Kapłańska 23:40 Komentarz: Tze'enah Ure'enah, Rashi, Kli Yakar & Ramban

“On the first day you shall take” [23:40]. You should take an etrog and lulav [palm branches], myrtle, and willows on the fifteenth day of Tishrei, because these four species grow near the water. We pray for rain during these days. One should take an etrog, a lulav, three myrtle branches, and two willow branches. “Palm branches” [23:40]. Bahya asks why is it written, palm branches, and it is not written palm branch. This also means a palm tree. The explanation is that the trees are male and female. This is how they are planted and when one does not have both male and female, they cannot grow. Therefore, the verse says, “palm branches” concerning the lulav to show that both male and female trees are appropriate. The Midrash says, “the product of the hadar tree” [23:40], refers to Abraham who showed that there is one God in the world, just like the etrog was one. Therefore, it is written, tree. Just like wood or a tree that is without water withers and does not grow, but when it is given water it grows again. So too was Abraham. At first he could not have children, but at the age of one hundred, he again had the strength and had children, his son Isaac. “Hadar” [23:40]. That is to say, the Holy One beautified and adorned Abraham with old age. Before Abraham, one did not know who was the father and who was the son. Then Abraham came and prayed that the Holy One should make white and gray hair for an old person, expecting that one should be able to know who is the son and who is the father. Abraham was the first person to have white and gray hair in his beard and this is the beauty of the old. “Branches of palm trees” [23:40]. This refers to Isaac who was bound to be slaughtered. Branches [kapot] means to bind and palm trees means a smoke. That is to say, just like smoke and steam rose from the altar where Isaac lay bound. “Boughs of leafy trees” [23:40]. This is the myrtle, which refers to Jacob. Just as a myrtle has many leaves growing around it, so too Jacob was surrounded with children, like a myrtle. “Willows of the brook” [23:40]. The willows refer to Joseph. Just as a willow grow as quickly as a tree when they have water, so too was Joseph. He was shriveled because of many troubles that he was thrown into a pit and was sold. He was a king in Egypt with great honor. However, when his father died, he also became as if he was withered. He and his brothers also died. This is like the willow that withers quickly. That is, the Midrash teaches us that we should pray and remember the merits of our ancestors. Thus, our prayers will be accepted. The Midrash compares the etrog to the heart of the person. It is known that many commandments and sins depend on the good thoughts or evil thoughts of the heart. If he committed a sin with his heart, he has expiation with his taking the etrog, which is like the heart, and will continue to repent. The lulav is like the spine to which the person’s ribs are attached, since the leaves are attached to the lulav like the person’s ribs. It has the essence of the person’s life. Why is this? In the person’s spine there is a bone that is like a tube and liquid flows from the brain through this tube and the intellect and wisdom to fulfill commandments or commit sins depends on the brain. The myrtle is like the eyes of the person. The primary commandments and sins depend on the eyes. The willow is like the lips of the mouth and many commandments and sins depend on the speech of the mouth. Therefore, the person should take the four species to atone for the person’s four organs. Each sin has an expiation that relates to it. So we find with King Herod who was killing tens of thousands of Israelites. Afterwards, he had regret and said to Rabbi Simeon ben Shetach, with what can I atone for this sin? The responded to him, if you will build the Temple, you will again illumine the world through this building. Thus, you will have expiation, since you have extinguished the light with the killing of Israelites who illumined through Torah and commandments. Therefore, build the Temple and again illumine the world. The Midrash also writes, “products of the hadar tree” [23:40]. The etrog has two qualities, it has a good aroma and it is good to eat. “Branches of palm trees” [23:40]. The lulav is from a date palm that is good to eat, but has no aroma. “Boughs of leafy trees” [23:40]. The myrtle has an aroma and is not edible. “Willows of the brook” [23:40]. The willow has no aroma and is also inedible. Therefore, the etrog refers to the righteous who have two qualities, Torah and good deeds. The lulav refers to those who have Torah, but do not have good deeds, like the lulav that has only one quality. One only eats its dates, but it does not have an aroma. The myrtle refers to those Israelites who have good deeds, but no Torah. Willows, refers to those who have no Torah and no good deeds. Thus, the Holy One said: you should take the four species together that I should forgive your sins. The same is with the incense. There are only good aromas among the good incenses and He also ordered them to take devil’s dung, which has an evil smell, to allude to the evildoers who have done evil deeds. Thus, the Holy One commanded that the evildoers should also be included in our prayers and repentance. Thus, the Holy One will quickly forgive our sins. The Midrash also says that the etrog refers to the Babylonian exile. This is because it is written about the kingdom of Babylon, “You are the head of gold” [Daniel, 2:38]. This means, a golden head was by the image. The etrog shines like the gold. The lulav is long and refers to the exile of Ahasuerus, that Haman was hanged on a tall gallows. The myrtle refers to the exile of Greece. How is it a myrtle? It is intertwined and so too is Greece and its kingdom. The willows are red and refer to Edom, who was born red. That is to say, the Holy One said: because of the merit of these four species you will be protected from these four exiles. Bahya writes. The etrog alludes to the reward in this world, since there are many commandments that one eats its reward from one year to the next year, like the etrog that remains whole on its tree from year to year. The lulav alludes to the reward in the world to come, since the lulav has leaves where one leaf is higher than the other leaf. So it is in the world to come, lower and higher levels, one is higher and more important than the other one. In this way he is given a good seat in the world to come. Similarly, the fruit of a date palm only grows after seventy years. So too, the world to come is only after seventy years. That is to say, the person lives for seventy years and when he dies he comes to the world to come. The myrtle is bitter. This teaches us that he cannot come to the reward of the world to come any other way. He must make his body bitter with fasts and other pain and allow himself to be whipped, the thirty-nine lashes. The willow shows that repentance is what will let him come to the world to come. He must hold himself humble like the willow which only grows in valleys and do not grow on mountains. Similarly, the person should hold himself humble and lowly. This also why we take the etrog in the left hand, which points to the reward of this world. The lulav, myrtle, and willow are taken in the right hand. They show him that with repentance one comes to the world to come. Thus, it is appropriate to take it in the right hand, as the verse says, “In her right hand is length of days, in her left, riches and honor” [Proverbs, 3:16]. That is to say, the one who learns for the sake of heaven, he will come to the world to come, and he will have long life. However, the one who studies Torah so that he should have wealth, the Holy One gives him the wealth, but no long life. This is the meaning of the verse, in the left hand. That is. He does not properly study for the sake of heaven; he will only have wealth and honor.¹³Bahya, Leviticus, 23:40.

פרי עץ הדר THE FRUIT OF THE TREE HADAR — a tree the wood of which (עץ) has the same taste as its fruit (פרי) (Sifra, Emor, Chapter 16 4; Sukkah 35a).

And you shall take for yourselves on the first day the fruit of a beautiful tree. The Rabbis said (Vayikra Rabbah 37) that it is called the first day for the accounting of sins. [They gave] a parable of a province that owed taxes to the king, etc. So too, on the eve of Rosh Hashanah, the great ones went out to meet him, etc., and during the ten days of repentance, the intermediate ones [went out], and on Yom Kippur, everyone goes out, etc.
One must consider why [the author of this midrash] called it the first day for the accounting of sins when it commanded about these four species, and why it didn’t call it the first day for the accounting of sins when it commanded about the sukkah and the festival. And what did the author of this midrash see to make three divisions corresponding to three groups? And what would have been lacking if it had said that it is called the first day because on Yom Kippur everything is forgiven, and between Yom Kippur and Sukkot people don’t commit sins — therefore it is called the first day for the accounting of sins.