Sukkah, Daf Lamed, Part One
Introduction
Today’s section consists only of the opening mishnah of the third chapter. Most of the commentary below is from my Mishnah Yomit commentary.
The third chapter of Sukkah deals with the four species, which are together called the Lulav. These four species are described in Leviticus 23:40, On the first day you shall take the product of hadar trees, branches of palm trees, boughs of leafy trees and willows of the brook, and you shall rejoice before the Lord your God seven days. The four species are identified by the rabbis as 1) the etrog or citron; 2) the lulav or palm-branch; 3) the hadas or myrtle; 4) the arava or willow. I will refer to them by their Hebrew names.
The Torah does not say exactly what one is to do with these four species and this led to different interpretations among ancient groups of Jews. In Nehemiah 8:14-18 we see Israelites using them, or more precisely, something similar to them, to build their sukkot. Other groups of ancient Jews used them strictly in the Temple to walk around the altar. For the rabbis the mitvah of the lulav was incumbent upon every Jew, whether at the Temple or outside of it. The rabbis explain that each Jew must simply pick these four species up once a day on Sukkot and wave them in each direction. This remains our custom to this day.
The first seven mishnayot deal with the physical attributes of the four species. To this day, observant Jews are extremely cautious to make sure that the four species look like they are supposed to look, or in Hebrew are mehudar , adorned.
You can find many interesting pictures and information about the four species by googling them and looking at the images.
/משנה/.
2) של אשירה ושל עיר הנדחת – פסול.
3) נקטם ראשו, נפרצו עליו – פסול.
4) נפרדו עליו – כשר, רבי יהודה אומר: יאגדנו מלמעלה.
5) ציני הר הברזל כשירות.
6) לולב שיש בו שלשה טפחים כדי לנענע בו – כשר.
1) A stolen or a dried up lulav is invalid.
2) One [that came] from an asherah tree or from a condemned city is invalid.
3) If its top was broken off or its leaves were detached, it is invalid.
4) If its leaves are spread apart it is valid.
i) Rabbi Judah says he should tie it at the top.
5) The thorny palms of the iron mountain are valid.
6) A lulav which is three handbreadths in length, long enough to wave, is valid.
Section one: There are two potential reasons why a stolen lulav is invalid. First of all, the Torah states, And you shall take for yourselves (lachem) on the first day The extra word lachem (for yourselves) is understood to mean that a person s lulav must be their own and not one that was stolen or even borrowed. Secondly, performing a mitzvah with a stolen item is considered a commandment that derives from a transgression and such an act is invalid.
A dried up lulav is invalid because it is not adorned , meaning it does not look good.
Section two: An asherah is a tree used for idol worship. Since it is forbidden to use anything from this kind of tree, its palm-branch cannot be used to fulfill the mitvah of lulav.
A condemned city refers to an idolatrous city which must be utterly destroyed, according to Deuteronomy 13:13-18. Everything in the idolatrous city must be burned. Hence it is impossible to use a lulav that comes from such a city.
Section three: The lulav must not be broken off at its top and its leaves must still be attached to the spine, the middle leaf that goes through all lulavim.
Section four: If the leaves are still attached but they are spread apart, the lulav is still valid. Rabbi Judah says that if the leaves are still attached one should tie the lulav (just the palm-branch) together at the top. We shall learn more about tying all four species together later in the chapter.
Section five: The iron mountains are identified in Josephus, Wars of the Jews 4, 8, 2 as being mountains north of Moab, on the other side of the Jordan river. From our mishnah we see that the palm trees that grew there seem to have been a slightly different type of palm. Their leaves are shorter and do not grow on the whole length of the spine. Nevertheless, they are valid for the mitzvah of lulav.
Section six: The lulav must be three handbreadths, long enough so that one can wave it. The Talmud explains that the lulav must actually be three handbreadths long, like the hadas and aravah, and then an additional handbreadth so that it can be waved. We will learn more about waving the lulav and other four species later in the chapter.