2021/5782
The holiday of Sukkot is well known for the “huts” that we live in and the “plants” that we shake. Jews all around the world shell out hundreds upon hundreds of dollars along with countless hours to fulfill these peculiar commandments. We know that the Sukkah commemorates the physical and/or spiritual protection Bnei Yisrael received in the desert, but why do we shake these weird “plants”?
When looking for the reason behind any Mitzvah, the first place to look is the Sefer HaChinuch. The Sefer HaChinuch writes a short paragraph on every Mitzvah explaining the reasoning behind it. Regarding Mitzvat Lulav (Mitzvah 324) the Sefer HaChinuch writes that we shake the Lulav in order to redirect our great joy from the mundane to the spiritual. Sukkot is a time of ultimate happiness from worldly pleasures; it is a time when farmers get to finally reap the benefits of all their hard work and bring the ripened grain into their homes. Imagine spending months working on stocks and finally after a year you get to sell the stocks at triple the price. The great joy it brings to someone is unquestionable. What is questionable, though, is where one directs that joy. One can take a self-centered approach and laud himself for all the hard work he did, or he can thank the Conductor of the world for allowing him such great material wealth. It is very easy to get caught up in the first mindset, and for that reason we shake the four species. By taking four species that inherently bring joy to someone, one realizes that all the joy he has must be directed towards doing Hashem’s will, like the four species. The Sefer HaChinuch quotes a relevant Midrash that offers symbolism for each of the four species: The Etrog
represents the heart, the Lulav represents the spine, the Hadas represents the eye and the Aravah represents the lip. Each of these organs and limbs are quintessential to our Avodah to Hashem: the heart is the abode of the mind, the spine is the center of our movements and functioning, our eyes need to be kept from straying from Hashem, and our lips are used to express ourselves. The four species are meant to shake the different parts of our body out of a self-centered, mundane perspective into a grateful, spiritual one.
When tying together the four species, the Rama writes (Orach Chaim 651:1) that one should place the Hadassim higher up than the Aravot. It begs to ask, why do we care how high each plant is? The Mishnah Berurah (ibid. Se’if Katan 12) quotes the Levush who says it’s from Kabbalah and is not meant for our understanding. The Vilna Ga’on, contrarily, quotes the above Midrash implying that just like the eyes are above the lips anatomically, so too, the Hadassim are above the Aravot. Rabbi George Silfen adds (VaYeVareich Shlomo; Sukkot) that not everything that we see is fitting to be spoken of. Just like the eyes are above the lips, so too, they see and process more. One needs to learn to filter what he sees from higher up. After spending forty days working on our attributes and actions, we cannot let what we see make us restart to sin. We need to filter what comes in, in order to protect what comes out. With Hashem’s help we should have a pleasurable and spiritual Sukkot that continues the last forty days of elevation and purity.