Now let us turn to a remarkable teaching of Rabbeinu Bachya, which he develops in Parshat Emor, the Parsha we read, B'ezrat Hashem, on the Yom Tov of Sukkot. The Torah says: וֹם הָרִאשׁ וֹן פְּרִי עֵץ הָדָר כַּפֹּת תְּמָרִ ים וַעֲנַף עֵץ עָבֹת וְ עַ רְ בֵ י נָ חַ ל : You shall take for yourselves on the first day: the fruit of a beautiful tree, palm branches, branches of a braided tree, and willows of the brook.
Rabbeinu Bachya asks: why did Hakadosh Baruch Hu command us to take these four species? What is the inner meaning? Chazal say in the Midrash: you cannot imagine the depth of wisdom contained within the Arba Minim. The wisdom of the smallest creatures of the earth surpasses the wisdom of the wisest men.
Rabbeinu Bachya then states: the Etrog was given to atone for the sin of Adam HaRishon. Why? Because the Gemara (Sanhedrin 70a) records a debate about the identity of the Eitz HaDa'at: one opinion says it was a fig, one says a grape vine, one says wheat. The Midrash identifies it as the Etrog.
The Etrog is the one tree in Creation that obeyed its Creator exactly. Hakadosh Baruch Hu commanded the earth to produce עֵ ץ פּ ְ רִ י – a tree whose trunk tastes like its fruit. The other trees produced עֵץ עוֹשֶׂה פְרִי – trees that produce fruit, but whose wood has no taste. The Etrog alone remained faithful to the original command – פּ ְ רִ י עֵ ץ הָ דָ ר – the fruit of a beautiful tree, where the tree and the fruit share the same taste.
When we take the Etrog on the first day of Sukkot – the day Adam HaRishon sinned – we are bringing an atonement for the original sin in Gan Eden. But Rabbeinu Bachya then raises a powerful question: If Adam sinned by eating from the Etrog, how can we bring an Etrog as atonement for the sin of eating the Etrog? Does this not violate the well-known principle that אֵין קַטֵּגוֹר נַעֲשֶׂה סַנֵּגוֹר – a prosecutor cannot become a defender?
The same question applies to the Mishkan's gold: the Midrash says the gold of the Mishkan comes to atone for the gold of the Golden Calf. How can gold atone for the sin of gold? Does אֵין קַטֵּגוֹר נַעֲשֶׂה סַנֵּגוֹר not apply here?
He answers with a first principle: אֵין קַטֵּגוֹר נַעֲשֶׂה סַנֵּגוֹר does not apply in every context. The Kohen Gadol on Yom Kippur wears golden garments throughout the Avodah in the Azarah – but he does not enter the Kodesh HaKodashim in golden garments. There he wears white linen only. Why? Because the inner sanctum, Lifnai V'Lifnim, is where the rule applies fully: the prosecutor cannot enter as defender. But in the Azarah – outside the innermost chamber – the rule does not disqualify. Similarly, the Gemara (Rosh Hashanah) teaches that one may not blow a shofar of a cow on Rosh Hashanah because אֵ ין קַ טֵּ גוֹר נַעֲשֶׂ ה סַנֵּגוֹר and the cow brings to mind the Golden Calf. And the Gemara explains: a shofar is like Lifnai V'Lifnim. In those contexts, the rule applies absolutely. Elsewhere, it does not.
Rabbeinu Bachya then offers a deeper answer, drawing on the pasuk in Hoshea: בְּרָעָתָם יְשַׂמְּ חוּ מֶלֶך – In their evil they gladden a king. The commentators explain: the very thing through which one sinned is the thing through which one brings the tikkun. The Gemara asks: מַ אי בַּעַל תְּ שׁ וּבָה – What constitutes a true ba'al teshuva? With the same woman, in the same place [the sin is not repeated]. That is the fullest Teshuvah.
Rabbeinu Bachya illustrates this with a parable: suppose a neighbor accidentally caused a large chunk of wall to fall and strike his friend on the head. The friend needed stitches and recovered at home for a week. The neighbor, mortified, steps in: he covers the time lost from work, arranges meals from a kosher restaurant, brings a gift for Shabbat with a beautiful card. All is forgiven. Warmth is restored. But what if the neighbor went to the florist and, instead of flowers, asked to have a piece of the broken wall arranged in a beautiful display for the gift – with a card reading: "May your wound heal and our friendship bloom again". Would anyone accept that? Of course not! Who sends the very stone that broke someone's head as a get-well gift?!
With Hakadosh Baruch Hu, explains Rabbeinu Bachya, this works. Hakadosh Baruch Hu accepts it. Because the pasuk says: In the very thing through which they sinned – bring the atonement. This is the tikkun. Bring gold to atone for gold; bring an Etrog to atone for the Etrog. The vehicle of sin becomes the vehicle of repair.
