All who wound God's works, wound God's image. ‑Zohar

In the time that the Holy One created the first human,
he took him to all the trees of Gan Eden and said to him,
"See my works, how lovely and praiseworthy they are,
and all that I created, for your sake I created it.
Put your mind [to this], so you won’t ruin or destroy my world, for if you do ruin,
there are none who will repair after you.”  — Kohelet Rabbah on Eccl. 7:13

Hoshana Rabbah

Some of the most extraordinary prayers for the earth are found in the Hoshanot for Sukkot. The prayers for Tu Bishvat are equally powerful, but the Hoshanot go back more than a millenium, while Tu Bishvat only goes back centuries. These are the prayers we say while parading around the ark or Torah with lulav and etrog in hand. Most siddurim fail to translate these prayers or miss the meaning.

One Hoshana prayer-poem is recited for each of the hakafot (hakafah = circle march). On Hoshana Rabba, the last day of Sukkot, we circle seven times and recite many many poems for the elements, the ancestors, the animals and plants, the clouds and rain and atmosphere, the Temple, and more. The fifth Hakafah of Hoshana Rabbah is especially wonderful. When I have time I'll add the whole Hebrew piyut along with a translation, but here's the first bit and the end:

Hoshana adam uv'heimah, hoshana!
Please save human and animal! Please, save!
Hoshana basar v'ruach un'shamah, hoshana!
Please save flesh and spirit and breathing!
Hoshana gid v'etsem v'qormah, hoshana!
Please save sinew and bone and knit!
Hoshana dmut v'tselem v'rikmah, hoshana!
Please save likeness and image and weave!
Hoshana hod lahevel damah (hoshana) v'nimshal kab'heimot nidmah, hoshana!
Please save! Majesty is compared to empty breath (please save!) and the one compared is likened as the animals!
Hoshana ziv v'toar v'qomah, hoshana!
Please save radiance and beautiful form and fullness of stature*!
Hoshana chidush pnai ha'adamah, hoshana!...
Please save, Renew the face of the earth!
Hoshana t'luyah al b'li mah, hoshana!
Please save [this world] suspended upon nothingness!

Here's a link to download the Hebrew for all the Hoshanot. You can also go here to find Reb Zalman's English version of environmental Hoshanot.

* "fullness of stature" – the Hebrew, komah קומה, means, erect posture, height, stature, especially of a human being, as well as the potential to achieve the stature or status or metaphysical height of a human being, which is something found in every spark, whether that spark be found in animal, plant, or any material thing.

Design in progress © Rabbi David Mevorach Seidenberg 2006