Biblical Hebrew Forum

[Noam Eitan <noameitan AT yahoo.com>]

The common expression "Hosanna in the highest" seems to translate to 
"Please save in the highest" which doesn't make sense. What's the original 
Hebrew and where does it come from?
_____________________-
 
Hosanna (Hoshana) is indeed save-please, or bring us salvation, please, or 
Please, G-d, bring us salvation. Na is the particle of entreaty, either 
translated as "please", or left untranslated.  
 
It seems strange unless you are familiar with pharisaic literature. I don't 
want to step into a problematic territory, but this is not the only place in 
the NT where acquaintance with Jewish customs of the time, documented in 
later pharisaic literature, raises questions about the identity and 
familiarity of the Gospels' writers with Jewish life and of Hebrew. To wit, 
in this case: 
On each day of the Sukkot festival, after the recitation of hallel or after 
musaf - each congregation according to its custom - a Torah scroll is removed 
from the ark and brought to the bimah (where the Torah is read). The chazan 
and congregation say the first four Hoshanot responsively. They then circle 
the bimah holding the lulav and esrog and recite the longer Hoshana prayer 
for the respective day of the Festival, as they appear in the Siddur.

These prayers for redemption are referred to as Hoshanot because each stanza 
of the prayer is accompanied by the word hoshana - a combination form of the 
words hosha and na (bring us salvation, please).

On the first six days of the Festival, the bimah is circled once. On Hoshana 
Rabbah, the last day of the Festival, seven circles are made. This custom 
commemorates the service in the Bet ha-Mikdash (The Temple) during which the 
kohanim would circle the altar once daily and seven times on Hoshana Rabbah.

Hoshana Rabbah is the last day for fulfillment of the mitzvos of the four 
species and dwelling in the sukkah (although there are many in the Diaspora 
who dwell in the sukkah on Shemini Atzeret as well). The day is referred to 
as Hoshana Rabbah (literally, the great Hoshana) because more Hoshana prayers 
are recited on this day than on the other days.

This day was also known as "the day of the beating of the aravah." The 
Mishnah (Sukkah 4:2) records: How was the mitzvah of aravah fulfilled? There 
was a place below Jerusalem called Motza. They would go down there and pick 
branches of willows and would then come and place them alongside the altar 
with the heads (of the willow branches) bent over the altar. They then 
sounded the shofar: a tekiah, a teruah, and a tekiah. Each day they would 
circle the altar once and say, "Ana Hashem Hoshiah Na (Please, G-d, bring us 
salvation), Ana Hashem Hatzlichah Na (Please, G-d, bring us success)'... On 
that day (i.e., Hoshana Rabbah) they circled the ahar seven times. When they 
had finished they would say, "Beauty is yours, O altar, beauty is yours." As 
was done during the week was done on Shabbat (i.e., i f Hoshana Rabbah fell 
on a Shabbat) except (that if it was Shabbat) they would gather them (the 
aravos) on the eve (of Shabbat) and place them in golden basins so that they 
would not become
 wilted. 

In other words, the NT describes a custom, but the author got the festivals 
mixed (Pesach instead of Sukkot). Why do you think they run around yelling 
"Hosanna"? The context and meaning are lost in the NT text IMVHO.)

 

Noam

 


 




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Subject: Re: [b-hebrew] "Hosanna in the highest" in Hebrew? 
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----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Noam Eitan" <noameitan AT yahoo.com>

> Hosanna (Hoshana) is indeed save-please, or bring us salvation, please, or 
> Please, G-d, bring us
salvation. Na is the particle of entreaty, either translated as "please", or 
left untranslated.
> [snipped]
> In other words, the NT describes a custom, but the author got the festivals 
> mixed (Pesach instead of
Sukkot). Why do you think they run around yelling "Hosanna"? The context and 
meaning are lost in the NT
text IMVHO.)
>
Who is to say that "Hosanna" was said only at Sukkot? The psalms of assent 
were used when pilgrims went to
Jerusalem, including for Passover. Why could they not have used also Psalm 
118:25-26 at Passover?
Especially since the crowd believed Jesus to be the Messiah, it would be very 
natural for them to say,
"Hoshiah-na ... Blessed is He who comes in the name of the LORD." Besides, 
the four Gospels were written
before the Talmud was completed, so the recollections of eye-witnesses (e.g. 
Matthew) ought not to be
disallowed because later generations of Jews regularly did something similar 
to the Palm Sunday crowd,
only at a different time of year.

Mark Eddy