Sukkot I: Lulav

But on the fifteenth day of the seventh month when you gather in the produce of the land, you will celebrate the festival of God for seven days, on the first day a day of rest and on the eighth day a day of rest. And you shall take for yourselves on the first day a fruit of a beautiful tree [peri etz hadar, etrog (citron)], the fronds of date palms [kapot temarim, lulav] and the branch of a dense tree [anaf etz avot, hadas, (myrtle)] and willows of the stream, and you shall rejoice before the Lord your God for seven days. And you will celebrate it as a festival for God for seven days of the year, an eternal ordinance for your generations, in the seventh month you shall celebrate it.

At four chapters [in time] the world is judged…and on the festival [Sukkot] we are judged concerning water.

Rabbi Eliezer said: Since these four species come only to appease [God] regarding water, and just as it is impossible for these four species [to exist] without water, so it is impossible for the world [to exist] without water

Israel and the idolators enter into judgment on Yom Kippur and the people do not know who has triumphed. God said: take your lulavim in your hand that all will know that you merited in judgment, therefore David said “Then all the trees of the forest will give song…before God” (Tehillim 96:12-13). When? “When He comes, when He comes to judge the land” (Tehillim 96:13) on Yom Kippur. What does Israel do? They wait another five days in order that all know that Israel has merited, therefore it is written “and take for yourselves on the first day.”

They [the sages] said all the Torah in its entirety was said, its general rules and specifics and precise details at Sinai. But given that they are received [tradition] and undebated, one can learn these interpretations from precise reading of the Scripture that was given to us in the ways of logic and textual mnemonics and the hints and teachings that there are in Scripture. And when you see in the Talmud that they [the sages] give and take and debate in the manner of study, and that they bring a proof for one of these explanations and the like, as they said about Him (may He be Exalted) saying “peri etz hadar‘…this is not because the matter is in doubt for them until they learn it through these proofs, but rather we saw without a doubt from Yehoshua until now that the etrog is what is taken with the lulav every year, and there is no debate regarding this, but they only investigated the teaching that there is in Scripture for this received explanation. And so, too, is their learning regarding the hadas.

It was taught in a Baraita: Rabbi Yishmael says: “peri etz hadar“- one [etrog], “kapot temarim“-one [lulav], “anaf etz avot“- three [hadassim], “arvei nachal“- two [aravot].

As we learn in a baraita: A lulav, whether bundled or not bundled, is fit for use. Rabbi Yehuda says: bundled is fit, not bundled is unfit. What is Rabbi Yehuda’s reasoning? “Taking”-“taking” is learned from the bundle of hyssop. There [regarding the hyssop of the Pesach offering] is written: “Take a bundle of hyssop,” and here is written “Take for yourselves on the first day.” Just as over there it is in a bundle, so, too, here it is in a bundle. And our Rabbis [the first opinion cited in the baraita] don’t learn about [this] “taking” from [the other] “taking.” According to who[se opinion] is that which is taught in a baraita: A lulav, it is a mitzva to bundle it, but if he did not bundle it, it is fit for use? If Rabbi Yehuda, when he did not bundle it, why is it fit? If our Rabbis, why [call it] “a mitzva”? In reality, it is our Rabbis’ [opinion], and because it was said: “This is my God and I will glorify Him,” beautify oneself before him with mitzvot.

Behold, from when he lifts it [the set of arba’at ha-minim], he discharges [the obligation] through it. Abbaye said: When he turns it upside-down [he does not discharge the obligation].

Prior to performing them – For this reason, one must recite the beracha over lulav before he takes it, for if after he takes it, “from when he lifts it, he discharges [the obligation]” as we say at the end of our chapter (42a). But nevertheless it does not make sense at all, for how will he recite a beracha over it while it is resting within a vessel…and at any point when the mitzva is not available in his hand to perform, it makes no sense at all to recite a beracha over it…And perhaps when he begins to take a lulav before he takes the etrog, he recites the beracha, and this is prior to performing it, since [arba’at ha-minim] hinder each other [from satisfying the obligation if one is absent]. Alternatively, after he takes both of them [the lulav-bundle and the etrog, he recites the beracha] but he turns one of them upside-down as we say at the end of our chapter (42a) “when he turns it upside-down”…and even if he holds it in manner that it grows [right-side up], it is possible that he intends not to discharge the mitzva with it until after the beracha.

Where would they shake [arba’at ha-minim]? At “Hodu la-Shem” [give thanks to God] at the beginning and end [of the chapter], and at “Ana Ha-shem hoshi’a na” [please God save please], the words of Beit Hillel…

Beit Hillel’s reasoning is that even though “Ana Ha-shem hoshi’a na” is neither at the beginning of the chapter nor the end of the chapter, we shake because it is written “then the trees of the forest will give song before God, for He comes to judge the land” (Divrei Ha-yamim 16), and it is written after it “Give thanks [hodu] to God for He is good, for His lovingkindness is eternal” and it is also written after it “And say, ‘Save us [hoshi’einu] God of our salvation.” And “they will give song” is that we shake thelulav and praise with “hodu” and “ana Ha-shem hoshi’a na.” And now that they have the custom that the shali’ach tzibbur says “Yomar na Yisrael” [Say now, Israel] and the community responds “Hodu” and so with “Yomeru na Yir’ei Ha-shem,” [Say now, those who fear Heaven] the community shakes for each and every “hodu” that they respond.

At the time of the beracha we don’t find that he needs to shake [right] at the start of taking it, but since it says at the end of the chapter (42a) “a minor who knows how to shake is obligated in lulav,” it implies that he shakes at the beginning of the taking even though he does not know how to read Hallel, and further, since it is taught in a baraita at the end of the fourth chapter of Berachot (30a) “If he got up early to go on his way, we bring him a shofar and he blows, [or] a lulav, and he shakes.” Therefore, at the time of taking it, it requires shaking.

The two loaves and the two lambs of Shavuot, how does he do [their service]? He places the two loaves on top of the two lambs, and places his hand under them and waves, and brings forward and back, raises and lowers, as it is sad “that was waved and that was lifted.” Rabbi Yochanan said: He brings forward and back, to He Who the four winds are His. He raises and lowers, to He Who heaven and earth are His. In the West [Israel] they taught thus: Rabbi Chama son of Ukva said Rabbi Yosei son of Rabbi Chanina [said]: He brings forward and back, in order to stop the bad winds. Raises and lowers, in order to stop the bad dews….And Rava said: So it is with lulav.

Our rabbis taught in a baraita: What is a positive time-bound mitzva? Sukka, and lulav, shofar, and tzitzit…

Mishna: A woman can receive [arba’at ha-minim] from her son’s hand or from her husband’s hand and return it to water on Shabbat…Gemara: That is simple. What might you have thought? Since a woman is not subject to the obligation, I would say she may not receive it. It teaches us [otherwise].

Rav Yitzchak Ha-levi ruled that we do not prevent women from reciting a beracha on lulav and sukka…. If they desire to bring themselves into the yoke of the mitzva, the permission is in her hand. We do not rebuke her. For it is no worse than one who is not commanded and does. And since she fulfills a mitzva, it is impossible without a beracha.

[Of Rabbeinu Tam]…That women recite a beracha over taking lulav, for it is not in vain. Even though they [women] are exempt, in any case they are permitted to take it and this is not a beracha in vain…

That which a few women practiced in the beautiful land [Eretz Yisrael], to recite a beracha over lulav, for many years I complained about this. For they took this practice upon themselves and we have accepted the rulings of Rambam and Maran [Rav Yosef Karo in Shulchan Aruch], and they ruled not to recite the beracha. And I asked the elder sages of our generation and they said that it is a mistaken custom, that some of them [the women] were accustomed thus without being aware [of the halacha], and one should nullify the practice…But after time a work by Rav Ya’akov of Marvège, came into my hands, from among the early sages…who would ask from heaven and receive a response. And it says there: “I asked about the women who recite a beracha over lulav and over teki’at shofar…and they answered that the generation is fit for it, ‘all that Sara says to you, listen to her voice’…regarding lulavwe also found support for [it represents] that “one only has one heart for God in heaven”…Therefore, if they [women] came to recite aberacha for lulav and shofar, they are permitted.

It is also a mitzva to inform God-fearing men of valor that they be careful of giving the lulav to women to recite a beracha over it, out of concern for placing a stumbling block before the blind, since according to the view of our Rabbis Rambam and our Master [Rav Yosef Karo, Shulchan Aruch] it is a beracha in vain, and not as there are those who think themselves to be chasing after [mitzvot] through this, as though they are doing a mitzva to give merit to the masses, to encourage them to recite a beracha over it…and who would remove the dust from the sacred eyes of Chida and the later rabbinic authorities who followed after him. And they would see that almost the majority of these women who chase after reciting a beracha over the lulav, don’t recite at all the berachot in which they are obligated, and even birkat ha-mazon, which is a positive Torah commandment, they do not recite (and on the whole from a lack of knowledge)…And not only that, but because the mitzva of lulav that they are especially careful with, the doubts concerning it are many…

Whoever is included in binding [tefillin] is included in writing [them] – From here Rabbeinu Tam says that a woman does not bundle a lulav and make tzitzit, since she is not commanded. And it does not seem so, for since we disqualify tzitzit [made] by non-Jews at the beginning of the fourth chapter of Menachot (42a), for he expounds “benei Yisrael, and they should make” and not by non-Jews. The inference is that a woman is fit…And we expound this specifically regarding a sefer Torah and tefillin and mezuzot, since it is written [in juxtaposition] “and you shall tie”—”and you shall write.”

From here Ri and Rabbeinu Yehuda ruled that women are able to make tzitzit, since [the Talmud] only excludes non-Jews. And so Rabbeinu Yehuda instructed his wife to make tzitzit, but in the name of my teacher [Maharam] may he live I found that they [women] may not make tzitzit since it is written “benei Yisrael…and they shall make,” but the other preparations of the tallit and the spinning of the threads they are able to do…

To me it seems that certainly if she [a woman] made tzitzit one should not disqualify them, but le-chatchila one should be careful in accordance with the words of Maharam…

It implies that le-chatchila a non-Jew should not bundle them as he wrote OC 14 regarding women… and it requires study, for we maintain that a lulav does not require bundling, and if so the bundle is not part of the mitzva [obligation] and see Sukka 11b. And one must say that since it is beautification for the mitzva, it is considered like the mitzva itself and see 39:2.

That a non-Jew bundled – he means that even though le-chatchila it is a mitzva to bundle it out of beautification of the mitzva, in any case it is fit for use [if bundled] by a non-Jew, and see Magen Avraham, whose opinion is that le-chatchila he [a non-Jew] should not bundle it, and the reason is that whoever is not obligated in a matter is not permitted to prepare it and for this reason a woman also should not bundle the lulav le-chatchila. And see there in Bei’ur Halacha that we clarified that in accordance with strict law there is no concern with the matter, but it is still good to be careful with this. And specifically regarding the lower attachment, for there one bundles all of the species together, for there is the fundamental mitzva of bundling, but we are not particular with what they bundle higher up.

Something that intervenes between the lulav and the hand is a chatzitza [which interferes with fulfilling the mitzva]. Therefore, we remove tzitzit and tefillin from the hand and women [remove] their rings. Indeed, it seems to me that one does not need to remove for this reason, for specifically when one wraps the whole hand [as with a glove, there is an issue].

Gloss: And they have the custom to be stringent to remove tefillin and rings from their hands, but the fundamental law is not to be concerned, since not the entire hand is not covered by them (Ha-aguda Pesachim ch.4).

It seems to me that Ha-aguda thinks that anything that the entire hand is not covered with is nullified with respect to the hand…

But the fundamental law is not to be concerned etc. – And a number of later authorities wrote that even according to the fundamental law there is a concern about this on account of chatzitza, even though the whole hand is not covered with them. And therefore if one took before removing the tefillin from his hand or the rings, he should go back and take it without a beracha.

This which he wrote, that whenever the hand is not covered it is not a chatzitza – even though for [mikveh] immersion it is a chatzitza even if [covering] a little bit, this is because the entire body requires immersion, but here one does not need to hold the entire length of the lulav. And even if he holds the etrog at its tip it is considered taking it. And therefore, if just a little bit of the hand is exposed, he can hold it with this little bit.

And you shall take for yourselves on the first day a fruit of a beautiful tree [peri etz hadar, etrog (citron)], the fronds of date palms [kapot temarim, lulav] and the branch of a dense tree [anaf etz avot, hadas, (myrtle)] and willows of the stream, and you shall rejoice before the Lord your God for seven days .

“And you will rejoice before the Lord your God for seven days,” and not outside of the Temple area for all seven days…

At first the lulav was taken in the Mikdash for seven [days] and in [the rest of] the land for one day. After Beit ha-mikdash was destroyed, Rabban Yochanan ben Zakkai enacted that the lulav be taken in [the rest of] the land seven [days] as a commemoration of the Mikdash…

For the sages said: A person does not discharge his obligation on the first Yom Tov of the festival [Sukkot] with the lulav of his fellow, but on the other days of the festival a person discharges his obligation with the lulav of his fellow.

Whence do these words come? As our rabbis Taught in a baraita: “You shall take”- that there should be taking in the hand of each and every one. “For you”- from what is yours, to exclude the borrowed and the stolen. From here the sages said: A person does not discharge his obligation on the first Yom Tov of Sukkot with the lulav of his fellow, unless he [the owner] gave it to him as a gift. And there is a story of Rabban Gamliel and Rabbi Yehoshua and Rabbi Elazar ben Azarya and Rabbi Akiva, who were aboard a ship, and only Rabban Gamliel had a lulav, which he had purchased for a thousand zuz. Rabban Gamliel took it and discharged [his obligation] with it, and gave it as a gift to Rabbi Yehoshua. Rabbi Yehoshua took it and discharged [his obligation] with it and gave it as a gift to Rabbi Elazar ben Azarya. Rabbi Elazar ben Azarya took it and discharged [his obligation] with it, and gave it as a gift to Rabbi Akiva. Rabbi Akiva took it and discharged [his obligation] with it, and returned it to Rabban Gamliel. Why does it state that he returned it? It teaches us something in passing: A gift conditional on return is considered a gift.

For the recipient of a gift knows that the giver does not give as an absolute gift, for he still needs it to discharge [his obligation] with it and he doesn’t have another lulav with which to discharge [his obligation]; he does not need to say explicitly to him [that it is] conditional on return but rather gives it to him without specifying and the recipient returns it without specifying and there is no need for a[n explicit verbal] condition, for Rabban Gamliel gave as a gift to Rabbi Yehoshua and didn’t say to him “as a gift conditional on return”…

Rabbi Zeira said: A person should not transfer ownership of a hoshana [arba’at ha-minim] to a child on the first day of Yom Tov. What is the reason? That regarding acquisition, a child acquires, but regarding transferring ownership [to another, a child] does not transfer, with the result that he [the one who receives it from the child attempts to] discharge [his obligation] with a lulav that is not his.

One should not give it on the first day to a minor before one has discharged one’s obligation with it, because the minor acquires and does not transfer ownership to others on a Torah level, with the result that if he [the minor] returns it to him it is not returned. And there is one who says that if [the child] has reached the stage of pe’utot [approx. age six], it is permissible. And if he holds it along with the child, since it did not leave his hand, it is fine.

There are those among the later authorities who think that the mitzva of education is fulfilled even with a borrowed [set of species] for behold also with this the son is educated for mitzvot…

Rav said: One who sells a field to his wife, she has acquired it and the husband has rights to its profits. [One who has given a field to his wife] as a gift, she has acquired it and the husband does not have rights to its profits. And Rabbi Elazar said: This and that one, she has acquired it and the husband does not have rights to its profits.

There is no acquisition for a wife without her husband [acquiring it].

If someone gave her a gift on condition that the husband have no rights to it, the husband has acquired it [the gift], and behold it is like other property acquired by her during the marriage to which she retains rights to the principle, unless the giver made a condition that the principle of the gift be for such and such [purpose], for example that he say to her: Behold the coins are given to you on condition that you dress yourself with [things bought by] them or on condition that you do what you wish [with them] without the husband’s authorization.

Indeed, it is certainly clear that she is permitted to recite a beracha only when she fulfills the mitzva as enacted as it is fitting for a man, and otherwise it is a beracha in vain. And I saw [fit] to investigate how a married woman can recite a beracha over the lulav on the first day, for we need “lachem” [personal ownership]…For we say (Kiddushin 23b): “There is no acquisition for a wife without her husband [acquiring it]”…We find that she can take lulav and recite a beracha over it on the first day as when her husband gave it to her as a gift, for through this she has fully acquired it…But that she should recite a beracha over another’s lulav that was given to her as a gift, we only find when he said to her…that for the purpose of taking [lulav] he gives it to her and also on condition that the husband have no rights to it.

One who gives a lulav to a married woman does not need to make a condition that her husband has no rights to them. Note 14: Since it is only an acquisition of the profit [for the husband] but the principle remains hers, behold it is her lulav and this suffices for her to discharge the obligation.

Taking lulav with a beracha for a married woman on the first day of Yom Tov.

All of these that we said that they are unfit because of blemishes that we explained or because of theft or robbery, is on the first Yom Tov only, but on the other days, everything is fit. Rema: And there are those who disqualify stolen [species] all seven days, and thus is the custom, but one discharges the obligation with a borrowed [set]. And it is permissible to take the lulav of his fellow without his fellow’s knowledge, on the other days, for it suits people that a mitzva be done with their property, and it is like a borrowed set.

That which his honor was in doubt concerning a woman who is exempt from the mitzva of lulav and wants to fulfill the mitzva, if she is also permitted to take someone else’s lulav without his knowledge on the other days [of Sukkot], for perhaps the reason of Rema (649:5), that it is permissible to take without his knowledge, since [the presumption that] it suits a person for a mitzva to be done with his property is just for a man, who is obligated in the mitzva, and not for a woman, who is not obligated. It seems correct in my humble opinion that, since in any case she has a mitzva and she has a reward for this, it also falls under the halachic presumption that it suits a person for a mitzva to be done with his property.

The mitzva of the willow, how is it [performed]? There was a place below Jerusalem and it was called Motza. They would go down there and gather willow branches from there and come and stand them up at the sides of the altar, with their tops bent over the altar. They would blow a tekia, a teru’a and a tekia. Every day they would circle the altar one time and say “Ana Hashem Hoshi’a na. Ana Hashem hatzlicha na.” [“Please God, save us please. Please God, cause us to succeed please”]. Rabbi Yehuda says: “Ani Va-ho Hoshi’a na” [“God, save us please.”] And that day [Hoshana Rabba] they would circle the altar seven times.

For Rabbi Assi said Rabbi Yochanan [said] in the name of Rabbi Nechunya man of the valley of Beit Churtan: Ten plantings, arava, and water libation, are halacha le-Moshe mi-Sinai. But Rav Zavid said in the name of Rava: Lulav, which has a Torah basis outside of the Mikdash, we do for seven [days] in commemoration of the Mikdash. Arava, which has no Torah basis outside of the Mikdash, we don’t do for seven days in commemoration of the Mikdash.

The matter of the Hoshanot is a commemoration of the Mikdash, as it is taught (Sukka 45a): Every day they circle the altar one time, and on the seventh day seven times. In the Mikdash, they learned this from Yericho, as is found in the Yerushalmi there [4:3], and in Midrash Shochar Tov on the verse “Hear, God, justice” [Tehillim 17:1]. Therefore, we also circle the bima with our lulavim and etrogim, one time every day and seven times on Hoshana Rabba. And we place the sefer Torah on the bima and cry out “Hoshana,” meaning, Please save Your people, the remnant of Israel, from all the troubles that surround them, in the merit of the Torah and in the merit of Your great name that, as it were, “I am with him in adversity,” and please save for Your sake, our God, etc….And on Shabbat, we do not circle because there is no lulav on Shabbat, and in the Mikdash they also did not circle on Shabbat, and we do not place the sefer Torah on the bima on Shabbat, but we say Hoshanot even on Shabbat, as our master Beit Yosef wrote in 660:3, “There is an opinion that we do not say Hoshana on Shabbat, and practice is not thus.” And thus is Ashkenazi custom, and the Sefaradim do not say [Hoshanot on Shabbat]. The practice is that someone without a lulav circles, and some say that someone without a lulav does not circle, and thus we practice…

Ayebo and Chizkiya sons of the daughter of Rav brought an arava before Rav, he performed chibut and did not recite a beracha. He thought, it is a custom derived from the prophets.

Since it is taught chibut arava – the inference is that one takes it in one’s hand and shakes

The [minimum] measure of this arava is even one leaf on one branch. Rema: nevertheless, it is ugly for it to be one leaf on one branch (Tur). Therefore, they had the practice to make the hoshanot nice, on account of “This is my God and I will beautify Him” (Shemot 15:2). [Shulchan Aruch:] And the [minimum] measure of its length is like the measure of length of the arava that is in the lulav….And he beats [chovet] it on the ground or on a vessel two or three times. Rema: And there are those who say that he must shake it (Tur in the name of Rashi) and they had the practice to do both of them, shaking it and afterwards beating it.

Why chibut? Because “Every weapon formed against you will not succeed and every tongue that rises against you in judgment will be condemned” (Yeshayahu 54:17) etc. Since until now in these days the Satan accuses and Israel in these days when there are many mitzvot nullify him, from here onward any mouth that rises against them won’t be able to prevail and will fall to the ground.

He makes a hoshana from willow for all members of his household, for male and female on their own.

Question : Do girls need to say Hoshanot on Sukkot or is it just boys? Thank you very much, chag same’ach! Response: Girls are also permitted to say Hoshanot. My mother had the practice of participating in the Hoshanot of Hoshana Rabba and my father would ensure she had designated aravot. I assume that this was a received tradition for generations.

It seems to me [Rabbanit Mittelman] that increased opportunities for women’s Torah learning have impacted upon two realms: they have created a stronger connection to mesora, and they have driven a stronger desire for involvement and innovation. A woman who has her own lulav will come to the synagogue on Hol ha-Mo’ed, and she might seek out a way to be a participant (in circling a Torah scroll) during the recitation of Hoshanot, which I presume my father would have opposed. I think that a community needs to give thought to how women can take an active part in Hoshanot, even if, in the Temple, they did not circle the altar. Ten years ago, I never felt that this was lacking, as there were few other women in the synagogue with a lulav. However, as, from year to year, the number of women outfitted with lulav and etrog has increased, the deficiency becomes more apparent.

Someone who is sick and is unable to circle the aron kodesh in the synagogue should set down a chair in his home and place a Tanach upon it and circle [that], in order not to nullify the mitzva of circling…

…On the night of Hoshana Rabba they [the women] are awake and learn Devarim and Tehillim and the prayers of “Kortei Berit.”…For [Hoshana Rabba] is efficacious for man and woman who repent in teshuva, for therefore they enacted Selichot and tefillot on it, and it is called a miniature Yom Kippur, and therefore it is fitting that a woman should also be involved in the study, and as men need life, so women need life…It is the honor of the lady [the bride, the metaphysical essence of the Jewish people awaiting her conjunction with God]…that a male chase after a female…For the learning of Hoshana Rabba is done from the [kabbalistic] aspect of sealing judgment, and the conjugal unification [of the Bride, following accompaniment by male attendants] is not done on the morrow [Hoshana Rabba] until after the completion of the circuits of Hoshana Rabba and chibut arava, which only men do, and not women.

“Peri etz hadar“-This is Sara, for God glorified her [hidrah] with a long life, as it is said “And Avraham and Sara grew old” (Bereishit 18). “Kapot temarim“-This is Rivka. Just as a date palm has food and has spikes, so Rivka gave rise to a righteous man and a wicked man. “Ve-anaf etz avot“-This is Leah. Just as this myrtle is rustled with leaves, so was Leah rustled with sons. “Ve-arvei nachal“-This is Rachel. Just as this willow withers before the [other] three species, so did Rachel die before her sister.

The holiday of Sukkot is a celebration of senses, a holiday of smells and of colors…Taking the lulav alone in the sukka is an act that has the intimacy of a person being surrounded by mitzvot, a sensory experience unique to the holiday of Sukkot. Transferring the intimate encounter to the beit kenesset makes it more powerful and connects it to the communal prayers of Hallel and Hoshanot. As the lulavim within it become more numerous, so too the ezrat nashim dresses itself for the festival, and is filled with new and special smells and colors. In many places, the special dance of women pursuing mitzvot also has a unique flavor and scent of excitement and renewal. And, above all, the colors and smells echo the call that ends the recitation of Hoshanot: “Save your people and bless Your portion, and You shall tend to them and bear them forever…in order that all peoples of the earth know that the Lord is God, there is no other.”