We have seen that, according to the Chasam Sofer, shaking the daled minim is part of the mitzvah. However, the Bikurei Yaakov (651:40) takes issue with this position, and maintains that the requirement to shake the daled minim is considered an independent mitzvah. Therefore, even if one didn’t shake at all, he has fulfilled the obligation of taking the daled minim in its entirety. This fits in well with the aforementioned Gemara that asserts that once the daled minim were picked up, the mitzvah has been fulfilled. Based on this understanding, even if one is very sick or weak and unable to shake the daled minim, they can still fulfill the mitzvah of taking them, although they will not fulfill the mitzvah of shaking them.
However, according to the Bikurei Yaakov we must deal with the original question: if taking the daled minim – even without shaking them – is the complete mitzvah, why is there no mitzvah to train the child to do take the daled minim even before he is old enough to shake them?
We can suggest that even if shaking is a separate mitzvah, the taking and the shaking are still interconnected and are still supposed to be done together. Consequently, he can agree with the Brisker Rav, who ruled that one should use the same daled minim to take and shake. According to this, it is possible that, even according to the Bikurei Yaakov, the Chachamim did not institute a mitzvah of chinuch to train a child to take the daled minim if he cannot do the mitzvah in its entirety.
Halachically Speaking
If someone took the daled minim and forgot to shake, the Shulchan Aruch rules that one has fulfilled the mitzvah. However, the Magen Avraham maintains that it is still preferable to take them again and shake them.
The two parts of shaking
We have seen that there are two times of shaking the daled minim: at the time of the brocha, and additionally during Hallel. Is there any difference between the two times of shaking the daled minim?
In Moadim U’zmanim, Rav Sternbuch points out that the main mitzvah of shaking the daled minim is at the time of the brocha, and shaking during Hallel is not a requirement, but is only a minhag. He proves this from the Rosh, who quotes the Ravyah, who says that the main shaking in all directions is immediately after the recital of the brocha. During Hallel, since shaking is only a minhag, it is enough to shake just a little. He compares this to the second round of shofar blowing, which is to scare away the Satan. Similarly, the Gemara says that the shaking of the daled minim is to stab the Satan. This, says the Ravyah, is in reference to the second round of shaking, during Hallel, that is only to deal with the Satan, but is not a mitzvah per se.
Rav Sternbuch adds that there was one year, during the World War I, when the Chofetz Chaim was unable to procure an esrog, and took an esrog from the previous year. The Chofetz Chaim ruled that everyone should take the dalem minin just to take and shake, but not during Hallel, since it is only a minhag, in order to allow time for everyone to be able to shake.
Rav Sternbuch adds that this can also be why many people, when making use of the daled minim of others on the first day – which requires one to temporarily actually own them by making a kinyan – will only make the appropriate kinyan and use those daled minim for the actual mitzvah, and not for the shaking during Hallel. This can be understood based on the above: since the shaking during Hallel is only a minhag, and not a part of the mitzvah of taking the daled minim, it is therefore not bound by the rules of lachem.
In Conclusion
There is a difference of opinion if the mitzvah of taking and shaking is one mitzvah or two separate mitzvos. Only the first shaking is a rabbinical mandate; shaking during Hallel is only a minhag.
by Rabbi Nachum Scheiner, Night Kollel & Morning Kollel
