Wednesday was the last day of Sukkot so we went to the Western Wall to see the Jews beat willow fronds on the ground as part of the Hoshanah Rabba celebration. This is one of the only Sabbath celebrations at the Western Wall that allows pictures.
It was so cool!
Waiting for 6:42am - the official sunrise time.
Men were gathered into groups (I imagine by synagogue) and would pray together anticipating the ritual.
Once sunrise hit, people started pulling out the four plants that are part to the ritual - "the product of
hadar trees, branches of palm trees, boughs of leafy trees, and willows."
Father and son praying with the four plants.
I assume this guy was looking up the next Hebrew prayer and not texting...
About an hour after sunrise they started to beat the willow branches on the ground.
Willow branch left on the ground after being beaten.
Brother Anderson explained that it's possible that the willow branch in this ritual symbolically takes on the sins of the person beating it making the ritual itself a vicarious sacrifice for sin.
We were standing by a Jewish man and asked him what the ritual meant. His answer surprised me. "I don't know exactly what it means. It's a tradition so we do it! It's a way for us to connect to the past."
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