Sukkah, Daf Lammed Zayin, Part 5
Introduction
Today’s section starts with a new mishnah, concerning what one actually does with the lulav.
משנה. והיכן היו מנענעין? בהודו לה’ תחילה וסוף, ובאנא ה’ הושיעה נא, דברי בית הלל, ובית שמאי אומרין: אף באנא ה’ הצליחה נא. אמר רבי עקיבא: צופה הייתי ברבן גמליאל ורבי יהושע, שכל העם היו מנענעין את לולביהן, והם לא נענעו אלא באנא ה’ הושיעה נא.
And where [in the service] do they wave [the lulav]?
At Give thanks to the Lord (Psalm 118), at the beginning and at the end, and at O Lord, deliver us (118:25), the words of Bet Hillel.
Bet Shammai say: also at O Lord, let us prosper.
Rabbi Akiva says: I was watching Rabban Gamaliel and Rabbi Joshua, and while all the people were waving their lulavs [at O Lord, let us prosper ] they waved them only at O Lord deliver us.
The mitzvah of taking the lulav involves waving it in six directions to the directions of the four winds and up and down. The custom was and still is to waive the lulav the first time one takes it up, and then to waive it again in the synagogue at various points during the recitation of Hallel at the morning service. This is the background to our mishnah. Here we see that there is a debate about one of these wavings. According to all of the sages, one waves at the beginning of Psalm 118 and at the end, a Psalm that begins and ends with Give thanks to the Lord. Everyone agrees that there is also a waving in the middle of this Psalm, but they disagree as to the extent of the waving. Bet Hillel says that one waves during the first half of verse 25, O Lord, deliver us , but not during the second half, O Lord, let us prosper. Bet Shammai says that one also waves during the second half of the verse. Rabbi Akiva, who lived long after Bet Hillel and Bet Shammai were no longer really in existence, testifies that he saw all of the people waving at O Lord, let us prosper as Bet Shammai stated, while Rabban Gamaliel and Rabbi Joshua, two of Rabbi Akiva s elders, waived only at O Lord, deliver us, as Bet Hillel posited. The halakhah is according to Bet Hillel. As an aside, while it is typical for the rabbis to follow Bet Hillel, it is interesting to note that in this case most of the people acted like Bet Shammai.
גמרא. נענוע מאן דכר שמיה? – התם קאי: כל לולב שיש בו שלשה טפחים כדי לנענע בו – כשר. וקאמר: היכן מנענעין.
GEMARA. Waving? Who mentioned this ?
It refers to there: A lulav which has a length of three handbreadths, sufficient to wave with it, is valid, and our mishnah says, And where [in the service] do they wave [the lulav]?
The Gemara is puzzled by the Mishnah seeming to discuss how one waves the lulav without first stating that one does wave the lulav. Our mishnah, in other words, seems to come out of nowhere.
The answer is that this mishnah refers to the mishnah on 29b that taught that the lulav has to have three handbreadths, enough to wave it. From that mishnah we could see that the lulav needs to be waved. This triggers our mishnah which discusses how the lulav is waved.