Do you know what kreplach are?
You might think it’s a Jewish version of a wonton.
Basically it’s a piece of dough which is wrapped around a small portion of meat and served in the chicken soup.
My Father of blessed memory was famous amongst his friends and acquaintances as a great raconteur and story teller. Some of his stories were extremely moving, some of his jokes were quite funny, but for some reason, amongst his Eastern European friends, his kreplach joke was iconic.
Here it is, but it went over better in the original Yiddish.
A little boy was in fear of kreplach. Whenever he saw one he would shriek “kreplach” in fear and horror.
His mother decided to take matters in her own hands and with a mother’s intuition, and well before her time, she decided to employ exposure therapy.
She sat her son down and rolled out a circle of dough, it’s just a pancake right?
He agreed calmly.
Then she placed a small ball of meat in the middle of the pancake.
Just a mini meatball right?
Her son agreed with equanimity.
She folded the dough around the meat one side at a time with her son following along with interest, all was good.
But when the last side was folded up, the boy took one look and shrieked…kreplach!!
Like I said, the original Yiddish gives a different flavor.
Tonight and tomorrow is Hoshana Rabba, which means a time of great salvation.

On Rosh Hashana the judgement of the fully righteous and the fullt wicked is decided, the rest of humanity is given until Yom Kippur to merit a good judgement.
The Zohar, the mystical Kabbalistic approach, teaches that the deadline for judgement is extended to Hoshana Rabba. The Zohar explains that even though the judgement is sealed on Yom Kippur, it is not concluded or delivered until Hoshana Rabba.
The decree has been written, but the ink hasn’t dried yet. There is still time to make a change.
(Kabbalistic sources teach that Gd never gives up on us and the final day to return and receive a good judgement is actually the day that falls out on the last day of Chanukah, more on that in a few months, please Gd).
So it seems this is a pretty significant day.
Hoshana Rabba is viewed as a mini Yom Kippur day.
It is another opportunity to repair and reconnect.
The name of the day alludes to the possibility available to us as it is called a “great salvation “, many salvations can come from this day, yet the day itself may seem to be a regular day.
The Satmar Rebbe, a major Hasidic post World War 2 leader shared a parable.
A city had committed a grave offense against the king which resulted in a death sentence for the entire town. The king had an annual custom to visit a particular garden in that city. The leadership decided they would gather the townspeople and go en masse on the designated day and plead for mercy. The people appeared on the day, but the king never showed. As the day was ending the people were despondent and wanted to return home. The plan had failed and the sentence of death had not been commuted. One leader begged them to stay, he opined that the king was known to come every year on this day, so he must be here. Perhaps he is here incognito, dressed as one of us. We must still call out to the king and implore him to save us. He will surely hear us and forgive us, he is here even though we can’t see him. (Rabbi Meilech Biderman)
This is a powerful day.
There are those who go to services where the prayers focus on receiving a positive outcome which will have an impact on so many facets of life including rainfall, livelihood and life itself.
There is a custom for the prayer leader in synagogue to wear a white kittel, the white robe, that is worn on Yom Kippur and on Hoshana Rabba people wish one another a Piska Tova, which is a blessing in Aramaic, which means one should get a “good note” a wish that the verdict should be positive.
The service concludes with an ancient custom of taking a few willow leaves and beating them on the ground.
During Sukkot we took 4 species and bound them together in the Lulav and Etrog bundle. At the end of Sukkot we are “untying” that bundle and focusing just on the willow which represents the most simple of Jews.
It would seem that we are “beating up “ or denigrating that “simple” Jew?
Rabbi Kook, the first Ashkenazi Chief Rabbi of Israel, then Palestine, teaches us a deep lesson.
He explains that we don’t hit the willow branch, but WITH the willow branch. He teaches that in all the struggles we face, personally and nationally, our “secret weapon” is the Jew who continues to show up and make an effort to connect in any way, shape or form.
It all boils down to simple faith carrying the day.
After the willow branches are beaten they are thrown or placed at the top of the Ark in the synagogues which implies that this “simple” Jew has the power to go to the highest heights, ending the service in the place that is figuratively the highest, most exalted spot.
On Hoshana Rabba and before Yom Kippur there is a custom to eat Kreplach.
The spiritual message embedded in this custom is that we pray that Gd will envelop his strict judgement which is represented by the meat, in an encasement of compassion which is illustrated by the dough.
There is another old joke.
If you eat kreplach every day for 120 years, you will merit to have a very long life.
Amein, so may it be inscribed, signed, sealed and delivered for us all.
A Piska Tova.
Shabbat Shalom and so much love!