27 Sep SUKKOS/ V’ZOS HABRACHA HOSHANAH RABBAH

The Gemara tells us that
after one’s demise, he will
be asked, “Did you wait
for the salvation (for
Moshiach)?” The Imrei
Emes of Gur zt’l said
that the question also
means, “Did you wait
for Hoshnah Rabbah, the
day when Hashem
bestows salvations on
the Jewish nation.”
Rosh Hashanah passed,
so did Yom Kippur, and
most of Succos. By this
point, many people feel
that they’ve
accomplished what they
could, and they don’t feel that it is important to put
effort into the final days of the Yamim Noraim.
Sometimes people are discouraged, because they
feel that they didn’t fully take advantage of the
holy days, with teshuvah, tefillah and Torah, and
they aren’t ready to start now. Chazal say, look
forward for Hashanah Rabbah. Don’t let it pass by
without sincere tefillos, teshuvah and tzedakah.
We can gain so much on this day.
The Dubno Magid zt’l tells a wonderful mashal:
There were two neighboring countries that were
fighting over a city located on the border – each
country claimed that the city was theirs. Many
wars were fought over the city; sometimes one
country won, other times the other country was
victorious.
They decided that each country would send forth
their greatest warrior. These two powerful people
would wrestle each other near a pit. The one who
throws his opponent into the pit wins the battle,
and the city would forever belong to his country.
Patriots from both countries came to watch the
great battle. The battle started some distance from
the pit. At first, it seemed that one warrior would
win. His countrymen cheered him on, while the
other team was lamenting, as they were certain
they would lose. They watched as the warrior
pulled and dragged his opponent all the way to the
pit. But suddenly, the other warrior overpowered
his opponent and threw him to the ground and into
the pit.
At the victory celebration, the king said to the
warrior, “It appeared, at first, that your opponent
was stronger than you. I was certain you would
lose. How did you end up winning?” “I won,
because I initially let him win me. I was waiting
for my opponent to become tired and weak, and
then I was able to overpower him easily.”
The nimshal is, sometimes the yetzer hara allows
us to win a battle or two. But then, when an
essential and important battle comes around, we
are already weakened and don’t have the stamina
to fight. We assume that since we won so many
wars until now, it doesn’t matter so much if we fail
this round. We don’t realize that everything
depends on this battle, and if we lose it, we lose
everything.
The lesson is related to Hoshanah Rabbah. Many
people feel that they fought so many wars with the
yetzer hara already, since the new year began.
Rosh Hashanah passed, and so did Yom Kippur.

On those days people did whatever they could to
improve their ways and to daven with kavanah,
etc. During Succos, they also served Hashem to
the best of their ability. Now, they think that they
can let Hoshanah Rabba pass by without special

attention and effort. But Hoshanah Rabbah is from
the climaxes, from the days that we can earn the
greatest salvations. We must be vigilant, and
continue our battle with the yetzer hara on this day
too.