LULAV AND ETROG
The second important ritual object of the holiday Sukkot is the lulav etrog, which must be purchased and assembled in advance.
The lulav is the branch of the date palm tree. When we say lulav, we really mean the palm branch with its two sidekicks: the hadas, three short branches of myrtle leaves, and the aravah, two branches of the willow of the brook.
An etrog is a citron. It looks like a lemon, but it smells different, tastes different, and has a pitom, the pistil, without which the etrog would not be kosher.
Why these four kinds—lulav, etrog, hadas, and aravah? Because the Bible specifies, “On the first day [of Sukkot] you shall take the product of the hadar (citron), the palm, the myrtle, and the willow” (LEV. 23:40). But why were these four kinds chosen to be a symbol of thanksgiving and rejoicing after the harvest? There is no answer from the Torah, so oral tradition filled in where written one left off. Each of the four kinds is unique. The etrog has “taste” and “smell,” that is, it can be used as a food and has a wonderful fragrance. The date palm has no smell, but gives delicious fruit; the myrtle has the sweet scent but no nourishment; and the willow has neither.
By analogy, the Rabbis extended these qualities to human beings. Taste becomes wisdom, smell becomes goodness. Some people have both, some have one, and so forth; together, they make up a whole society. I never quite went for that mixed metaphor, “He’s a peach of a guy,” and “He’s an etrog of a guy” appeals to me even less. Nevertheless, the idea that the community is made up of all types, not just saintly types, is a powerful one. Each type is precious, each person is of value; without one or the other the community would not be whole—that was a basic humanitarian theme of the Rabbis.
Choosing a lulav and etrog is an art. The lulav must be green (that is, fresh) and its ribs must come to a point at the top. They should be tight, and not spreading apart and hanging out all over. The etrog must be yellow and its skin must be free of any blemishes. A perfect etrog is truly a thing of beauty.
Some Jews spend hours at selecting a set, although others do it in fifteen minutes, and yet others simply order it by phone or mail through the synagogue shamash or the local day school. Purchasing a lulav and etrog, or standing in a corner watching the show, can be a unique experience. People examine the ribs to see if they are tight or if there’s a palm missing (unkosher); they sniff the etrog and examine it for blemishes, handling it gently all the while; if one breaks the pitom, it’s the same as breaking a china dish in Macy’s. One of my favorite scenes is of a Chasid looking over an etrog skin with his diamond dealer’s magnifying eyepiece.
During the last few years, there have been lots of complaints about the high cost of etrogim (plural). I saw an etrog in our shul one year whose purchaser, David K., paid two hundred dollars for it. It was quite beautiful, but not ten times more beautiful than our children’s, for seventeen dollars apiece. The market for etrogim dies at 3:00 P.M. erev Sukkot; some people stick it out until that hour, then pick up a perfect etrog (always with a lulav) for five or ten dollars. But as of this writing, even well in advance, a nice kosher etrog and lulav can be bought for fifteen to twenty dollars.
A word here about the high cost of Jewish living in general. And another word about a quality we call hiddur mitzvah: enhancing and beautifying a mitzvah. It costs money to be an Orthodox Jew—to educate one’s children, to eat nice foods for Shabbat, to dress well for the holidays, to buy kosher meat, to purchase ritual objects, to support a synagogue, and to give charity. And yet, there is hardly anything that cannot be done, properly and with taste, at a price that anyone can afford. Second, if something is precious to you then you organize your priorities differently. Of course it costs a great deal to educate our children according to Jewish tradition. But this, we feel, is the very best use of our hard-earned money; it is infinitely better than a ski vacation or a new car.
Some people in shul said of David’s two-hundred-dollar etrog, “What a rip-off.” Others said, “What a jewel!” Others, “What a sucker he is!” And others, “What a generous man.” I’ll vote with the latter. No one forced him to buy such an etrog. An intelligent man, he knows perfectly well he can pick one up more cheaply.
But the combination of wanting the best and the most beautiful with which to perform a mitzvah, and knowing that the person who sells the etrog to him spends his life and earns his living by making things like a lulav and etrog available, makes David K. feel better about spending two hundred dollars on the etrog than on a key ring at Gucci’s.
Nor does an Orthodox Jew always have to spend money. He or she can spend time and effort, ingenuity and love. After the Persian carpet, my second favorite sukkah is ours, a metal and canvas arrangement that we’ve had for ten years. Several years ago, the canvas began to look shabby. Deborah, then fifteen, took some fabric remnants from the attic, and, with a box of straight pins, and unadulterated talent, she draped and folded and pinned and created something that looks like it came right out of the Arabian nights.
One could write a sociology of religion thesis based on lulav and etrog. I consider myself a transition woman, growing up in a time of transition from prefeminist to postfeminist values. I am also a transitional Orthodox Jew, in the sense that I see the flowering of Orthodox Judaism in my lifetime. I see it in many little signs, lulav and etrog among them. Not only do more people buy lulav and etrog than ever before, but Jews display them openly, without self-consciousness. When I was younger, I remember men would carry their lulav and etrog through the streets, to shul, under wraps, in a long, thin, nondescript brown paper bag, or under their jackets. Now they carry them without camouflage and with great pride.
It used to be that only the male head of household would buy a set, and all the males in the family over thirteen would take turns using that lulav and etrog in the synagogue; the women would recite the lulav blessing each morning at home. Women, according to the Rabbis, were not originally obligated. However, they took it upon themselves, with increasing diligence, and now the mitzvah is theirs for life.
As Jews became more affluent, they began to buy several sets per family, including sets for children and for female members of the family. Older children often order their own sets through their yeshiva schools or youth organizations. There’s a whole new industry of small-size lulavim (plural) for pint-size Jews, who march around shul with their fathers for the lulav processional. (A parent, however, should supervise their use. Several years ago, I arrived at shul just in time to break up a fierce lulav duel raging on the shul lawn between a six- and a seven-year-old.) And one sees something in this decade that was never seen in previous generations, even though the numbers are still small; women and girls take their own lulav and etrog to shul to use ritually during the service.
Thus, the lulav and etrog are subtle but potent indicators of the growth in observance of ritual, the expansion of women’s public religious expression, the economic betterment of traditional Jews of this era, and the increased pride of American Jews in their faith and rituals.
ASSEMBLING A LULAV
Although the four parts are purchased together, they are not assembled. The reason for that is we usually buy them several days before Sukkot, and want to keep them as fresh as possible. So we put the palm into a jar of water, and we wrap the hadas and aravah in a damp paper towel and then in aluminum foil and place them in the refrigerator. On the day preceding Sukkot, we assemble the lulav properly and leave it assembled throughout the holiday. The etrog, too, must be refrigerated to keep fresh.
To assemble a lulav: With its spine toward you, slip the lulav into the woven palm holder (you receive this when you purchase the lulav). It will rest one third of the way up the lulav. Then insert the hadas into the tube opening to the right and the aravah into the tube opening to the left of the palm.
The woven palm holder should hold everything close so that the hadas and aravah touch the sides of the lulav. If not, work it with your fingers so that they do touch.
The woven palm holder will enable you to hold the palm, myrtle, and willow in one hand, with each in its proper position, and leave your other hand free for holding the etrog, as you will need to do in reciting the blessing over lulav each morning of Sukkot.
DRESS
One of the obligations for joy, the Rabbis tell us, is that women buy new clothes for the holiday. (The actual phrasing is that the husband is required to purchase nice clothing for his wife.) Although this mitzvah is given specifically in relation to joy on Sukkot, it applies as well to all other holidays. Of course, we shop only because it’s a mitzvah....
FOOD PREPARATION
Sukkot is one of the three pilgrimage festivals, the other two being Pesach and Shavuot. Unlike Shavuot, which lasts two days, Sukkot and Pesach last eight days in the Diaspora. But not all of the eight days have the same sacred weight. The first two and the last two are considered more sacred than the intermediate days.
Work is not permitted on the sacred festival days. However, any work that pertains to preparing food to be eaten on the holiday may be done, as long as one does not light a fire anew. If the second day of the festival is Friday, we prepare the eruv tavshilin (see p. 321).
Sukkot is a holiday for entertaining, particularly for inviting guests who don’t have a sukkah. Unless one wants to spend the entire holiday preparing and serving, it is wise to cook as much as possible beforehand. The planning and logistics of meals can mean the difference between rejoicing and feeling like a caterer. What to strive for are meals that can be brought out all at once, yet kept piping hot in a cool sukkah. This is a bit difficult, but with good planning it is altogether possible.
Some helpful hints in setting up, preparing, and serving:
1. Use disposable goods. Although holiday celebration calls for use of our finest utensils, items such as pretty paper plates can become part of the sukkah beauty.
2. Keep a two-tiered table in the sukkah for serving and storing: the lower tier for keeping an extra supply of paper goods, bentschers (Grace books), challah cover, salt and pepper shakers, relishes, and condiments; the upper tier for bringing in salads and desserts.
3. Foods that have little waste are excellent for Sukkot, such as casseroles, holuptches (cabbage stuffed with beef or with rice for veggies—see p. 494), beef Bourguignon, boned chicken breasts, and kugels. I always serve the first tsholent of the season on Sukkot.
4. Use trays to bring out several items at a time, both in setting up and serving. Before the meal begins, put hot food into covered casserole dishes, place on a tray, and cover with a towel or small blanket, and rest it on the kitchen counter. When it’s time for that course, all one has to do is remove the insulating blanket and carry the tray out.
5. If it’s cold, the best part of the meal can be hot soup. Serve it from a soup tureen, ladled at the table, family-style, or serve hot broth in Styrofoam cups or bowls that are covered with plastic wrap until they reach the sukkah. Often one has to dispense with certain indoor graces, such as waiting until everyone gets his/her soup before the first one served can begin. Serving soup to fifteen people in an autumn sukkah means that if the first one waits for the last, he/she will have lukewarm soup.
6. The one exception to foods that have little waste is turkey. Some families now serve turkey for Sukkot. It’s an example of how an American custom is fused with an ancient Jewish one. Sukkot is a thanksgiving holiday, and since as Americans we associate that poor bird with giving thanks, a turkey is often served for one meal of Sukkot.
7 Bring out foods such as dessert and cold fresh salads before the meal begins. The fewer times one has to dash into the house, the more pleasant it will be for everyone.
8. Some people set up a Salton hot-tray in the sukkah, timed to a Shabbos clock. I think it’s a little risky, in the event of rain; however, there are people who have done it for years and say no harm done.
CELEBRATION
The Torah tells us to celebrate Sukkot for seven days, beginning the fifteenth day of the seventh month (Tishrei). Diaspora Jews add a day to the festivals (see p. 318).
But Sukkot is a strange holiday; it doesn’t end when it ends. It goes right into another day, a day that is distinct and yet also part of Sukkot. This is called Shemini Atzeret, the Eighth Day of Solemn Assembly. And in the Diaspora, that day is followed by another day of great joy—Simchat Torah, the rejoicing of the Torah. Thus, the calendar looks like this:
CANDLELIGHTING
Candles are lit in the sukkah. It takes an extra minute to find a safe spot—safe from wind and safe from fire. It is important to do this, because there’s so much flammable material around, and there is no one minding the candles for at least an hour, until shul services are over. The blessing over the candles is:
Baruch ata Adonai Elohainu melech haolam asher kidshanu b’mitzvotav v’tzivanu (Shabbat v’shel) Yomtov.
Blessed are You, Lord our God, Ruler of the universe, Who has sanctified us with His commandments and has commanded us to light (the Sabbath and) the holiday candles.
On the first two nights and the last two nights, the Shehecheyanu blessing is added:
Baruch ata Adonai Elohainu melech ha’olam sheh’heh’cheyanu vekiyemanu vehigiyanu lazman hazeh.
Blessed are You, Lord our God, Ruler of the universe, Who has given us life and sustained us and has brought us to this day.
Unlike Shabbat candlelighting, the blessings are recited before and not after lighting the wicks.
EATING IN THE SUKKAH
The first thing we do as we enter the sukkah for our meal is to recite the Kiddush for festivals.
On Friday evenings, Kiddush begins here:
Otherwise, it begins here:
It was evening and it was morning.
On the sixth day the heavens and the earth and all their hosts were completed. For by the seventh day God had completed His work which He had made, and He rested on the seventh day from all His work which He had made. Then God blessed the seventh day and hallowed it, because on it He rested from all His work which God had created to function thenceforth.
Blessed are You, Lord our God, Ruler of the universe, Who creates the fruit of the vine.
On Sabbath add the words in parentheses.
Blessed are You, Lord our God, Ruler of the universe, Who has chosen us from all peoples, and exalted us above all nations, and hallowed us by Your commandments. You have given us in love, O Lord our God (Sabbaths for rest), holy festivals for gladness, and sacred seasons for joy: (this Sabbath day and) this day of _______.
On Pesach: the Feast of Unleavened Bread, the season of our freedom.
On Shavuot: the Feast of Weeks, the season of the giving of our Torah.
On Sukkot: the Feast of Tabernacles, the season of our gladness.
On Shemini Atzeret and Simchat Torah: the Eighth-day Feast of Solemn Assembly, the season of our gladness (in love); a holy convocation, as a memorial of the departure from Egypt; for You have chosen us, and hallowed us above all peoples, and Your holy (Sabbath and) festivals You have caused us to inherit (in love and favor) in joy and gladness. Blessed are You, O Lord, Who hallows (the Sabbath), Israel, and the festive seasons.
On Saturday night, we add this as part of the Havdalah service:
Blessed are You, Lord our God, Ruler of the universe, Who creates the light of fire.
Blessed are You, Lord our God, Ruler of the universe, Who makes a distinction between sacred and secular, light and darkness, Israel and other peoples, the seventh day and the six days of labor. As You have made a distinction between Sabbath sanctity and festival sanctity, and have hallowed the seventh day above the six days of work, so have You set apart and sanctified Your people Israel through Your holiness. Blessed are You, Lord, Who makes a distinction between degrees of holiness.
Before we actually drink the wine, we immediately add another blessing, our reason for being here this night:
Baruch ata Adonai Elohainu melech haolam asher kidshanu b’mitzvot
av v’tzivanu leyshev ba’sukkah.
Blessed are You, Lord our God, Ruler of the universe, Who has sanctified us with His commandments and has commanded us to dwell in the sukkah.
On the first night this is followed by the Shehecheyanu:
Blessed are You, Lord our God, Ruler of the universe, Who has given us life and sustained us and has brought us to this day.
On the second night, and on the last two nights of the festival, the order is reversed: Kiddush followed by Shehecheyanu followed by leyshev ba’sukkah.
The leyshev ba’sukkah blessing is recited at every meal eaten in the sukkah for the next seven days. If no Kiddush is required, as is the case during the intermediate days, the leyshev ba’sukkah is recited after the hamotzi blessing. If no bread is eaten and, therefore, no hamotzi, the leyshev ba’sukkah is recited after the specific blessing for the particular foods eaten.
There are all different kinds of customs regarding physical stance when reciting Kiddush on Shabbat and on Yom Tov all the year through: standing, sitting, standing for first half, sitting for second half, standing one night, sitting the next day, and so forth. There is also a variation in custom regarding the ritual of washing the hands: some Ashkenazim of German origin ritually wash the hands first, then say the Kiddush, and follow immediately with the hamotzi, without talking in between. Most other Ashkenazim, including ourselves, do it in order of Kiddush, washing, and hamotzi. But once a year—on Sukkot—we switch. Since our sukkah is not large but our crowd often is, the traffic controller decided a few years ago to adopt the German-Jewish custom so as to seat the crowd only once. Thus, everyone washes ritually, goes out for Kiddush, leyshev ba’sukkah, and immediately after—the hamotzi.
How to Run a Traditional Jewish Household Page 35