.
Among those prayers where healthy and vibrant aravot are preferred are the Hoshanot, the daily Sukkot “parade” around the shul. It is during Hoshanot that we ask God to “save us,” concluding with the famous phrase and song “Hoshea et amecha”:
הוֹשִׁיעָה אֶת עַמֶּךָ וּבָרֵךְ אֶת נַחֲלָתֶךָ וּרְעֵם וְנַשְּׂאֵם עַד הָעוֹלָם
Deliver and bless Your very own people;
tend them and sustain them forever. (Psalms 28:9)
As I was thinking more about this prayer, I realized that the second part of it, the orem vnasem ad ha-olam ( וּרְעֵם וְנַשְּׂאֵם עַד הָעוֹלָם) is often overlooked, yet is tremendously rich both in personal meaning and in its echoing of themes from last week’s Yamim Noraim.
וּרְעֵם-Tend them
We ask God to urem, to tend to us. The image of being tended to is one that finds its way throughout the High Holidays. On Rosh Hashana, one of the traditional sounds of the shofar is the truah, a word the same root as ro’eh, echoing the image of God as our shepherd. On Yom Kippur we tell God, at each section of Yom Kippur, anu tsonekha v’ata roehnu, we are your flock and you are our shepherd. And on both days we compare God to a shepherd in Unetaneh Tokef. When we reflect on our lives in Tishrei, we naturally reflect on how we, as those created in God’s image, lead and are led in our lives.
What is it about the shepherd and the flock that makes the image so perfect for our understanding of leadership? We can take lessons from David and Moshe in this area– two figures who were shepherds long before they became our most famous and trusted Jewish leaders.
According to the Midrash, as a young shepherd, Moshe was tending to his flock when one of the sheep ran away. He raced to retrieve the sheep, found it and carried it back to the flock with care and empathy. God then realized and said, after this act of shepherding:
יֵשׁ לְךָ רַחֲמִים לִנְהֹג צֹאנוֹ שֶׁל בָּשָׂר וָדָם כָּךְ חַיֶּיךָ אַתָּה תִרְעֶה צֹאנִי יִשְׂרָאֵל
“Since you tend the sheep of human beings with such overwhelming love - by your life, I swear you shall be the shepherd of My sheep, Israel.” (Shemot Rabbah 2:2)
David was also skilled as a shepherd. We are told that long before he became king, the shepherd David had a knack of knowing just where each of his sheep needed to graze. He knew them well and knew their needs. Noticing this, God said:
מִי שֶׁהוּא יוֹדֵעַ לִרְעוֹת הַצֹּאן אִישׁ לְפִי כֹחוֹ, יָבֹא וְיִרְעֶה בְּעַמִּי
“One who knows how to shepherd the flock, each according to their strength, should come and shepherd My people…” (Shemot Rabbah 2:2)
These strengths of our ancestors are echoed in a 2004 book on the day-to-day challenges of leadership entitled The Way of the Shepherd. In that book, the authors write that “What makes a great shepherd isn’t the staff or the rod; it is the heart. What distinguishes a gifted leader from a mediocre one is that the great leader has the heart for his or her people.” That is the Moshe model.
They also explain that, “The people who report to you may be part of the same flock, but they desperately want to be treated as individuals… As a leader, you should know what motivates each member of your flock when he or she walks through the door in the morning.” That is the David model.
Just like Moshe guided with sensitivity, we ask God to do the same. Just like David knew the needs of each individual, we ask God to do the same.
And, while we want God to lead us in that way, we also have that responsibility. When we recite these tefilot, it is critical for us to also remember to imitate the Divine, by leading and tending to others with empathy, care and individual attention.
וְנַשְּׂאֵם-Carry and sustain them
In the Melekh Elyon prayer of the Yamim Noraim, we describe God as a nisa and nosei. In order to understand this unique description, we can look to Rav Soloveitchik. In his famous work, Before Hashem You Should Be Purified, the Rav discusses the difference between these two words, a subject and an object. The subject, which he calls the nosei, is active. The subject is the actor, the doer, the mover. The nisa, the object, is passive. Things happen to the nisa. He writes: “In everyday activity, the creator is the subject (the nosei) and the passive party is the object (the nisa). God is the subject in the most absolute sense, the creator.” In the Sukkot tefila we want God to carry us and act.
And, while we want God to carry us, we also, it is our responsibility to be like God. In our lives we have to be the ones to initiate, to influence and to act. The Rav continues: “In keeping with our creation, we are to be the nosei, as we are in the image of God and have free will.”*
So this Sukkot, as we organize our lulavs, our etrogs and work to keep our aravot alive and fit for prayer, let’s remember the hope—the hope that God will carry us and that God will tend to us. And, in turn, we initiate and do the challenging work of tending and leading in all of our relationships with humility, empathy and care in the year ahead.
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