Yearning for Hashem opens the wellspring

להו"ר קבעו הרבה בקשות על המים.

For Hoshana Rabbah they established many requests concerning water.

Chazal instituted numerous tefillos about water for Hoshana Rabbah, and the Sefas Emes will explain the deeper meaning of this theme of water.

דאיתא ערבה רומז לאותן שאין בהם תורה ומצות לא טעם ולא ריח.

For it is taught that the aravah alludes to those who have neither Torah nor mitzvos — neither taste nor fragrance.

In the well-known Midrash of the daled minim, the willow (which has no taste and no smell) represents the Jews who have neither Torah learning nor good deeds.

א"כ מה השבח שלהם.

If so, what is their praise?

The Sefas Emes asks: if the aravah-Jew has neither Torah nor mitzvos, what virtue does he have at all?

רק מה שמצפים לישועת ה'.

Only that they yearn for the salvation of Hashem.

Their one merit is their longing and anticipation for Hashem's deliverance.

ערבי נ"חל ר"ת "נפשינו "חכתה "לה'.

"Aravei nachal" — the letters of "nachal" form the acronym: "Our soul (Nafsheinu) has waited (Chikesah) for Hashem (LaShem)" (Tehillim 33:20).

The Sefas Emes reads "nachal" of "aravei nachal" (Vayikra 23:40) as a remez: nun-ches-lamed stand for "Nafsheinu chikesah LaShem" — the willow-Jews' whole essence is that their souls wait longingly for Hashem.

ומזה נפתח פי הבאר.

And from this the mouth of the well was opened.

It is precisely this yearning that opens the wellspring of salvation and Divine flow.

והנחל נעשה מזה התשוקה שיש נטבע בנפשות בנ"י.

And the stream (nachal) is formed from this very yearning that is implanted in the souls of Bnei Yisrael.

The "nachal," the flowing river of Divine bounty, is generated by the deep-seated longing that is embedded in every Jewish soul.

כתיב כל צמא לכו למים כל צמא רומז לבנ"י שיש להם הצמאון אל... התורה.

It is written, "Everyone who is thirsty, go to the water" (Yeshayahu 55:1) — "everyone who is thirsty" alludes to Bnei Yisrael, who possess the thirst for… the Torah.

The pasuk's call to "the thirsty" refers to Bnei Yisrael, whose defining trait is their thirst for the waters of Torah.

כתיב ארץ לא שבעה מים ובנ"י נקראו ארץ כמ"ש תהיו אתם ארץ חפץ.

It is written, "a land that is not sated with water" (Mishlei 30:16), and Bnei Yisrael are called "land," as it says, "you shall be a desirable land" (Malachi 3:12).

Just as the earth is never fully satisfied no matter how much water it receives, so Bnei Yisrael — called "eretz chefetz," a desirable land — are never sated.

פי' להיות בהם התשוקה והחפץ כמו ארץ שאינה נשבעת בכל המימות שבעולם.

The meaning is that there should be in them the yearning and desire, like earth that is never sated by all the waters in the world.

Being a "desirable land" means carrying an endless desire for closeness to Hashem, a thirst that all the water in the world could never quench.

כן איתא במד' בפסוק וידגו לרוב מה דגים שגדלים במים ומצפים לכל טיפה מים כאלו לא טעמו כו' כן בני ישראל מצפים אל מי התורה.

So it is taught in the Midrash on the pasuk "and may they multiply like fish (veyidgu)" (Bereishis 48:16): just as fish, which grow up in water, still long for every drop of water as though they had never tasted it, so too Bnei Yisrael long for the waters of the Torah.

The blessing that Bnei Yisrael multiply "like fish" teaches that, like fish who crave each drop of water despite living in it, Bnei Yisrael never lose their thirst for Torah no matter how much they have already received.

וכ"כ נפשי כארץ עיפה לך סלה.

And so it is written, "my soul thirsts for You like a weary land, selah" (Tehillim 143:6).

Dovid HaMelech compares his soul's longing for Hashem to a parched, weary land that thirsts ceaselessly.

פי' סלה כמ"ש ארץ לא שבעה שיש בו לעולם התשוקה והצמאון.

The meaning of "selah" is like "a land never sated" — that there is in it an everlasting yearning and thirst.

The word "selah" denotes perpetuity: just as the land is never satisfied, this thirst for Hashem is eternal and never ceases.

ולפי רוב הצמאון בנפשות בנ"י נפתח להם הנחל:

And according to the abundance of thirst in the souls of Bnei Yisrael, the stream is opened for them.

The greater the longing in the souls of Bnei Yisrael, the more the wellspring of Divine flow and salvation is opened up to them.

Summary: The many water-themed tefillos of Hoshana Rabbah reflect the secret of the aravah — the Jew who has neither Torah nor mitzvos, yet whose one great merit is his yearning for Hashem's salvation, hinted in "aravei nachal" ("Nafsheinu chikesah LaShem"). This implanted longing is what opens the wellspring of Divine bounty. Bnei Yisrael are called a "land never sated with water" and are likened to fish who crave every drop though they live in water: their thirst for the waters of Torah is endless. And in proportion to the depth of that thirst, the stream of salvation is opened for them.