Willow

Arava (ערבה) has a beautiful dual meaning in Hebrew: it refers both to the willow tree and to the desert plain — specifically the Arava valley that stretches from the Dead Sea to the Red Sea. Both meanings carry deep significance in Jewish tradition and Israeli geography. As a plant, the arava (willow) is one of the four species used on Sukkot. Two willow branches are bound together with the lulav. The Midrash says the willow, which has neither taste nor fragrance, represents those who have neither Torah knowledge nor good deeds — yet are still included and valued in the community. On Hoshana Rabba (the seventh day of Sukkot), willow branches are beaten against the ground in a powerful ritual of renewal. Psalm 137 immortalized the willow in one of the most poignant verses in all of scripture: 'By the rivers of Babylon, there we sat and wept; upon the willows we hung our harps.' This image of exile and longing has resonated through Jewish history for millennia. As a geographic term, the Arava (ערבה) is the dramatic rift valley extending south of the Dead Sea to Eilat. Once considered barren, the modern Arava has become an agricultural miracle, where Israeli farmers grow dates, peppers, and flowers in the desert using innovative irrigation. The word arava thus embodies the Jewish story itself — from weeping in exile to making the desert bloom.