On this festival, Jews are actually commanded to revel and rejoice.
By DVORA WAYSMANsukkot image 88 224(photo credit: Ariel Jerozolimski)
'To everything there is a season...." In Israel Succot, The Feast of Booths, belongs to autumn, the close of the agricultural year, when we welcome yoreh the first rain and celebrate the ingathering of summer crops and fruit.
Succot has many symbols and rituals, with the rite of the Four Species (arba'ah minim) an integral and central part of the celebrations.
It is all spelt out for us in Deuteronomy and Leviticus, where we are enjoined to observe the festival for seven days at the end of the harvest season, when "you make your ingathering from your threshing floor and your wine press." We are then instructed to "take the fruit of the goodly tree, date-palm fronds, a bough of a leafy tree and willows of the brook" and to rejoice. Israeli schoolchildren can usually reel off the names of the plants needed for the holiday - palm branches, myrtle, willow and the fruit of the citron (etrog).
At the time of the First Temple, different communities had different renditions. The Bible is not a botanical guidebook, so there was some confusion except for the palm fronds. "A fruit of a goodly tree," "a bough of a leafy tree" and "willows of the brook" were open to various interpretations. "Willows" were applied to all the trees and shrubs growing along the river banks and streams, and there were also many "goodly" trees and many "leafy" trees.
The Sages ultimately defined them. Palm fronds had sheltered the Israelites during their long journey through the desert. They became known as the lulav, a young branch from a date palm picked while the leaves are tightly furled against the spine. They decided that a "leafy" tree must have leaves even to cover its trunk, which eliminated the olive tree. Eventually the myrtle (hadas) was chosen because its branches retain their freshness for a long time, thus a symbol of longevity. Willows were a problem because "arava" was a common name. It was decided that the tree should have elongated leaves like streaming water, so the willow was chosen. It wilts quickly when away from water, so it symbolizes our eternal dependence on rain. The willow twigs (hoshanot) belong to the time of the Babylonian captivity, after the destruction of the First Temple. Along the riverbanks of our oppressors, we hung our harps upon the willows while we mutely wept for the loss of our homeland, Zion. "Upon the willows in the midst thereof we hanged up our harps" (Psalms 137:12).
The etrog‚ or citron, resembling a bright yellow lemon with textured skin, was chosen as "the fruit of the goodly tree" after much debate. Other contenders were the carob, the fig and the pomegranate. The etrog symbolizes fertility; it bears fruit all the year and also has a very pleasant scent. It is believed to have been brought to Israel by the Jews returning from exile in Babylonia.
Apart from dwelling in booths for seven days, we are commanded to rejoice with the lulav. Three myrtle twigs and two willow branches are attached to the lulav with a braided palm leaf. We hold them together - the lulav in the right hand and the etrog in the left - and wave the lulav in all directions after reciting a blessing.
These are all symbols.
It is said that the Four Species represent four kinds of Jews. The fragrant etrog stands for those who study Torah and do good deeds. The unscented palm is likened to those who study but do not act. The scented myrtle, without taste, is like those who act but do not study Torah. The humble willow, without taste or fragrance, represents those who neither study nor do good deeds.
Most years, just before Succot, pious Jews can be seen examining etrogim with great concentration, to make sure the citron is perfect in every way. This year will be different because the fruit was grown during the shmitta year. Produce grown here has many restrictions on its sale, consumption and disposal. You need to read the certificate attesting to its shmitta or non-shmitta status.
There are Italian or Moroccan etrogim grown abroad, to which the restrictions do not apply. Otherwise an etrog with the mark "Otzar Beit Din" can be used, but it must not be discarded even after Yom Tov. Some women make them into jam. In Israel, you are supposed to take one in a sealed box without examining it. In theory, you are not supposed to pay for it; but if you do, it is to reimburse the grower for his labor, not for the fruit itself. When you receive it together with the lulav, you are only paying for the lulav. The etrog has the holiness of the seventh year, so be careful to treat it as sacred.
When the lulav is carried in procession around the synagogue, it recalls circuits the priests made around the altar at Succot. On the seventh day, seven circuits are made to commemorate seven great men - Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Moses, Aaron, Phineas and David. It also represents seven days of creation; the seven lambs set apart by Abraham in his covenant with Avimelech in Beersheba; the seven years Jacob served before he married Rachel; and the seven-day festivals ordained by Moses
At Succot, after the solemnity of Rosh Hashana and Yom Kippur, we are commanded to be joyful, and enjoined three times: "You shall rejoice before the Lord your God seven days"; "You shall rejoice in your festival"; and "You shall have nothing but joy."
May we all rejoice in our succa, and remember the words of Rabbi Chaim Halberstam of Zanz: "There is no finer way to decorate a succa than seeing to it that the poor do not go hungry."
