{"id":95810,"date":"2026-10-02T13:13:39","date_gmt":"2026-10-02T18:13:39","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/?p=95810"},"modified":"2026-10-02T13:13:39","modified_gmt":"2026-10-02T18:13:39","slug":"hoshana-rabbah-case-closed","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/hoshana-rabbah-case-closed\/","title":{"rendered":"Hoshana Rabbah: Case Closed!"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>By RABBI JOSEPH H. PROUSER<\/p>\n<p>A widely cited tradition (Rosh Hashanah 16b) teaches that God opens three books on Rosh Hashanah. In one, the truly righteous are immediately inscribed for life. The thoroughly wicked are immediately condemned. Individuals of a middling quality (not totally good, not totally evil \u2013 There are so many of us!) are inscribed in a third book for further heavenly review. This imagery is the source of the Rosh Hashanah greeting: \u201c<em>L\u2019Shanah Tovah Tikateivu<\/em> \u2013 May you be inscribed for a good year.\u201d<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/01\/Prouser_Joseph.jpg\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignleft wp-image-40581 size-thumbnail lazyload\" data-src=\"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/01\/Prouser_Joseph-150x150.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"150\" height=\"150\" data-srcset=\"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/01\/Prouser_Joseph-150x150.jpg 150w, https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/01\/Prouser_Joseph-350x350.jpg 350w\" data-sizes=\"(max-width: 150px) 100vw, 150px\" src=\"data:image\/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAAAAACH5BAEKAAEALAAAAAABAAEAAAICTAEAOw==\" style=\"--smush-placeholder-width: 150px; --smush-placeholder-aspect-ratio: 150\/150;\" \/><noscript><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignleft wp-image-40581 size-thumbnail\" src=\"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/01\/Prouser_Joseph-150x150.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"150\" height=\"150\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/01\/Prouser_Joseph-150x150.jpg 150w, https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/01\/Prouser_Joseph-350x350.jpg 350w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 150px) 100vw, 150px\" \/><\/noscript><\/a>The books \u201cinscribed\u201d on Rosh Hashanah are given a Divine \u201cseal\u201d on Yom Kippur. Thus, the Yom Kippur greeting \u201cKetivah V\u2019Chatimah Tovah \u2013 Wishing you a favorable inscription and seal.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Judgments issued on Rosh Hashanah and sealed on Yom Kippur are held in abeyance until the Divine Books are closed&#8230; on Hoshana Rabbah \u2013 observed today (Sefer Ha-Manhig, Hilchot Etrog, OH 38).<\/p>\n<p>Hoshana Rabbah is the seventh day of Succot; the final day of Chol Ha-Moed; i.e., Erev Shemini Atzeret. The night Hoshana Rabbah begins is customarily spent in study \u2013 much as on Shavuot.<\/p>\n<p>Even after the intense spiritual work of the High Holy Days, our fate \u2013 our destiny \u2013 is not unalterable. Hoshana Rabbah insists: we can always further refine ourselves and our behavior. &nbsp;Repentance and study continue.<\/p>\n<p>None of us is a finished product.<\/p>\n<p>Case closed.<\/p>\n<div style=\"padding-bottom:20px; padding-top:10px;\" class=\"hupso-share-buttons\"><!-- Hupso Share Buttons - https:\/\/www.hupso.com\/share\/ --><a class=\"hupso_toolbar\" href=\"https:\/\/www.hupso.com\/share\/\"><img decoding=\"async\" data-src=\"https:\/\/static.hupso.com\/share\/buttons\/share-medium.png\" style=\"border:0px; padding-top: 5px; float:left;\" alt=\"Share Button\" src=\"data:image\/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAAAAACH5BAEKAAEALAAAAAABAAEAAAICTAEAOw==\" class=\"lazyload\" \/><noscript><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/static.hupso.com\/share\/buttons\/share-medium.png\" style=\"border:0px; padding-top: 5px; float:left;\" alt=\"Share Button\"\/><\/noscript><\/a><script type=\"text\/javascript\">var hupso_services_t=new Array(\"Twitter\",\"Facebook\",\"Google Plus\",\"Pinterest\",\"Linkedin\",\"Tumblr\",\"Email\");var hupso_background_t=\"#EAF4FF\";var hupso_border_t=\"#66CCFF\";var hupso_toolbar_size_t=\"medium\";var hupso_image_folder_url = \"\";var hupso_url_t=\"\";var hupso_title_t=\"Hoshana%20Rabbah%3A%20Case%20Closed%21\";<\/script><script type=\"text\/javascript\" src=\"https:\/\/static.hupso.com\/share\/js\/share_toolbar.js\"><\/script><!-- Hupso Share Buttons --><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[640,9415,643],"tags":[15411,8790,8795,8788,8823],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/95810"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=95810"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/95810\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":95811,"href":"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/95810\/revisions\/95811"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=95810"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=95810"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=95810"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}