Chol HaMoed Sukkot 5785

by Rabbi Ellen S. Wolintz-Fields

The fulfillment of the mitzvah of the four species of Sukkot requires us to hold together either fruit or branches from four different species of trees – the date palm (lulav), the myrtle (hadas), the willow (aravot), and the citron (etrog). Some interpret that there is a masculine-feminine symbolism within the four species. The lulav is a masculine symbol and the etrog is feminine. The Midrash (rabbinic legend) explains that the mitzvah of the lulav and etrog symbolizes the intrinsic desire for the unity of the Jewish people.These four species are noticeably different from one another. The etrog has both a pleasant taste and a pleasant fragrance. The fruit of the tree from which the lulav is taken, the date, has a pleasant taste, but no fragrance. The myrtle has a pleasant fragrance, but no taste, and the willow has neither fragrance nor pleasant taste.

Taste symbolizes Torah study, because understanding Torah gives us a concrete pleasure, similar to the sensation of experiencing a pleasing flavor. Smell symbolizes the fulfillment of mitzvot. Often we do not understand the reasons for the mitzvot, so for some, the observance of some mitzvot  may be less tangibly gratifying than Torah study is, in much the same way that smelling something is less palpably gratifying than tasting it. An extension of this symbolism allows us to see each of the four species as representing a different type of individual. The etrog represents a person who studies Torah and fulfills the mitzvot, the lulav represents one who studies Torah but does not perform mitzvot, the myrtle represents one who fulfills mitzvot but does not study Torah, and the willow represents a Jew who neither studies Torah nor observes mitzvot. All these people make up the Jewish people. Am Yisrael Chai! The People of Israel Live!