Tuesday, October 14, 2008

The Four Species By Rabbi Dovid Goldwasser

Similarly, the lulav and esrog characterize our position in life. The Talmud tells us in Taanis that we declare before Hashem that just as these species cannot exist without water, so too our existence is contingent on the essence of life derived solely from Hashem.

An interesting aspect is noted relative to the mitzvos of the Yom Tov of Succos. In the Torah, Hashem commands us first about the mitzvah of the Four Species (Vayikra 23:40) “Ulekachtem lachem bayom harishon pri eitz hadar … and you shall take for yourselves on the first day the fruit of a citron tree … .” Then (Vayikra 23:42) we are directed to dwell in the succah, “Basuccos teshvu shivas yamim – you shall dwell in booths for a seven day period.”

In contrast, when we study the Oral Law (Torah Sheb’al Peh), e.g. Mishnah, Rambam, Shulchan Aruch, the mitzvah of succah precedes the elucidation of the mitzvah of the Four Species. Why is this so?

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Love the way you write, it's so clear and understandable.

Anonymous said...

That was a good point, but You gave explicite answer. Thank You, now we understand more