Congratulations on making it through the judgements of Rosh haShannah and the purification work of Yom Kippor. Now it is time to celebrate all our hard work with a week-long holy days called Succot.
Succot is strange for holy days. For one thing we are required to be joyous. If we aren’t then we are not fulfilling the mitzvah (commandment/connection).
Another strange thing is that we are required to take a specific citrus fruit (called and Etrog), a Palm front, and some Myrtle and some Willow branches and wave them around. This is another mitzvah. Why do we do such a thing?
When I was in Israel, I heard a wonderful teaching about why we do this. These 4 species of tree are rather interesting. one (Etrog) produces taste (fruit) and smell, one (Palm) has taste, but has no aroma, one (Myrtle) has not taste, but does have a nice smell, and one (Willow) has no taste and no smell.
These for species represent the 4 types of Jews: The Jew who studies Torah (fruit) and does good in the world (pleasant aroma), the Jew who studies Torah, but does not do good in the world, the Jew who does not study Torah, but who does good in the world, and the Jew who neither studies Torah, nor does good in the world.
The teaching is that just as you cannot properly fulfill the mitzvah of waving the 4 species if you leave one out, the Jewish people need all 4 types of people in order to be whole. The fact that we are required to pick up and wave these 4 species every day of Succot (except Shabbat) is there to remind us that it is just as important to not exclude a member of our family (yes I consider the Jewish people to be a large, extended family), or anyone for that matter, just because they might not act like we want them to or that they do not learn or know what we want them to know, as it is to be happy and full of joy. And if you do exclude someone just because they do not know or act like you think they should, you are sinning as much as if you did not wave the 4 species – meaning that you might very well be acting just like the person you wish to exclude.
In summary, the week of Succot that starts Wednesday, Oct 9 at sunset is about being joyful and inclusive of everybody: whether they act and learn what we think is important or not. This is just one of the secrets of the 4 species.
May you all have a joyous week of holy days.
If you want to read what I wrote about Succot previously, click here.
About the Author
Shmuel Shalom Cohen spent 10 years studying Torah in Jerusalem. Six years ago, he started Conscious Torah to help Jews connect to their tradition in ways they didn’t think possible. Shmuel also started, and is the executive directory of Jewish Events Willamette-valley, a non-profit whose mission is to build Jewish community, pride, and learning. In his free time, Shmuel likes walks in nature, playing music, writing poetry, and time with good friends.