The Context:
“And you shall take for yourselves on the first day, the beautiful fruit of the tree, date palm fronds, a branch of a braided tree, and willows of the brook, and you shall rejoice before G-d your God for a seven day period.” (Vayikra 23:40) With this the Torah introduces the mitzvah of the four species.
But an interesting anomaly emerges from the Oral Torah’s interpretation of this verse. The Torah attaches a specific description to each species, and the Talmud maintains that for the species to be suitable for the mitzvah, it must meet the specific requirement of the Torah’s description. That is, with the exception of the willow-branch, as follows:
The esrog must be “beautiful” and grow from a tree. The lulav must be from a fruit-bearing date tree and have leaves that are pliable enough to be bound to the spine (this is derived from the Torah’s use of the noun kapos, related to the word for bound, and not the typical noun aleit to refer to leaves). The hadas, myrtle branch, must have leaves that are “braided,” which the Talmud defines as three leaves to each base. The arava, willow-branch, is described as growing by “the brook.” Yet, the Talmud rules that even if the willow grows in a non-irrigated field, not by the brook, it is kosher. As long as it is of the species that generally grows by the brook, it is suitable to use for the mitzvah.
The Question:
How do the sages conclude that the Torah’s descriptions are mandatory requirements for the esrog, lulav, and hadas, but not for the arava?
The Explanation:
The explanation for this legal question can only be appreciated by way of the inner dimension of the Torah, thus exemplifying the inherent unity between all interpretive modes of the Torah, from the legal to the mystical.
The Midrash famously teaches that the four species represent differently engaged Jews. The esrog, which has a good aroma and taste represents the person who has good deeds and Torah study (an aroma which benefits its surroundings alludes to good deeds, taste which benefits the person themselves alludes to Torah study). The lulav which has taste (dates) but no aroma alludes to a person who has Torah study but not translated into good deeds. The hadas which has aroma but is tasteless alludes to a person with good deeds but without Torah study. And the willow which possesses neither taste nor aroma alludes to a Jew without any discernible connection with their Judaism. The message of the mitzvah, says the Midrash, is that all the species are taken and bound together, representing the unity between all Jews.
Those Jews who possess some tangible expression of their Judaism—they have Jewish education and learning, or Jewish action, giving, and spiritual growth—must exhibit their strengths to be part of the “bounded” Jewish community. If they have been given those opportunities, then they must continue to grow and express them in their Jewish lives. The descriptive qualifications given by the Torah for the esrog, lulav, and hadas, alluding to their unique qualities, must be met.
But the willow Jew does not possess any concrete expression of Jewishness and their belonging in the Jewish community is simply because they are a Jew, a descendant of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. Therefore, even if they do not even possess the basic qualification of being “grown by the river,” that is, a basic self-awareness of their origin and identity as Jews, still, they are essential to the mitzvah as they are.
The Lesson:
A Jew who is capable, due to upbringing and education, of Torah learning and mitzvos, must continue to express those qualities. But a Jew who, due to circumstance, is unable as of yet to fulfill those tangible expressions of Jewishness must be loved and accepted as they are, without any prior qualifications.
Second Opinion:
Another opinion states that the lulav does not need to be from a fruit-bearing date tree. This alters the picture of the lulav Jew to a person who has Torah learning and consciously cut themselves off from mitzvah observance. This might seem to be an even less admirable character than the innocently ignorant willow-Jew. Nonetheless, we are required to connect with this Jew as well and draw them into the embrace of the Jewish people.
