Most of our Jewish festivals have some symbols that we
associate with them. On Sukkot, in many
ways, we actually have five. On the one
hand, we have the Sukkah, the temporary dwelling place that we build, reside
in, and eat our meals in during the festival; but then we also have the Lulav and
Etrog, really the arba'a minim - the four species, which
are necessary for the performance of various Mitzvot associated with
Sukkot.
The arba'a
minim which consists of the Etrog, the Palm (lulav), the Myrtle (hadas) and
the Willow (arava) are shaken around ourselves
on each day of the Festival. It is the
part of the festival that always seems to engage the young people as they have
the opportunity to shake the Lulav and Etrog in all different directions.
There are many interpretations of the symbolism of these
four species. Some associate them with
parts of the body, others with the elements, but my personal favorite is the one which associates them
with different members of the community of Israel.
The Etrog, the Lulav, the Myrtle and the Willow are divided by some according to taste and
smell. In this way the Etrog has taste
and smell, the Lulav has taste, but no smell, the Myrtle has smell but no taste
and the Willow has neither taste nor smell.
This is associated and said to represent, Jews and our wisdom and our
good deeds. Some Jews have wisdom and
good deeds, some Jews have wisdom but no good deeds, others have good deeds
but no wisdom and some Jews have neither wisdom nor good deeds.
But, to perform the Mitzvah of the Lulav and the Etrog, we
have to take all four species together and shake them. Without each one of these four species the
Mitzvah is incomplete. And, so too, it
is with our Jewish community. We all bring various levels of wisdom and good
deeds but we are all necessary for the Jewish community to be complete. From the wisest and the most righteous to the least wise and the least righteous. Each one of us needs to be present and
involved and engaged for the Jewish people to flourish.
Sukkot, coming on the heels of Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippurm can sometimes feel like the poor relation.
The synagogue is packed over the High Holy Days and then there is an inevitable, and
unfortunate, drop off into Sukkot. And,
yet, Sukkot is such a joyful festival filled with so much celebration that I
often feel that those people who come for just Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur
really miss out in not joining us to celebrate on Sukkot and as the arba'a minim, the four species
remind us we need everyone to be present.
This Sukkot may we open the doors of our Sukkah to welcome
all Jews in, whether they are like us or different so that we as a community
can be complete
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