10/01/2026
Tonight would have been Reb Arthur’s 93rd birthday. And though he is no longer alive, we would love to celebrate his life, be inspired by his Torah, and on this Hoshanah Rabbah, heed his - and the holiday’s - call for a spiritual revolution with you!
by Rabbi Nate DeGroot
[See comments for registration link!]
In this first Hoshanah Rabbah after Arthur’s passing, the incredible Rabbi Danya Ruttenberg headlines tonight’s program, where she will share Reb Arthur-inspired Torah and lead our collective learning. Reb Phyllis Berman will share opening remarks. There will be a couple of exciting announcements along the way. And together, we will get to celebrate Arthur’s life and the holiday, have a soak in Arthur’s Torah, and allow his memory, his legacy, and his teaching to inspire in our lives the kinds of change he dedicated his life to and that he prayed to see!
As you likely know, Hoshanah Rabbah, was a staple in Reb Arthur’s life and in the life of The Shalom Center for many years now.
Last year at this time, Reb Arthur had just entered hospice and was set to release his final two books. Two years ago, we were in Philadelphia, where he passed the lulav to me as I became Director of The Shalom Center and he became Prophetic Envoy. And three years ago, we celebrated The Shalom Center’s 40th anniversary.
Going back even farther, you may recall seeing pictures of Arthur, his daughter, Shoshana, and Pete Seeger together for what may have been his most imaginative and embodied Hoshanah Rabbah celebration on the banks of the Hudson River in 1998. Or maybe you were even there!
As Religion News reported at the time: “With prayers, dancing, and singing, culminating in the beating of willow branches on the river banks, Jewish worshippers [along with an Iroquois spiritual leader and Catholic nuns] gathered at the Hudson River to ask divine protection for the endangered river and demand that one of the manufacturers responsible for polluting its waters [GE] fulfill its obligation to clean it…In his final prayer, Waskow urged worshippers to adhere to the teaching of unity in the world and respect the interconnection of its parts.”
Arthur knew that Hoshanah Rabbah was a holiday of “unity in the world” and respect for “the interconnection of its parts.” He knew it was a holiday of saving. Of pleading. A holiday where we beat willow branches into the ground to shake the foundations of spiritual malaise and beckon the quenching rains of justice.
As the final gates finally close in this season of our greatest vulnerability and tender exposure, Hoshanah Rabbah arrives with the first chilled wind and a precious chance to wake the heavens and ourselves. With grand gestures of shaking branches and quiet quivers of the soul, we march around in circles - embodied revolutions - returning again to the beginning. Together we seed verdant possibility, gathering cyclical, celestial momentum for radical - at the roots! - transformation.
This is the promise of Hoshanah Rabbah and this is the Torah of Reb Arthur. Tonight begins the day when the two intimately intertwine, braiding together in this, the season of our joy.
We hope you’ll join us tonight to celebrate Reb Arthur and Hoshanah Rabbah at our 1st Annual Reb Arthur Hoshanah Rabbah Torah Soak!
== See link in comments to register ==
