VeZot HaBerachah and the Hoshana Rabbah custom of striking the ground with willow twigs
tl;dr
Incense (ketoret) means “binding,” which we interpret as entanglement; the Ari teaches it entangles Havayah (mercy) with Ekiyeh (judgment) to sweeten din. Hoshana Rabbah’s five willows (aligned with five gevurot) and their striking on the ground enact the same unification. From shofar to incense to willows, Tishrei’s rituals are a single process: entangle judgment with mercy until severity is sweetened.
Summary
Moses’ blessing in VeZot HaBerachah links teaching judgments with offering incense. The Ari explains that the ketoret unites the Divine Names Havayah (mercy) and Ekiyeh (judgment), thereby sweetening strict judgments. Because ketoret etymologically means “binding/connection,” it functions as an instrument of entanglement—much like quantum entanglement, where two systems share a single state. The Hoshana Rabbah custom of striking the ground with five willows (ḥibut aravot) is the embodied continuation of this dynamic: the five twigs correspond to five gevurot, which are subdued and sweetened through unifications effected by the Hoshanot circuits and the striking itself. Thus, from Rosh HaShanah through Yom Kippur to Sukkot’s climax, the arc of Tishrei is a sustained work of hamtakat ha‑dinim—sweetening judgments by binding them with mercy.
Introduction
Tomorrow, during the prayers of Hoshana Rabbah, we are going to strike the ground with hoshanot—the willow twigs. As the short prayer we recite immediately after reveals, this ancient ceremony, the custom of the prophets, is intended to “sweeten the gevurot (judgments).” Sweetening judgments in kabbalistic parlance means subduing strict judgment (gevurah) with the attribute of mercy (rachamim—the inner quality of the sefirah of Tiferet). But how does this work? The last Torah portion, Vezot HaBerachah, with which we finish the annual cycle of the Torah reading on Simchat Torah, offers a clue.
G-d relates to us primarily in two modes: as a loving Father and as a Judge.
VeZot HaBerachah
In his last blessing to Israel, Moses says:
They shall teach Your judgments to Jacob, and Your Torah to Israel. They will place incense in Your nostril, and will burn offerings on Your altar. Bless O’ G‑d His legions… (Deuteronomy 33:10-11)
In Kitvei Arizal, Rabbi Ḥayyim Vital documents the teaching of his master, holy Ari[1]:
Furthermore, the numerical value of the world for incense (ketorah) with the kolel is the same as that of the Name of Ekiyeh plus that of the word “b’raḥamim” (“in mercy”).[2] To explain: The Name Havayah signifies G-d’s attribute of mercy. This Name in atbash[3] is mem–tzadik–peh–tzadik, the numerical value of which is 300,[4] which is the numerical value of the world “b’raḥamim” (in mercy).The name Ekiyeh signifies G-d’s attribute of strict judgment, since it is associated with partzuf of Ima, the source of judgment. Burning the incense caused the name Havayah to combine with the attribute of judgment, sweetening it.[5]
As it is well known, the divine name Havayah (Y-H-V-H) channels mercy, whereas the name Ekiyeh (A-H-Y-H) channels strict judgment (din). The Arizal teaches that burning incense combines the two names together, thereby sweetening the judgment. More specifically, Rabbi Vital states that, “Burning the incense caused the name Havayah to combine with the attribute of judgment, sweetening it.” What does incense have to do with combining divine names? Gematria may be hinting at the combination, but does not explain it; the incense itself does.
Ketoret as Entanglement
I explained this in my essay, “Sacrifices and incenses – fields and entanglement.”[6] As I wrote there, the Hebrew word for incense offerings, ketoret, literally means “smoke,” “the odor of sacrifice,” or “incense.” However, Rabbi David Kimchi(“Radak”) points out that the word keturot means “connected” as it is etymologically related to the Aramaic word keter, “to bind,” and to the Hebrew word kesher, “to bind,” “connection” or “knot.”[7] The Lubavitcher Rebbe, Rabbi M. M. Schneerson, points out that just as in a knot, one cannot separate one string from another (they are essentially one thing—a knot), one cannot separate people of Israel from G‑d, and that was the symbolism of incense offerings.[8] Accordingly, I proposed another translation for the word keter—“to entangle” or “entanglement.”
With this in mind, we can now understand the nature of the combination of the divine names. The word ketorah (“incense”) hints at the entanglement of the divine names Havayah and Ekiyeh. In quantum mechanics, when two particles (or positions in space, moments in time, or any two systems) become entangled, they become essentially one, sharing the same state (or wavefunction). In our case, by entangling two divine names—one channeling mercy and the other channeling judgment—we sweeten the judgment, as the entangled names no longer express pure mercy or pure judgment; they express instead a mixed state where mercy sweetens the strict judgment.
On Rosh HaShanah, we sweetened judgment by blowing the shofar. On Yom Kippur, the Kohen Gadol (the High Priest) used to sweeten the judgment by burning incense. Nowadays, we do it by reciting the description of this procedure in the section of the liturgy called Avodah—the service of the day—in the Musaf liturgy. On all days of Sukkot, we sweeten judgment by reciting Hoshanot prayers. The Arizal taught that 100 calls of the shofar sounded on Rosh HaShanah, becoming 100 Hoshanot on Sukkot, sweetening judgment with mercy throughout the festival.[9] On the last day of judgment, Hoshana Rabbah, we sweeten judgment by beating hoshanot (willow twigs) on the ground.
Striking of Aravot
Ḥibut aravot—the custom of taking a bundle of willows (aravot) and striking them on the ground—appears in the Mishnah’s description of the Temple rite[10] and is codified in Shulḥan Arukh, where Rema notes it is a “custom of the prophets.”[11] The Ari explains that we take five willow twigs corresponding to the “hei gevurot”—the five severities rooted in Ima/Binah. Striking the ground (symbolically, earth/malkhut) dislodges and subdues these severities, allowing them to be sweetened by chesed.[12] In Lurianic kavvanot (kabbalistic intentions), the Hoshanot circuits (circling the bimah, recalling the altar) and the beating of the willows operate as a series of unifications (yiḥudim)—entanglements—between Names (most centrally Havayah and Ekiyeh), channeling mercies down through Tiferet into Malkhut.[13]
From this vantage point, the willow bundle functions much like the incense: it is an instrument of connection and entanglement. Why willows? Among the Four Species, aravot are the most austere—no taste (Torah learning) and no fragrance (good deeds). Precisely, their “emptiness” makes them a fitting vessel to receive and redirect the flood of judgments. In Ḥassidic readings, the willows’ whispering leaves—their soft, breath‑like rustle—suggest a plea, hosha’na, “Please save.” Their pliant, water‑loving nature evokes ḥesed—flowing, life‑giving kindness—poised to temper din.[14]
This helps illuminate Moses’ blessing in VeZot HaBerachah: “They shall teach Your judgments to Jacob” situates Israel as the bearer of Divine mishpat (justice), while “They will place incense in Your nostril” identifies the inner priestly work, the ketoret, that entwines mercy with judgment. The bookend to the year’s Torah reading thus instructs our end‑of‑Tishrei practice: move judgments through union, not opposition; entwine Ekiyeh with Havayah until strict justice is bathed in mercy.
Conclusion
The ketoret is not merely an aromatic ritual; it is a process of entanglement. By grasping the linguistic root of ketoret as “binding” and the Ari’s mapping of Names, we see how Torah guides a consistent practice: sweeten judgments by entangling them with mercies. The Hoshana Rabbah willows complete the circuit opened by the shofar and the Yom Kippur incense—an annual re‑entangling of entangling din with rachamim. To live this teaching is to become, ourselves, knots of mercy—bonds that entangle judgment with compassion.
May all judgments be sweetened. May you all be blessed with a good kvitel (“a written verdict”) and a Sweet New Year!
[1] Rabbi Ḥayyim Vital, Sha’ar ha-Pesukim and Likutei Torah, parashat Vezot HaBerachah.
[2] The world Ketorah is spelled kuf–tet–vav-reish–hei. The gematria (numerical value) of this word is 100+9+6+200+5=320. Adding one (kolel) for the word itself results in 321. The gematriah of the name Ekiyeh (alef-hei-yud-hei) is 1+5+10+5=21. The word “b’raḥamim” is spelled bet-reish-het-mem-yud-mem> Its gematria is 2+200+8+40+10+40+300. Thus Ketorah = Ekiyeh +kolel + b’raḥamim.
[3] Atbash is one of several alternative alphabets that is created by mirror symmetry transformation—the first letter, alef, is replaced by the last letter, tav, the second letter, bet, is replaced by the penultimate letter, shin, and so on.
[4] The divine name Havayah (Y-H-V-H) in atbash becomes mem–tzadik–peh–tzadik (yud→mem, heh→tzadik, vav→peh, heh→tzadik), which has the gematria of 300 (40+90+80+90).
[5] English translation by Rabbi Moshe Wisnefsky, “Apples from the Orchard: Gleanings from the Mystical Teachings of Rabbi Yitzchak Luria (the Arizal) on the Weekly Torah Portion,” (Thirty Seven Books, 2006), p. 1056.
[6] A. Poltorak, “Sacrifices and incenses – fields and entanglement,” QuantumTorah.com, March 15, 2017; see online at https://quantumtorah.com/sacrifices-and-incenses-fields-and-entanglement/ (retrieved 10/12/2025).
[7] Radak, Sefer Ha‑Shorashim, root קטר; cf. Aramaic qatar (“to bind”).
[8] Rabbi M. M. Shneerson, Sefer Hitva’aduyot 5747, vol. 2, pp. 558-559; see also Sefer HaMa’amarim Melukat, vol. 2, pp. 122-123.
[9] Rabbi Ḥayyim Vital, Sha’ar HaKavanot, D’rushei Hoshana Rabbah. See also Rabbi Schneur Zalman of Liadi, Siddur Im Dach.
[10] Mishnah Sukkah 4:5–6.
[11] Shulchan Aruch, Orach Ḥayim 664, Rema ad loc, on minhag nevi’im of chibut aravot.
[12] Pri Etz Ḥayim, Sha’ar Sukkot (derush on Aravot/Hoshana Rabbah) regarding five aravot as hei gevurot and their sweetening.
[13] Sha’ar HaKavanot, Derushim for Sukkot/Hoshanot.
[14] On symbolic readings of aravot in Chassidic literature, see Sefer HaMa’amarim (various years) on Sukkot/Hoshana Rabbah.