The lecture “Tikkun on the Night of Sealing: On This Night We Write Good Notes” Delivered on Hoshana Rabbah at the Begin Center, the lecture by Rabbanit Sarah Segal-Katz explored the halakhic, liturgical, and mystical traditions that shape this concluding night of the High Holy Days. Drawing on Mishnah Sukkah, Shulḥan Arukh, Arukh HaShulḥan, and kabbalistic sources such as the Zohar and R. Ḥayyim Vital’s Sha‘ar Ha-Kavanot, the lecture traced the customs of hoshanot, the seven circuits, and ḥibbut aravot as both communal ritual and personal sealing of judgment. Segal-Katz also examined exegetical treatments of “Ani va-Ho Hoshi‘a Na,” its connection to the seventy-two-letter Name, and the symbolic resonance of the willow in R. Eleazar of Worms’ Sefer ha-Rokeah.
The discussion illuminated the layered meanings of pitqa tava (“a good note”), considering both the communal cycles of prayer and the individual’s inner intention at the culmination of divine judgment. By weaving classical halakhic sources with ḥasidic interpretations, piyyut, and modern Hebrew poetry, the lecture portrayed Hoshana Rabbah as a convergence of law and experience, collective ritual and intimate devotion, tradition and renewal.
