The Many Reasons and Midrashim on the Four Species Are All True! (Auto Translated) | תמלול וסיכום מתורגם

What is the Act of Taking the Lulav? A Philosophical Investigation

Introduction: Announcements and Siyum

Maggid Shiur:

Rabbosai (gentlemen), it’s very nice that we’re learning here, very happy erev Yom Tov (the eve of the holiday). Until now every long Friday of the year we’ve already had a shiur (lecture), a whole year nicely. Erev Yom Tov, next long Friday there will be a shiur on leil Hoshana Rabbah b’motzaei Yom Tov (the night of Hoshana Rabbah after the holiday), like every year. Everyone should come. There’s also another night or all the nights, when ever you want to come Sukkos (Sukkot) at night, you’ll also come over. Announce if the olam (community) wants to come at a certain time, one can also announce that.

We need to make a siyum (completion celebration). I finished Sefer Zemanim (Book of Seasons) today with R’ Eliezer, which will go up in the next few days the recordings, and they finished the first three sefarim (books) of the Rambam [Maimonides]. We’re still making a big siyum for this. I don’t know as big a siyum as Sefer Ahavah (Book of Love), but something needs to be done.

The Central Question: What Does One Actually Do with a Lulav?

Maggid Shiur:

Now it’s like this, I want to say a bit of Torah thoughts, chiddushim (novel insights), kushiyos (questions), teirutzim (answers), on the topic of the lulav. Have you heard of the lulav? I need to talk to someone, so someone should respond. What is the question whether one has seen a lulav?

Student:

Yes.

Maggid Shiur:

He asks. Further, one has seen a lulav. Is it a rhetorical question? Yes, whether one has seen a lulav. Okay, what does one do with this lulav thing? One must shake it, and one shakes it. One shakes it miderabanan (according to Rabbinic law). What is the thing of this shaking? What is the thing of this taking? What is the thing of being happy? I look at him, he lets us shake even though we weren’t allowed to. When one says “take a thing and blow then,” and here you say “take a thing and shake,” and “take a thing.” And? And hold it. Let me explain my kushya (question) a bit better, okay? It says here in the sefer (book) a few pages about this, about my kushya, and I want to explain it a bit better.

If I tell a Jew, “Put on a kappel (yarmulke).” Do you know what it means to put on a kappel? Whether one knows or it should say, someone should show me what it is, must one know it? Does it say yes or does it say no? Is there a picture of it? Does one still give a picture? No, no, there is a picture.

The Foundation: A Human Action is More Than a Physical Movement

The Philosophical Foundation

Maggid Shiur:

And remember, let’s recall a yesod (foundation), I want to bring you into a yesod to understand a bit better what the question is. Yes, yes, I’m going to explain the question. We have learned, remember we have learned, that physical actions, physically what a person does, is not enough even to describe what a person does, as long as he is an adam (human being), he is a human being, not just a machine and not a video. A video can be described precisely with understanding, with seeing what moves here, the color here and the color there, that is the meaning of what it does. That is the entire description, the entire te’ur (description), the entire reality of what it does.

The Parable of Going/Walking

Maggid Shiur:

When you see a person, I want to say, when you see a person going, what is he doing? He is walking. He arrives somewhere. Usually when a person walks, he is not actually walking. That means, a person says, “I’m going walking,” like the person says, “I’m going to the beis hamedrash (study hall).” Both do the exact same thing. But one walks, meaning what are you doing? He walks. Why are you walking? Because he can even say he’s making exercise, or he has a pleasure from walking, it’s a ta’anug (pleasure) walking. He is a walker. One walked like this, raglo molichoso l’beis hamedrash (his feet carry him to the study hall). Okay, maybe, maybe. But if he goes to the beis hamedrash, he is not walking. Precisely, to arrive at the beis hamedrash he must walk, he doesn’t have a car, and it’s Shabbos (Sabbath), he can’t, he walks, no problem. But the pe’ulah (action) that he does is not called walking, it’s called going to the beis hamedrash. Right?

The same thing, if he goes to work, he does a third pe’ulah, he goes to work. Ah, do his feet press exactly the same way? The same signals are sent from his nervous system, I know what, to his feet so that he should go? That’s not the meaning. The chelek ha’enoshi (human part), the chelek ha’mentsh (the human part), that means the chelek ha’kavanah (the part of intention), the intentionality, the context of his ma’aseh (action). You can call it the purpose, you can even say the context. It’s different, it’s a completely different ma’aseh, it’s not the same thing. Right? Right what I’m saying? Does everyone know this yesod? Yes, yes, yes. Very many people don’t know. For the shiur they don’t know. Right?

The Parable of Popcorn on the Table

Maggid Shiur:

So in order to know what a thing is, a ma’aseh, a ma’aseh that is not a ma’aseh beheimah (animal action), ma’aseh kof b’alma (mere monkey action), a ma’aseh adam (human action), the same thing, if a person comes into the beis hamedrash and puts down a plate of popcorn on the table, what is he doing? It depends. If it’s Shabbos morning, he’s setting up kiddush (Sabbath blessing over wine). If it’s Friday night, maybe he’s making a shalom zachor (celebration for a newborn boy). If it’s at a shiur, maybe he’s making that the shiur should be geshmak (enjoyable). If it’s watching a movie, one is now going to watch a movie. It’s a different… The action means something different, right? Yes. He does, yes.

Why “Intention” Alone is Not Enough

Maggid Shiur:

But I mean that the word intention is not enough. Why? Intention means that he means to say, I have such an intention to do this. But most of the time when a person says intention, they mean intention means what he has in mind in his head when he does this. It’s not only what he has in mind in his head. If I will put down a popcorn on the table Friday night, I’ll say I’m making kiddush, and I even have the kavanah (intention) with the whole pure heart, it still doesn’t become kiddush because of that. Right? It must have context. One must know, in other words, in order to answer the question what a person does, or what any pe’ulah enoshis (human action) is, one must know the entire ma’aseh of this person, what happened before, what happened after, what he means, what the mashma’us (meaning) of the ma’aseh is, and so on. Right? Devarim peshutim (simple matters). This is not yet any kavanah, sorry, this is simple pshat (plain meaning). Even when one doesn’t walk from point A to point B, it’s still pshat. He can do both. I need to go to the beis hamedrash, I won’t make exercises on the way. One can mix many things. Then it’s moving your body for a purpose. Right, very good.

Back to the Lulav: Nobody Knows What the Action Is

The Kushya on Lulav-Shaking

Maggid Shiur:

Therefore I say that nobody knows what… Perhaps nobody shakes lulav at all. I even know what it means. What is it? What is this? I can tell you, let’s say that I know the correct pshat in the Mishnah Berurah. It says consider instructions, take the hand, reach it right, reach it left, reach it up, reach it down. I can do that. But that’s surely not the meaning. Right? And the word “purpose” I don’t like. I like to say… “purpose” people mean that it means what lies in my head. Exactly. What is the meaning? What is the teitsh (meaning)? The purpose is a part of it, perhaps the main part, but there are other parts, right? Where does it come from? Where does it go? There are other parts. Purpose is not enough. So you can say the whole context, so you can say the whole ma’aseh. What is the ma’aseh? Do you understand?

A Student’s Teiretz: Sukkos as a National Holiday

Maggid Shiur:

Do you understand like this. If one of you can tell me what is the ma’aseh that one does with the lulav, I will be very happy. Because I don’t know. I can say, one does very many things that one does. One does very many things that one does, and one does very many things that one does, and one becomes very happy. Nobody asks any kushya. What? Nobody asks any question, let’s say, you see an ad that says there’s going to be, l’havdil (to distinguish), let’s use the word, a festival, everyone should come dressed with a pink hat. Nobody asks why. You dance. What are you dancing? You dance? You dance. Here there is a Beis HaMikdash (Temple), and it’s a national holiday now, and one brings from the parts of Eretz Yisrael (Land of Israel), and one cuts off with it, and it’s a joyful moment. What does a person do when he’s samei’ach (happy)? He dances, he jumps, he shakes.

Maggid Shiur:

Very good, you’ve already said a teiretz (answer). It’s not simple. You’ve added a ma’aseh. You said that there is a Yom Tov (holiday), it’s a public Yom Tov, yes, of the whole people, of the whole olam, whatever, and it has something to do with, let’s say, the Beis HaMikdash. Today there is no Beis HaMikdash, so it’s something b’dieved (after the fact), but one comes to such a place, and it has like, you say a dress code, not a dress code, you say like a… what is the activity? What is the activity now? Not the activity, the… what is the name? The ornaments, the decorations. What decorations come in this? The Yom Tov comes with pri eitz hadar v’chapos temarim (fruit of a beautiful tree and palm branches). You’ve already said a pshat, you’ve already given a great context. You said that Sukkos is a great Yom Tov, the greatest Jewish Yom Tov that exists, and Sukkos comes with specific decorations. There are certain foods, Pesach (Passover) there are certain foods that one eats. Sukkos doesn’t say in the Torah certain foods, perhaps there are minhagim (customs) what one eats, I don’t know. What does one eat Sukkos? There isn’t? Kneidel (matzo ball)? Kneidel one eats Sukkos? In short, I don’t know what one eats. Yes, Ushpizin (mystical guests). But… What? Not the first word at all. One has worked a whole year, and one has met, and one brings like this. Here, I come in until one doesn’t, one shakes. It’s a completely different thing. What do I need to understand you? You don’t understand. You will do it as long as one has back the long. So that is one pshat that you say, one pshat.

The Tzanzer Rebbe’s Rule: Three Hundred Reasons

Maggid Shiur:

I want to say, by the way, I want to tell you, I mean that there are a few rules, or one rule. Klal hadavar (the general principle) is, like the holy Tzanzer Rebbe said, that he was asked why he does something, why he cuts the onion at the table, I don’t know, what does he do? He said one ta’am (reason), then next week he said a second ta’am, the next week a third ta’am. This was someone who sat, he gives up already to understand what the Rebbe does, because every few Jews when he said a second teiretz that makes sense in that one’s coat, but the true ta’am nobody knows. So the Tzanzer Rebbe said that he doesn’t do any one thing without three hundred reasons. But I mean that it’s only the Tzanzer Rebbe, most people… One is from our ta’am pe’amim (reasons times). Yes. Most people, a person, by a normal person, something a bar da’as (person of understanding), what a person is not a thing that was born today, that one can describe what he does with one second, with one like an atomic. Now you’ve done it. A person is a thing that comes with a history, he came from what is there in the Rishonim (early authorities)? Like we said, in order to tell whether a person walks or he walks to shul (synagogue) or he walks from shul, yes? It’s a completely different thing. Correct, but right, doesn’t know who goes out, he makes the same thing, because now he goes away from somewhere, he runs away. There are very many different things. In order to describe what a person

The Necessity to Know the Entire History of a Person in Order to Understand His Actions

It’s Not Enough to Know What’s in His Head

Maggid Shiur:

I say, it’s not enough even to know what’s in his head. Because if he has in his head that he’s going out from shul, because yesterday he went to shul, is one machshava (thought) taking out with one ma’aseh (action). What he does is this. It doesn’t help to be what’s in his head.

So I need to know what he does the whole day. In order to say that someone should describe, someone should be able to say what he does, one must know the entire ma’aseh of the entire day.

The Many Words for Walking in Lashon HaKodesh

And if he is a good writer and he knows all the shemos (names, terms) that exist, maybe there is another word for walking. Going is halicha (walking) means going somewhere, and ritza (running) means running away from somewhere or running to somewhere. There is precisely physically also a chiluk (distinction) between going and running, because perhaps I don’t know what that means.

And there is another word, tze’ada tze’adi (to step, to stride), does that also mean going. What means something another sort of going? Which other hashayat nedafim (variations, nuances) are there for going in lashon hakodesh (Hebrew)?

What? Bore’ach (fleeing), running away, running away from somewhere, yatza (going out), ba (coming), all things can receive going, coming, yatza. And so on, each one means something slightly different thing, tofes v’holech (grasping and going), means crawling. And all these things mean something different.

And one can say b’ofen klali (in general), zo shiva v’zo bi’a (this is a return and this is a coming). Yes, it’s the same thing. What, is it not true that zo shiva v’zo bi’a? They’re different things. Coming back, coming back. That means, what is the chiluk between coming and coming back? I was already there yesterday. So the description of what I did now is talui (dependent) on what I was yesterday, right?

Sheretz v’sharetz (creeping and swarming). Yes, should shoretz be mean crawling? Lishrots (to swarm)? Yes, I can think of more words, and mistama (presumably) there aren’t even enough words to describe in the language, to describe all kinds of sorts of ways how the same thing can be different things.

One Must Know the Entire Life of the Person

I need to know the entire day, in order to be able to describe what a person does in one minute, right?

And the truth is, I don’t need to know only the entire day, I need to know the entire life of this person, right? Because he is such a sort of person that he is nervous when he goes it’s because his mother when he was born came too late to the hospital, and since then he’s still nervous, he thinks that his whole life is delayed. I don’t know, let’s say, I don’t need to say, I don’t need to say, I don’t need to say, I want to bring out…

“Al Tidon Es Chavercha Ad Shetagia Limkomo”

Many times, no, no, one cannot know what a person does. I want to bring out, one says many times, one cannot judge a person ad shetagia limkomo (until you reach his place – from Pirkei Avot 2:4), right? That knowing the person’s background, understanding why he does so.

In other words, not pshat (simple meaning) that he has an excuse, it has another meaning. When a person who is not usually dressed runs, the pshat is he runs because today is something very important. One doesn’t take just a dressed head, he is a dressed person, he is a runner. It has another meaning.

Examples: Screaming and the Holocaust

He gives a scream at you, do you think he’s screaming at you? I know someone who he likes to scream at people. Someone told me once, you must remember, he’s still screaming at Hitler from the Holocaust, and it doesn’t mean you. He was beaten there too much, poor thing, and he screams. Do you think he’s screaming at you? You did something wrong and he screams?

In Kotzk the non-Jews were also sharp. Yes, that can also be. I only mean to say, it doesn’t mean that he perhaps when that one could have had on his middos (character traits) and not scream. But the point is, that you have you not understanding the action. You think he screams? He screams! His scream is a different scream than your scream. I scream at someone.

A Story with a Bachur and a Rebbe

As a bachur (young man) someone was sent to a substitute Rebbe. He didn’t send him, he told him go be. In short, that one arrives there, and he comes to tell me later. I was already, once came a bad time, that one screamed. He apologized, he wanted to go, but that one said “I have no raya (proof), you do this always.” Very good. It means something different.

The Entire History of the Family and of Klal Yisrael

Understanding Actions Requires Knowing the Entire History

So, to truly understand, to truly know what the smallest action is, one must know the entire history of the entire person. And if the person has a family, one must know his entire family. And if he has a greater connection than a family, he has a history from the other side of Noach (Noah), I know from which grandchild of Shem ben Noach (Shem son of Noah) he is, one must include that too, because that is the description, right?

Buying Wine for Sukkot: Against the Bach

As I said, people think one must have kavana (intention). I say, one doesn’t need to have any kavana. When a Jew goes to the store before Sukkot (the Festival of Tabernacles) and he buys wine, you know that part of the hesber (explanation) for his buying wine lichvod yom tov (in honor of the holiday) is that the Jews went out of Mitzrayim (Egypt). It says in the pasuk (verse) “lema’an yed’u dorotechem” (so that your generations will know – Leviticus 23:43).

The Bach (acronym for Bayit Chadash, Rabbi Yoel Sirkes, 16th-17th century) comes and says that one must have it in mind. I say that one doesn’t need to have it in mind, I’m not maskim (agreeing). I actually saw what he says every week, he says good pshatim (interpretations), but it’s not true. Why not? Because that is the perek (chapter, context) of the action.

Da’at Is to Explain What the Action Is

Certainly, if someone doesn’t know, he doesn’t understand the action. It helps to know, I’m not saying it doesn’t help to know. The da’at (knowledge) is to be mesbir (to explain) what the action is.

The Scientific Question: What Is the Cause?

I ask you a question: What is the cause? I’m a scientist, a basic scientist. Why is he now going to buy wine? I can say because he’s thirsty. It’s not true, every day he’s thirsty. He’s a drunkard all year, he doesn’t buy so much wine. But for yom tov he buys. Why?

You can say, there’s a Rambam (Maimonides) here, a person must be mefa’er (glorify) yom tov. Okay, but why does he have this yom tov today? That is a real answer to the meaning of this person’s action. It’s not drashot (homilies), it’s not kavana elyona (higher intention), it’s not an intention in the person’s head. It’s a real answer why.

The True Answer: Because He Belongs to This People

And in the end you’ll arrive at the teiruts (answer) because he belongs to this people. What does it mean he belongs? My mother was a Jew, or somehow my grandfather was a ger (convert), I don’t know, somehow he became a Jew. And the Jews, once, a long time ago, went out, I don’t know, they made Sukkot in the midbar (desert), and somehow from that it became that they made a mitzva (commandment) of sitting in a sukka (tabernacle). And it’s a great yom tov, because they said “chag ha’asif” (the harvest festival), which was once upon a time, very long ago.

Digression: Chag Ha’asif and Jews as City People

By the way, asif (harvest) is no longer among Jews, at least among most Jews, okay? Most Jews are no longer chag ha’asif for a very long time. Most Jews, since the times of Ezra at least, most Jews are no longer farmers. How do I know? It says in the pasuk.

So, that’s history. Look further into the history you’ll see. Most Jews, those we know of them, made, sold, bought, and so on, as Jews do today.

What People Do in Cities

What do people do in cities? A city is very important. There are the bnei hakfarim (villagers) around and around. But the Gemara (Talmud) already says in Masechet Megilla (Tractate Megilla), I don’t want to go into it now, the Gemara already says in Masechet Megilla that nowadays we don’t do the halacha (Jewish law) of bnei hakfarim. And the Gemara says toch’a kedritza (its interior is like its exterior – meaning the reason is obvious), why not? The real answer is because there are no bnei hakfarim today.

Already in the time of the Amoraim (Talmudic sages of the 3rd-6th centuries), and in the time of I don’t know, the Mishna (foundational rabbinic text), at some point there were still Purim Jews, and there were city Jews, and they consulted with one another. Nowadays there aren’t. There is basically one type of Jew, yes, farmers, people who, how do you call it, country people, right?

Since the Beginning of the Second Temple, Jews Have Been City People

There were almost no country Jews since the times of tchilat bayit sheni (the beginning of the Second Temple period). Almost, there were always a few. Even in Europe there were tekufot (periods) there were a few, but almost none. Judaism is not built for them. Judaism is an urban religion, it’s not a country religion.

So perhaps in the time of Bayit Rishon (the First Temple) it was? I don’t know, I mean not perhaps, most likely. But since the Second Temple? Also in the First Temple there was a long time, we’re talking about 900 years. Right, but not most Jews. True, not most Jews.

Not only in the ancient world, but until two hundred years ago, but not most Jews. Most Jews were, that is a large portion of Jews, but they are not the Jews we talk about. We make a list of five thousand Tanna’im v’Amora’im (Mishnaic and Talmudic sages), perhaps three of them were farmers.

Even the “Farmer” Was One Step Removed

Look, even the farmer, even when there is a farmer, but these are the Jews, there are no other Jews. Even the farmer, even when there is a farmer in a cultured society, there are also people whose job is to make wine. He’s not the farmer, he’s the wine-maker. He already lives in the city, and they bring him wine, he buys it from the farmer, he is one step removed.

And not, understand, in the Gemara, many people in the Gemara worked in making beer and wine, that was a traditional Jewish thing. But when they were the farmers, the non-Jew worked in the field, the Jew came after the season and pressed the wine. Understand? So even if he’s not a socher (merchant), he’s not a banker yet, but he’s still one step removed from the city. Every city, understand, needs the products of the field to make their things.

Back to the Main Point: Chain of Causes

Al kol panim (in any case), how do I come in here? What I want to say is, if you say chag ha’asif, it could be that the tekufa (period) came about because once there were the farmers, okay? Could also be. But al kol panim, you have to go back all the way there to explain why you go to the store and you buy a kugel (traditional Jewish pudding) lichvod yom tov, understand?

Very good, a very nice mahalach (line of reasoning). We mean, I just want to say, that is, when you ask the question what is the meaning, you’re already not understanding the Tzanzer Rav (Rabbi of Tzanz). The meaning, and the others forget the meaning, the scientific, the cause, the reason why you sit in a sukka, why you buy branfen (liquor) lichvod yom tov, is for a long chain of causes, all the way back to 10,000 different reasons.

All the way back to “ki b’sukkot hoshavti et bnei Yisrael” (for I caused the children of Israel to dwell in booths – Leviticus 23:43), all the way back to the asif, all the way back to I don’t know what. It’s a very long time ago, it’s all part of the chain of causes. If not for that, it wouldn’t have been.

The Reason Is the Tradition

The reason is something else, which is the tradition. Ah, that’s the reason. What do you want, it really was so? Let’s say there was another explanation that was, someone says that explanation. No, the reason is because he wants to have family time, he wants to live in a boarding park, he wants… No, I don’t agree, because everyone wants family time, but not everyone does it in chodesh Tishrei (the month of Tishrei). Certainly, it’s part of the reason.

The Description Is Very Detailed

That is, the description of a human event, of a human action, is very very detailed. In order to truly know, only the Almighty can know even one thing that a person does correctly, because one must know the entire history of everything. As someone says, you want to explain one glass how it breaks, you need to explain from the big bang, yes? Theoretically, that’s true.

Certainly, locally it’s enough to explain nekudot (points) that are relevant to you, you can predict all these things. But really, in religion, when you tell me all these old madne (strange) te’amim (reasons) for things, you say, “I don’t buy it.”

Against the Kotzker Approach

A person can say such a Kotzer (of Kotzk) thing, we are anti-Kotzk. A person says, “I don’t buy the wine because I have in mind Olam HaYetzira (the World of Formation), I buy wine because I’m thirsty.” It’s not true. It’s factually not true.

It’s not true, because drunkards buy wine all year, and you buy lichvod yom tov. What do you mean you buy lichvod yom tov? That is the reality. If there hadn’t been metyasdut (establishment) of the yom tov b’zman Moshe Rabbeinu (in the time of Moses our teacher), I don’t know when, perhaps Adam HaRishon (the first man), Avraham Avinu (Abraham our father), I don’t care, you wouldn’t have had it.

Multiple Causes

Now, certainly, if not that you’re thirsty, you wouldn’t have it either. Both are missing. A ta’am (reason) can be both are missing. There can be multiple reasons for something. Not because there can be multiple reasons, every thing has multiple causes. There is no thing in the world that has only one cause.

The Rambam’s Critique of the Midrashim About the Four Species

The Complexity of a Person and a Mitzva

No, a person is even more complicated, because a person is the most complicated thing that exists in the world. Right? Very good.

So naturally, what I would have wanted, this was an introduction in order to be able to say… Where does the lulav begin?

Student: Why?

I don’t understand.

Parable of the Wine Store: What Does “Participation” in a Yom Tov Mean?

I now go into a wine store where there’s now a wine sale, a Sukkot sale, and I now buy wine. I explicitly buy because of lema’an yed’u dorotechem, I’m buying now. I want to have wine now, it’s a Sukkot sale in a wine store, it’s a Sukkot sale.

Oh, you’re a complete non-Jew.

By the way, I want to tell you, oh, you’re a non-Jew, heaven forbid to say. I don’t understand what you’re talking about. I don’t understand.

Student: Let’s hear more.

I want to say more, but oh, I’ll say one word, I’ll just add one word, which is gonna help.

Oh, you’re a complete non-Jew. Imagine there’s a non-Jew, I have a non-Jewish neighbor, he tells me, “Tell me when there’s a Jewish yom tov, because the meat is cheaper.” He loves the Jewish steak, and he doesn’t realize it’s three times as expensive. I told him there’s a sale. He tells me, “Tell me when the sale is.” He goes to buy the meat which is perhaps cheaper, it’s some better meat, it’s salted, I don’t know what. He needs to know.

That one, he doesn’t buy the meat lema’an yed’u dorotechem. But the truth is that he does buy it yes.

The Point of Masechet Avoda Zara

You know what I know? Masechet Avoda Zara. In Masechet Avoda Zara it says that when the non-Jews have a sale lichvod their yom tov, one may not buy. Why? Because it’s a participation in the non-Jewish yom tov. You’re with the idol worshipper. You’re buying meat lichvod avoda zara.

Student: No, that’s a Torah. Where does it say that?

No, no, not true. The truth is, I know it says that.

Nu, now I’ll tell you something else. I know it says that, and it’s not enough. The truth is, that when a Jew buys at the non-Jewish sale lichvod yom tov, that means, it does raise a question.

Digression: Christmas and Commercialism

People say, Christmas has become commercialized. Not true. The mitzva of Christmas is to buy many gifts. That is the mitzva, the custom of America. It was once a different custom.

I say, even the non-Jew who goes to buy, let’s say, right? Is still somehow himself participating in the yom tov. It’s not like the Jew, because the Jew really means it, and he buys it mainly because the meat is cheap. What, why is the meat cheap today? Because the Jews have a yom tov. It’s not wrong, understand? That’s nothing.

The Question of “U’lekachtem Lachem”: What Does It Mean to Take a Lulav?

Now, what I want to bring out from this is, therefore, I want to explain this, very clearly. Therefore, I want to try to tell the story. What is the story?

I want to talk today specifically about the lulav, because that interests me this year. What is the thing that means “u’lekachtem lachem” (and you shall take for yourselves), that one takes a lulav and rejoices with it?

A Mitzva Has Many Meanings

It means very many things. If someone says that the true meaning is only one thing, one must only have the intention, or the other intentions are false, they’re physical, they’re spiritual, he’s simply mistaken, he doesn’t know how reality works. It’s all these things.

For example, I’ll tell you a parable, okay?

The Midrash: Pesikta D’Rav Kahana

I have a book called midrash, I love the midrash very much, I wanted to ask to just give a class in the midrash.

What Is Pesikta D’Rav Kahana

There is a midrash, all students know, yes? Those who don’t know, I’ll tell you. There is a midrash, everyone knows there is midrash on the Torah, there is also midrash on the festivals, every Hasidic person should be on the Torah festivals. That is the source, many midrashim came from here.

There is a midrash on the festivals, it’s called Pesikta D’Rav Kahana. And it’s a midrash on the Torah readings that were read on every yom tov, and also Chanuka and Yom Kippur, all the beautiful holidays.

And conversely, the midrash, apparently this is an earlier midrash, it’s not a collection, they used to expound. Yes, this is the sermon that was said. It’s collected, of course not, each one said the whole thing once, but the midrashim on the Torah are much more collected from here.

Shlomo Buber printed it, it didn’t exist before, but the Rishonim, it’s a very popular midrash, a very basic midrash. And it’s a very beautiful midrash to learn on the holy holidays. Whoever wants to learn, it’s very beautiful midrashim.

The Midrash Brings Many Interpretations on Every Mitzva

And what I want to say is this: In the midrash, whoever learns midrash sees that on every single mitzva, especially the mitzva of festivals, he said on Sukkot in the midrash on the verse “u’lekachtem lachem” which is read on the first day of Sukkot, he has perhaps six or seven different interpretations, what is the meaning of the mitzva?

The Rambam’s Approach in Moreh Nevuchim

Our rabbi, the holy Rambam, he was very frustrated with this midrash in his book. He already learned, yes, Moreh Nevuchim (Guide for the Perplexed), everyone already learned, certainly, the Moreh about the reason for the four species. I don’t even need to say it here, because everyone knows it by heart.

The Rambam in Moreh Nevuchim Part 3 Chapter 43

And the Rambam, I just want to say this, the Rambam in the Moreh in Part 3, one must write it in the references, the author of the Rambam in the Moreh Part 3 chapter, which chapter did we talk about festivals?

Student: Did we talk about 43?

32, 36, 43. 43 has the details of the reasons for festivals, and there at the end of the last yom tov is… See, Moreh Nevuchim, 3:43.

I just want to show you something, I want to engage a bit with the holy Rambam. Yom Tov engaging with the Rambam, we’re going to follow him, and Yom Tov engaging with him.

The Rambam and… here come the birds over the beis medrash that will now be burned.

Student: Part 3, Chapter 3.

Chapter 43.

Student: Yes, what does that mean?

Yes, the Rambam, let me open it. I’m opening it here by me, Moreh Nevuchim. I have here a Moreh, I brought, I bought a printed one, so I should always have it here.

It says like this, amnam, I just want to say, the end of the chapter, yes, he goes through all the festivals, the last thing is Sukkos, he explains the reason for Sukkos as he understands it, I don’t want to go into that now, I want to talk about the four species.

The Rambam’s Critique of the Midrashim About the Four Species

And at the end he says like this: “Amnam arba’ah minim shebalulav, kevar zachru zichronam livracha bo ketzas sibah al tzad hadrashos, shedarkan yadu’a lemi sheheivin divreihem” [Amnam arba’ah minim shebalulav etc.: “However, the four species of the lulav, the Sages have already mentioned some reasons for this in the way of drashos, and their way is known to those who understand their words”].

That means, he says that the four species, it’s very interesting, because everyone who has learned many times the Rambam in reasons for mitzvos in particular, he doesn’t agree with midrashim entirely.

The Rambam’s Usual Method: He Ignores Midrashim

That means, he says that he gives the plain meaning of the reasons for mitzvos from the simple meaning of Scripture, even if there is a midrash that says that the plain meaning of the mitzvos is different, it’s not a contradiction as is known. He always says the plain meaning from the simple meaning of Scripture, and the midrash he leaves to the side.

In general, the book Moreh Nevuchim was set up to explain midrashim. He regretted it, he had a plan to make a book on midrashim, and he changed his mind, he says he’s going to write a book on the Chumash.

Student: Yes, I don’t know all these things.

No, it’s based on the Chumash. It’s based on the Chumash. The Rambam says, “kol hasefer hazeh” is “sitrei Torah,” to explain the meaning of the Chumash. It’s not to explain philosophy, it’s to explain the true meaning of the Chumash. Okay.

The Rambam’s Language

“Chachamim nasnu lekach ta’am sasum shedarkam yadu’a lamaskilim, aval lo zeh mashma’us hapasuk” [Chachamim nasnu lekach ta’am sasum etc.: “The Sages gave for this a hidden reason whose way is known to the wise, but this is not the meaning of the verse”]. Right.

That means, what does he mean… yes, yes, I want to say an introduction. I want to learn this Rambam, and I want to challenge it, okay? If we’re doing it, if we’re doing it. This isn’t on the handout yet, not at all. So I have to say things that aren’t written, because the handout you can learn on your own.

Analysis: The Rambam Was “Upset” About the Midrashim

I want to say like this: The holy Rambam, when it came to the reason for the four species, he was upset about the midrash. Almost, I’m saying chas v’shalom that the Rambam was never upset, almost never.

Student: Not about the four species.

Where does he say that?

Student: No, but you’re already holding by the answer.

I don’t want to talk about his own explanation, that’s not my topic here. I want to talk about the Rambam’s critique of the midrash.

The Rambam Usually Doesn’t Talk About Midrashim

The Rambam usually, he doesn’t say “and the midrash writes differently,” and people don’t understand the midrash, people think it’s simply the plain meaning like that. This is not something he does almost never.

Sometimes, the Rambam talks about midrashim, like in his introduction to Perek Chelek [Perek Chelek: the eleventh chapter of Tractate Sanhedrin, where the Mishnah talks about “all Israel has a portion in the World to Come”], the Rambam goes on at length about Jews who take midrashim literally, and he is very angry at them, he says they make a mockery of the Torah etc. etc.

But in general, in Moreh Nevuchim, it’s not his job to explain midrashim and not to challenge them. Almost. There are a few pieces of midrashim that he struggles with as is known, but in general, his job is to explain the Torah, to explain how the Torah fits with reason, with truth, what is the true meaning of the Torah. But to discuss midrashim is not a matter at all.

It happens that he brings a midrash that agrees with him, or he brings a midrash that was very difficult for him and he wants to resolve it. But aside from that, it’s not his business, especially not in reasons for mitzvos.

In Reasons for Mitzvos the Rambam Almost Doesn’t Talk About Midrashim

On almost every mitzvah, the Rambam writes on 613 mitzvos reasons, every single mitzvah reasons. There are midrashim, may they be honored, that discuss these matters, and almost none of them does the Rambam talk about at all.

But when it came to the four species, and that means, sometimes the Rambam does discuss a reason that appears in the midrash, as if he understands that this is actually the simple plain meaning, it agrees with him, he goes with it.

But With the Four Species the Rambam Criticized the Midrashim

But when it comes to the four species, the Rambam says like this, here there is in this a reason in the way of drasha. That means, in the way of drasha means as a drasha, as a derash. And he says that everyone who learns their words understands that drashos are like poetic metaphors, it’s poetry, it’s not meaning, it’s not the meaning of the verse in the midrash.

For example, he means here to say, what does the Rambam mean to say? The Rambam means to say, because every boy already learned in cheder that it’s explained with the four species.

The Well-Known Midrashim About the Four Species

Nu, what did one learn in cheder? And the Rambam understands that one also learned this.

Student: Ah, one is against the heart, one is against the eyes, one is against the mouth, no, none against the mouth.

Of course, these are midrashim, it’s in the Pesikta, all become all midrashim. It’s in Vayikra Rabbah [Vayikra Rabbah: the midrash on the Book of Leviticus] in the Pesikta, one smells and one doesn’t smell, and one smells and one doesn’t smell, and this is a sign for all Jews, etc.

Another midrash, exactly, it’s in the Gemara, it nullifies evil spirits [mevatel ruchos ra’os: nullifying evil spirits/winds].

Student: What else?

Against the Almighty, the Rambam brings, how each esrog is hadar, something a submission to the Almighty, and the same thing hadassim etc., and all the midrashim. The Rambam brings this midrash, famously.

Student: Ah, what else?

There’s a midrash that says that this shows that one was victorious in judgment, yes? And so several more midrashim, right?

The midrash says that it’s against Avraham Yitzchak Yaakov, yes? I don’t know, I’m telling you, it’s in the Rema [Rema: Rabbi Moshe Isserles, the author of the glosses on Shulchan Aruch], one makes three circles corresponding to Avraham Yitzchak Yaakov.

Everyone learned these midrashim, and they’re very famous midrashim. Every cheder learns it, and the Rambam also learned it.

The Rambam’s Ruling: The Midrashim Are Poetry, Not the Plain Meaning

And about this the Rambam is quite upset, and the Rambam says, come here, you need to understand that the midrashim are not the meaning, not the, not about what Moshe Rabbeinu said one should make a lulav.

Rather, the midrash is a poem. Exactly, it’s even more awesome poetically to say. Look, the esrog looks like a mouth.

The Rambam’s Reason for the Four Species and the Practical Matter of Buying an Esrog

Critique of the Rambam’s Reason for the Four Species

The Rambam’s Explanation: Sukkos and the Four Species

Maggid Shiur:

Now I want to say, I think the Rambam is not entirely correct. Why? The Rambam gives a reason, a beautiful reason for the lulav and the species, as everyone knows the reason. This is the reason in general, that the Rambam explains, the Rambam explained, it was already said briefly, that Sukkos is “lema’an yed’u doroseichem” [lema’an yed’u doroseichem: so that your generations shall know] – I can elaborate on this, but I don’t want to talk about it today. Sukkos is to commemorate the miracles of the desert [lezecher nisei midbar: to commemorate the miracles of the desert], is the Rambam’s definition. On Pesach we thank the Almighty that we left Egypt, and on Sukkos we thank the Almighty that we left the desert. We were saved from all the dangers that exist in the desert, and we came not to the desert, we’re now in Eretz Yisrael. Right? That’s basically the thing.

And by the way, I think this repeats itself in a certain sense every year, because in the harvest time [zman hakatzir: harvest time], the time when one works in the field, it’s as if not in the desert, but one goes outside, one drags oneself into a sukkah, one needs to… there’s the farmers’ sukkah [sukkas hayotzrim: the farmers’ sukkah], the vineyard sukkah [sukkas hakerem: the vineyard sukkah], one needs to go sit in the sukkah there, it’s hot during the day and it’s cold at night. There are all kinds of thieves and snakes and all dangers, one turns around there outside. After the end of the season comes, one goes back inside the houses. This is every year an aspect of leaving the sukkah, entering Eretz Yisrael. And so too one takes a sukkah to remember that one came from the desert, to praise to thank the Almighty, because a person must always remember “in days of goodness remember the days of trouble” [bimei hatovah zechor es yemei hara’ah: in days of goodness remember the days of trouble]. And consequently one sits in the sukkah to remember that one wasn’t formerly in a sukkah, the Almighty helped us, we survived the desert, but there were troubles. And one goes and takes the four species. Why? Because these are tasty fruits that already exist, and they already have a place. The desert is “not a place of seed” [lo mekom zera: not a place of seed], and we do have seed and fruits and beautiful fruits. This is the Rambam’s interpretation.

Yes, so the sukkah encompasses all of Israel that was [kolel Yisrael shehayah: encompasses Israel that was], and the four species is the good that exists now [tuv sheyesh achshav: the good that exists now]. So comes out the Rambam writes. Yes, right? That’s how I understand it.

The Three Reasons Why Specifically These Fruits

And the Rambam gives reasons for why specifically these fruits. He says, first of all, because they are commonly found [matzui: commonly found], it’s easy to find. Second, because it stays fresh, it stays… no, the opposite, because the Rambam assumes that in the times of his Torah the esrog was cheap, not like today, and for a long time already, already from the time of the Gemara [zman hagemara: the time of the Gemara], the esrog was expensive. It was cheap, right? And third, sorry, second, because it looks beautiful, it’s fresh, even smells good, but it looks beautiful, it’s beautiful. And third, because it stays fresh for seven days. You’ll take an orange or a fig, it doesn’t stay fresh for too long, only when it’s dried. But these fruits stay fresh, so one can take them for a whole seven days. This is the Rambam’s reasons for why specifically these fruits. But if one is fundamental, the Rambam holds that it’s a choice in fruits [bechirah bepeiros: a choice in fruits].

First Critique: The Fruits Are Specifically Water-Dependent Plants

I think, if we’re already talking, I’ll already say, rabbosai, I think that the Rambam, and in this too the Rambam is not entirely correct. The Rambam’s reasons are always a bit forced in these sorts of details. The reason, the more pleasant, and also fits more with the midrashim, and also in many verses more simple is, that the reason, even if we go with the Rambam’s explanation that the four species is joy that we left the desert which is a dry place, one brings specifically these species, as is known that the four species grow by abundant water [gedelim al kol mayim: grow by abundant water], they need very much water. The Gemara says, about this the four species atone for water [meratzeh al hamayim: atone for/bring favor regarding water], because all four species, who knows, an esrog, and certainly all the other three species, are things that need very much water.

The Rambam doesn’t say this. The Rambam just says that these are beautiful fruits, and essentially one should have taken other fruits, but this is more practical. This is the Rambam’s explanation. What I’m saying is not the Rambam, others say this, other contemporary commentators already say this, that on the contrary, these are fruits that don’t grow in the desert. There’s a verse in Isaiah “eten bamidbar erez shitah vahadas” [eten bamidbar erez shitah vahadas: I will place in the desert cedar, acacia, and myrtle], that in the future the Almighty will make such abundance, even in the desert there will be myrtles. It comes out, in the desert there aren’t myrtles. What? Cacti.

Digression: Date Palms and the Desert Motif

And by the way, one minute, I want to tell you, date palm branches [kapos temarim: date palm branches], whoever learned Chumash already knows that the joy when one is in the desert, one finds an oasis where there are dates there. “Vayavo’u Elimah” [vayavo’u Elimah: and they came to Elim], this is literally the conclusion of Parshas Beshalach. It also says again in Bamidbar, one came, one walked in the desert, it was dry-parched, and afterward there’s a place where there’s a bit of water, there’s Miriam’s well [be’erah shel Miriam: Miriam’s well] there, and there grow a few dates. So the dates are literally, and also when one entered Eretz Yisrael, the first place that was conquered was a place called the city of dates [ir hatemarim: the city of dates], Jericho, mentioned already in Parshas Vezos Haberachah, and there it’s because it’s the edge of the desert, where always when there’s a bit of a spring [ma’ayan: spring], a bit of a spring, a bit of a source of water, dates grow. This is the opposite of desert. The same thing willows of the brook [arvei nachal: willows of the brook], according to all opinions simply, and it’s actually, I told you.

The Rambam Doesn’t Say This Reason

Student:

The Rambam doesn’t say this.

Maggid Shiur:

No, the Rambam doesn’t say this. “The most pleasant fruit” [hapri hana’eh beyoser: the most pleasant fruit] – the Rambam doesn’t say this. I’m saying, other people say this. I don’t see that the Rambam says this.

Student:

Yes, it says “gefen te’enah verimon” [gefen te’enah verimon: grapevine, fig, and pomegranate].

Maggid Shiur:

“A fruit tree by the river” [etz peri al nahar: a fruit tree by the river] – okay, you can interpret it that way. But that the fruits are specifically very water-dependent fruits, the opposite of the parched ones of the desert, this the Rambam doesn’t say.

Second Critique: They’re Not Edible Fruits

The second thing that doesn’t fit so well in the Rambam’s explanation, and one must say that they’re not edible fruits. That means, unless you want to learn that one actually takes dates, but one doesn’t take dates, one takes in practice the leaves of it, the date palm branches, not the dates themselves. The same thing the other species, except for the esrog, I don’t know if there was once such a thing that people used to eat esrogim, and it actually says that it’s fit for eating [ra’ui lema’achol: fit for eating], but I believe it was never really a fruit that one eats. I think historically it’s so, it’s a fruit that today is used for perfumes at most. It smells very good, it’s good for making a nice scent, it’s very beautiful. Even a lemon, one doesn’t eat lemons, yes? Let’s say, the closest cousin of the esrog is a lemon. One makes it a bit, one puts it in the seltzer sometimes for a taste. It’s not food, it’s not a fruit.

Student:

What?

Maggid Shiur:

Right, you can say that. You can say that, but it’s not such a good idea at all. First fruits [bikkurim: first fruits] one brings fruits literally, but this isn’t really that. If the Rambam would have said the explanation for bikkurim, it would have been a much better explanation. He actually says it, but on… true, true, one needs to be from a kohen, just like bikkurim. But this I’m saying, for the four species it’s not such a good explanation, in my humble opinion [lefi aniyus da’ati: in my humble opinion], for these reasons. So the Rambam’s explanation is true, but it’s not so good and it’s not perfect.

Conclusion: The Rambam’s Explanation Is True But Not Perfect

The First Reason for the Mitzvah of Esrog: Displaying Oneself with a Mitzvah

The Practical Starting Point – Buying an Esrog

But “to you and not to us” [lecha v’lo lanu: to you and not to us], regarding the fact that the Rambam relies on the Midrashim, the Rambam views that what I’m saying is a good interpretation, because this can actually give you the reason why the Almighty commanded this mitzvah, in order that one should praise the Almighty that one has arrived in Eretz Yisrael. But the reasons that are given, that this is against this and other things, the Rambam says these are not good interpretations. So, I think that this is not so simple. One must know which Midrashim, perhaps there are some Midrashim that are like this. Even that one must think about, why? Because I just said, the world is more complicated.

The Practical Matter: What Does One Actually Do with an Esrog?

The Simplest Question: Why Does One Buy an Esrog?

For example, I want to say what the first Midrash is, I just want to say the first one, because I thought this way, I thought you were going to say this, I was waiting for someone to say this. What is the true… let’s ask already, what is practically the intention of an esrog? Why does one buy an esrog? Why does one buy a beautiful esrog? Why? Why do all Jews turn around and buy fancy esrogim for ten thousand dollars? I don’t mean, there aren’t esrogim for ten thousand dollars. A hundred dollars. Okay, for real. Today it’s a mitzvah, so, what is the matter of an esrog? What goes on before the holiday of Sukkos when people buy esrogim? What goes on there? I’ve watched too many of my lectures, and I’m not cynical enough. But what goes on is that all the baalei batim want to have the most beautiful esrog in shul. Right? Honor, attention, hispa’arus b’mitzvos [glorification in mitzvos], it’s a good thing. That’s what goes on, true? The Rav has a beautiful esrog? The Rav makes sure to have a good esrog, a fancy esrog for the Rav? The Rav has a beautiful bench and a beautiful esrog? And the other person who has a cheap esrog wants to show that he got a beautiful esrog for cheap?

The Story of Esrog-Buying: Glorification and Beauty

Part of… everyone who has gone to shul, by the way, not just from today, already from the time of the Gemara, from the Sages who wrote in the Midrash, and presumably from the time of Moshe Rabbeinu, it says “u’lekachtem lachem” [and you shall take for yourselves]. Yes, the Gemara says “u’lekachtem” means to buy, that’s one derasha in the Gemara. Part of the deed, I want to say the deed, I want to say the deed, I want to say the deed, I want to say what a person does, one must say the whole deed. Part of the deed is that one buys a beautiful esrog, each person with his thing. I buy specifically the cheap one because of this, and he buys the more beautiful one because he’s a baalebatish young man and he has a beautiful one, and that one has a silver case, and he specifically doesn’t have a silver case because he’s a Lubavitcher. Exactly. And if it were, as someone said, that the esrog would be at home and the other thing would be in shul, this would be big and that would be small. Whatever, I don’t remember the joke anymore, right?

Methodological Principle: One Shouldn’t Be Like the Kotzker Chassidim

I’m saying a simple fact. I’m saying it’s not a matter, we learn that one shouldn’t be like the Kotzker Chassidim, because the friends of the Kotzkers are limited, they think that the meaning of maaseh adam [human action] can be reduced to one thing. You mean this or you mean that. I mean, I don’t know what I mean something, I’m something born today, I’m something yesh me’ayin [something from nothing], I’m thousands of generations, must one reduce to one thing what I do. But part of what I do, let’s talk. The first thing, the first thing, I mean this is the simplest thing. The first thing is, one buys an esrog because one wants to have a beautiful esrog. In shul, at home, whatever, each person… Now, a frum person, he has four species, he has one esrog for shmiras einayim [guarding one’s eyes], each person has his way of mehadrin [beautifying/enhancing]. That one looked for three hours with a magnifying glass, he has no bugs, not bugs, what’s it called, the dots, etc. etc. Each person has his madness, his beauty, by the way,

The First Reason for the Mitzvah of Esrog: Displaying Oneself with a Mitzvah

The Practical Starting Point – Buying an Esrog

But part of what I do, let’s talk about the first thing. I mean this is the simple thing, the first thing is one buys an esrog, so that one should come with a beautiful esrog. In shul, at home, whatever, each person, each person, each one is a frum person, it’s four species, because one is perhaps more, each person will have his way of mehadrin. That one looked for three hours with a magnifying glass, there are no bugs, not bugs, it’s called with the dots, etc. etc. Each person will have his madness, his thing that you laugh at.

“Hisnae’h Lefanav B’Mitzvos” – Means Displaying Oneself Before Others, Not Before the Almighty

You laugh strongly that displaying oneself with a mitzvah is nothing. That’s exactly what it means, says the Gemara, mehadrin means not making beautiful for the Almighty. The Almighty doesn’t need beautiful things. The Almighty is fine, the Almighty made the whole world. You know botanical gardens, the Almighty has all of them. He doesn’t need you to come into His room with one.

It’s only therefore a mitzvah, it’s literally, I’m telling you the translation, it’s only display yourself before Him with a mitzvah. In other words, what kind of thing will you buy fancy? A fancy esrog, not just a fancy car, but a car is also a mitzvah. But a fancy esrog, it says in the Gemara in Tractate Yoma, that after the Kohen Gadol went and read the Sefer Torah, each person brought his Torah to the Temple, kedai lehar’os no’eh larabim, to display himself with a beautiful Torah that he bought for himself, he had it written and he bought it.

The same thing, hisnae’h lefanav b’mitzvos [beautifying mitzvos before Him], doesn’t mean, show me, make yourself beautiful. If beauty is only for other people, not for oneself alone. If one buys something beautiful only for oneself alone, one doesn’t fulfill the obligation. One must show it. Look, I have a beautiful esrog.

Someone thinks it’s snobbery, with this, just like every thing, this is the kavod hamitzvah [honor of the mitzvah], this is the yofi hamitzvah [beauty of the mitzvah], the beauty of the Jews that they display themselves with their esrog. Okay, so you can be a coarse person which is really about you, you can be a bit more refined about it, but it’s still displaying oneself.

Verse: “Hishalelu B’Shem Kodsho” – A Person Must Boast with Mitzvos

It says “hishalelu b’shem kodsho” [praise in His holy name], hispa’aru [glorify yourselves], “Yisrael asher becha espa’ar” [Israel, in you I will be glorified], a person must boast with the Almighty, with mitzvos.

Yes, it’s kosher. It can be kosher. It can be someone who is really competitive, he’s set about him, it can be he doesn’t do it lishmah. But the action is always to display oneself.

Beauty of a Mitzvah is a Social/External Thing

The truth is this, a mitzvah that no one sees doesn’t need to be as beautiful as when one sees. I mean that’s how the halacha [Jewish law] is. Certainly, aesthetics is the one that holds, the display is for a time, not for you. No, that a mitzvah should be beautiful. Not serious, not nothing. You don’t need to transmit anything to something else for that.

A beautiful shul, a beautiful thing, it’s beautiful, it’s beautiful, it’s beautiful. There are many matters. A beautiful shul arouses that one should be able to daven there with pleasure. But also, besides that, a beautiful shul shows that the people… ah, no, okay, it should be.

Small Digression: Desires and Beautiful Things

No problem, I agree that I told you, one can be coarse about this. I’m the greatest about this. Just competitive, who’s the greatest about this. Even with cars, by the way, there are refined ways. Don’t do refined ways to do, okay? It has nothing to do. There’s someone who sees… yes there. Yes there.

Haven’t you heard all my lectures about ta’avos [desires]? We are pro. I don’t agree. We are pro? No, not just a Brisker. We are pro having good beautiful things, but in a human way. We are not… I must say may. Okay, that’s my point.

The Midrash: Gezeirah Shavah “Lekachtem” – “Kechu Musari V’Al Kesef”

Rabbi Abba Bar Kahana’s Derasha

Now, I want to show deeper than this, a bit further than this. So the first thing, I must bring this out, the first thing, the action, that is, the maaseh shehaya [the deed that was], what people do when they buy an esrog, is they buy an esrog. And if he buys a more beautiful and better one and whatever, he buys a more beautiful esrog.

And this is the Midrash, the first piece of Midrash that speaks about “lekachtem lachem” [you shall take for yourselves], Rabbi Abba bar Kahana in Pesach, okay? What is a verse from Rabbi Abba bar Kahana and thought, this is a spark of the lecture, because it says “lekachtem” [you shall take], he makes a gezeirah shavah [hermeneutical principle linking two texts through identical words], “kechu” [take], “kechu”, yes?

Certainly, they work the derech hamiltzas hashiur [the method of homiletical interpretation], but what he brings out is a true authentic part of the meaning of the mitzvah of esrog.

Methodological Note About Midrash vs. Rambam

No, the Rambam, you must remember, the Rambam’s reasons are all historical. Why? Moshe Rabbeinu was prophetically aware that the mitzvos are a good thing to make people good. It can be historically his reasons are good, but it’s not enough, right? You’re not doing only about that, when we do the mitzvos they’re not doing only about Moshe Rabbeinu’s calculations. It happens also because we have power from an esrog, that’s what you do. It can be that it’s part of it, but it’s not the whole thing.

And the Midrash, although it’s presented with melitzos [rhetorical flourishes], what’s wrong that if he writes a melitzah he must write dryly? He must write pleasantly. By the way, it’s also part of it, it’s a keli melitzah [tool of rhetoric], someone writes a book, he writes with beautiful melitzos. He should display that he can write. Certainly.

The Verse: “Kechu Musari V’Al Kesef”

The holy Midrash says, Rabbi Abba bar Kahana brings a verse, which verse did he bring? There’s a verse, “kechu musari v’al kesef, v’da’as mechrutz nivchar” [Take my instruction and not silver, and knowledge rather than choice gold – Proverbs 8:10]. He made a gezeirah shavah, “lekachtem lachem” [you shall take for yourselves].

The first moment, the first thing that a person does, the first thing is he buys it. He brought, ah, there’s a verse, what should one buy? Not kesef [silver], not just accumulated things, but one must buy musar [instruction/ethics], the Almighty’s mitzvos, the Almighty’s things. And he expounds at length as is the way of Midrash, he says things that are random, then he brings it out.

“Misakhar Lekicha Atah Lamed Sachar Lekicha”

“Kechu musari v’al kesef”. Says the holy Rabbi Abba bar Kahana, “misakhar lekicha atah lamed sachar lekicha” [from the reward of one taking you learn the reward of another taking]. You will think what “lekicha” [taking] means, you will see what the importance is, what the preciousness of taking a thing, of buying a mitzvah.

The Midrash Continues: From Agudas Eizov to Lulav – The Reward of “Lekicha”

Agudas Eizov in Egypt

He says, it says this, in Egypt it says “u’lekachtem agudas eizov” [and you shall take a bundle of hyssop]. The first time it says in the Torah “u’lekachtem”, by the way, whoever makes the Midrash this way, knew Chumash well. You’ll make a search on “u’lekachtem”, you’ll see, “u’lekachtem” says “u’lekachtem agudas eizov”. I can check. Eh, my thing doesn’t work now. It doesn’t say “u’lekachtem”, “u’lekachtem lachem”, “u’lekachtem agudas eizov”. I think this is one of the first times, perhaps the word “u’lekachtem” doesn’t appear many times in the whole Torah. I don’t have patience now to find out.

And he said this, “u’lekachtem agudas eizov”. The Almighty said, first thing it also says “v’yikchu lahem ish seh l’veis avos” [and they shall take for themselves, each man a lamb for the household]. The Ibn Ezra already adds to the similar command. In any case, “u’lekachtem agudas eizov”.

He says, you see, what did one do? Says Rabbi Abba bar Kahana, what did the agudas eizov cost? Do you know what the agudas eizov cost? Do you know what the agudas eizov cost? Do you know what the agudas eizov cost? Eizov [hyssop] doesn’t mean grass, eizov means the segulah, I forgot what it’s called in English. Do you understand what eizov is? A few cents, okay?

The Greatness of the Cheap Eizov

And with this eizov, what did one accomplish? Presumably every Jew went to buy a beautiful eizov. Each one came home, a beautiful eizov. You know, Pharaoh, it’s a whole thing that one wasn’t allowed any straw for bricks. The grass was a big thing. Jews worked for two hundred years, whoever had more involvement in this. How did the Almighty come and say, take a beautiful grass, because agudas eizov. Okay? Beautiful interpretation.

And what was? In honor of the eizov the Almighty took the Jews out of Egypt, true? That was the mitzvah, with this one painted the house, the blood, and this is important, one must paint it with an eizov, it’s a segulah the eizov, and with this one went out of Egypt, yes?

Says the Midrash, imagine, says Rabbi Abba bar Kahana, imagine, with one eizov one accomplished the entire Yetzias Mitzrayim [the Exodus from Egypt], the entire until the sea, the entire until Sichon and Og, the entire until the thirty-one kings. The whole thing began from the Almighty’s cheap eizov.

Kal Vachomer to the Lulav

When one arrived in Eretz Yisrael, let’s say it as the Rambam says. One takes a lulav [palm branch]. How much does a lulav cost? Kamah v’kamah damim [many, many coins]. When it’s not just one mitzvah, there are many mitzvos in the lulav, perhaps four, perhaps everything is one mitzvah, he assumed there are more, more, additional mitzvos.

Imagine what a sachar [reward] one receives for taking a whole lulav that costs twenty, two hundred dollars. So you understand? The first thing he thought is he’s very right.

The Main Point: “Lekicha” (Buying) is Itself Part of the Mitzvah

Will the Rambam say, therefore one takes a matter part of it that it should cost money and one should have beauty? No, not about that. In order to explain why it makes sense for the Torah to give such a mitzvah, you must say something else.

I’m telling you, it’s the meaning, it’s the part of the description, if one will an important part. In our time, what it is now. If the Rambam says, in order to explain, a heretic comes and says, why does the Torah say fancy things? You know what? I’ll make it and make sense. But that’s only why. It’s not a good reason for me, I’m logical. It’s not, it’s a partner reason for agreeing. But it’s not, perhaps the main, a person will come to Boro Park erev Yom Tov and he will see what the Jews do, he will see what they do to us, like Egyptians falling for money.

That’s what they do. That’s a disgrace. Someone can be a mekatreig [accuser] and say they’re just displaying themselves, he says, what can be? No, he lets it cost for business because it’s a mitzvah. And he brings a verse, and you see how much you will buy a mitzvah, how expensive it is, how much zechus [merit] it is, what a great thing it is, how much it can accomplish.

And we understand, this is the first thing, and this is a very important part, from here it begins, that she buys an esrog and she pays money for it, the more one pays for it is it a greater mitzvah? Yes?

Small Digression: Is Buying an Obligation?

What is the only mitzvah that one must own? A chametz perhaps, one eats it up, so one must own it. “U’lekachtem” is part of the mitzvah. You’re right that it’s not enough that this should be a reason why it should be the mitzvah, but in reality it’s a very big part of the asiyas hamitzvah [performance of the mitzvah].

And it has to be… okay, he’s almost here. And it has to have a meaning, you can’t deny it, you can’t take away the fact. If someone asks the taste of an etrog, that’s enough. That means there are more reasons, we’ll go further in the Midrash and we’ll see more reasons, but it’s enough, why do we take a lulav? So that Jews should buy a mitzvah.

You have to remember, the Midrash goes with the idea that’s written in the Midrash regarding Passover, that why was there actually the mitzvah of “take a bundle of hyssop”? Actually because of this, that’s how the Midrash thought, right? That this is a merit. This was last year, today I didn’t build the sukkah, my son built the sukkah. If I have to talk about buying an etrog, what do I do? I pay you for the… it’s very simple, you buy a lulav. This is one real part of making the lulav, of making the etrog, whatever you want.

What? You can fulfill the obligation, but the other person fulfills the matter of buying. Someone has to pay, what does that mean? Just the way. It’s not an obligation, because there’s no obligation to buy. You can get it for free. Certainly. It’s a fact. He asks, is it an obligation? No, you can find it ownerless. Nothing wrong.

I don’t know, it’s a reality, we’re talking about the world of reality, not about the theory of what’s an obligation and what are the reasons that Moshe Rabbeinu thought. No, I’m not one of those Jews who hold that reality is distorted, I’m one of those Jews who believe that the Almighty created reality.

So yes, that’s the first thing. I think we can even go further, and the Midrash gives more things. For example, the next thing the Midrash says, which everyone knows, we already talked about this, the next thing the Midrash says is that the lulav comes after… how is it called?

Lulav as a Symbol of Victory: The Midrash, the Rambam, and the Multiple Meanings of Mitzvot

The Midrash on Lulav as a Victory Symbol: Historical Context

Maggid Shiur:

By the way, this is a very realistic Midrash, whoever wants to know, yes? This is a very beautiful Midrash. He says, yes, we know that the Midrash is built on a context not from the time of Moshe Rabbeinu, but from the time of Chazal, that it was one of the customs of Rome, it’s called a “baion” in Greek, and the Midrash says like this, “baya baion,” and when it used to be one of the ways in general, for example in Greece, when someone won a game, it was the custom.

Digression: Plato’s Description of the Greek Games

Plato brings that there was a foreigner, he came to Greece, and he said that the Greeks are very mad creatures. Why? Because you toil, you train for a few years, you train yourself to win, to be an athlete, to be able to run fast, to dance fast, whatever the game was about. Afterwards, whoever it was gets what? A lulav. A leaf from a palm tree. They used to give him, he used to come out with such a lulav, or not necessarily lulav, there was Tosafot, other things, but Josephus and others translate with the same word lulav that they used to use. Such a symbol, it was a greeting, it was a…

Very good, this brings out that that gentile was a fool, because the Greeks were gentiles, the other gentiles were gentiles. He says, that gentile is a fool, he thinks it means that, it’s only a sign for the honor that person has. But simply, who says… he only saw this, from this he must actually bring out, with this parable that he was a fool, he laughed, “Ha, you’re walking with a leaf, for a leaf you toiled so much.”

The Fact of This Custom: Victory Symbols in the Ancient World

But I’m just telling you that the fact was like this, that whoever became something, they used to give him such a leaf, such a standing leaf that you can hold like this, like he says like today they give a… what’s it called? Such a figure, I don’t know, it’s a thing. And you stand with this, and you come out from this like this… that he became.

But the Midrash has that the same thing was the custom, so I think that it was also the custom by a… not clear, I know for sure that it was the custom, but it seems that it could be that it was also the custom by a… or by a war, first of all, by whoever was a general who won a war, they also used to make a parade, and she used to walk around with either the thing she captured there, or also was it a… with such a leaf? Or the Midrash claims that whoever won a din Torah, some court case, also there was some custom, used to go out with this? Also not, I don’t know if we know clearly the context of this.

But in any case, the idea that in the time of the sages in Rome primarily, and already before that year, because it was the custom that whoever won something, the sign is that he won, and he used to come out that he held something a… what?

Student:

Yes yes, then by them it was specifically the…

The Rambam’s Position and the Question of Historical Continuity

Maggid Shiur:

And the Midrash thinks, the Midrash already fell in general, that let’s go search, the Rambam took this in, let’s go search that in Moshe Rabbeinu’s times there was already the custom in Egypt that they used to give for the athletes such lulavim to carry and to show that they won, or yes, they had tefillin, they had other things, I don’t know what they had this for.

Student:

The Romans, this is Greek, to make a crown from hadasim.

Maggid Shiur:

Yes, that’s what I’m saying, certainly. But in Egypt I don’t know what such a person could be. But it could be. I think that the Midrash didn’t figure this out. You understand? Why actually? Why not?

Why the Historical Reason Alone Is Not Enough

But whoever is, we just spoke, we didn’t search in the Midrash and weren’t interested in justifying why the Almighty commanded this. Because it’s not his business, because it doesn’t work out, it perhaps works out, but it’s not the only thing. There are more things.

A person is Torat Chaim. You remember, yes, you can say, but I want to explain to you, exactly, we are a long time back, you want to think, the reasons that the Almighty commanded in the time of Moshe Rabbeinu is not enough a reason that we should do it, it’s not enough, it’s perhaps one person’s part, it’s not enough without this either, but it has to go through all the generations.

And besides that, I think it’s not correct thinking, because you have to see every custom exactly as it once was, because it brings out… so what I’m saying, it’s not enough this way, first because we do many things that aren’t written, I have news for you. For practical difference. For practical difference. Okay, we do practically.

I mean, what I really mean is, first of all, it doesn’t work out that it should be the reason, it could be, but it shouldn’t be like the Rambam says, it’s a reason, a metaphor in the world.

The Midrash’s Reason: Lulav as a Victory Parade After Yom Kippur

Maggid Shiur:

What the Rambam thinks is, it’s a beautiful idea, he puts it in this, it’s not true, it’s more than a beautiful idea. It’s true that the Jews now went and cried Yom Kippur, and had a whole question to see who will live and who will die, they were very worried. And it’s true that now, may it be, they literally make the parade. This is true, this is what the Midrash says, that a lulav is similar to the parade, and that person comes out with a lulav. And he shows himself that he won or he captured the city. This is true. This is the simple meaning.

It’s true. Is it the whole truth? Are there more things? There’s also why they gave to that winner of the city a lulav or of the game a lulav there are also many secrets, you know? There are many reasons why.

The Simple Meaning: Lulav as a Symbol of “I Am Here”

But it’s true, I’ll explain, I can explain this at greater length, but it’s true, I don’t know how much time I have, but it’s true that the… what we do with a lulav, which perhaps isn’t written explicitly in the Torah, but I think they already did this in the times of Moshe Rabbeinu, certainly in the times of Yehoshua bin Nun, is the truth, how do I know, it’s written in Nechemiah, is the truth that a lulav is such a kind of thing that makes with this a parade. And it shows that here I am, something of a victory.

You can even say the Rambam’s more. The Rambam also says this, basically, right? You can be so impressed with the Rambam’s reason, but it’s not so far from the Midrash’s reason. The Midrash only adds, to explain, why do you stand with this like this? The Rambam never explained, right? Why do you stand with this like this? Because that’s how a person turns, whoever won the thing with the game, he turns with such a piece, and he goes, he shows to everyone. See? Poor people, yes? He won.

Student:

No, I mean it’s the fact, in the times of the Beit HaMikdash they always made parades with the lulav, they went around the altar, that’s called a parade, right?

Maggid Shiur:

Went around the altar, or we still do it, they went around the bimah in the beit midrash, and it brings out that we are here. Here we are. I could not have been here, I am here.

The Midrash also adds this, Moshe Rabbeinu knew that there’s a judgment on Rosh Hashanah, it only says in the Midrash, I don’t know. But this is the truth, that the action that you do and you sign on this, this wasn’t invented later, when it is, I don’t know how old it is, but what you go with the lulav, what you stand with this, I think that the simple meaning is it makes, pay attention, I can look in my book, in my you’ll see, I see that I’m proving that this is the simple meaning, that you stand with this, you hold it like this. This is a thing that you do at a parade.

The Meaning of a Parade

And what does a parade say? What does, why does he make a parade, a general? Why actually? You can’t say, why does he do some kind of custom that people have? It’s very simple, he says, I could not have been here, I am here. Not just that I am here, I still stand with my miracle. It still stands also. Understand? I am here.

And this is the simple meaning. It’s the only symbol. I can say three more meanings if you want. Hello, I have more for you. But it’s a part of reality.

Back to the Foundation: One Action with Multiple Meanings

Maggid Shiur:

To go with a… let’s go back. I want a beautiful thing myself. I want to go back to what I started. What? One of the things he means. Yes. I want to add there. I want to add. There’s a story. I want to add. I want to add like this. I hinted at the story in my book. I want to add. I want to explain a bit better.

I want to go back to what we started from this, that the same action can have many meanings, and it can even be at the time of the action that a person does, this is a way, it’s still small, but at the time of the action that a person does it can also have more than one meaning, it can have more intentions, more than one intention, and he makes, a person like the Sanzer Rebbe can have three hundred meanings.

The Hasidic Story: The Jew, the Poritz, and the Hoshana

Maggid Shiur:

Yes, so what I want, I said like this, there’s a story, a Hasidic story, that there was a Jew, he was going on Hoshana Rabbah in the street, and he was going to buy a hoshana, and he met a gentile, a poritz, and the poritz asked him, what are you holding? He said, I’m holding a hoshana. The poritz said, what is a hoshana? This is a rod. He said, every Jew says, what does it mean? I don’t know if it’s a rod or a hoshana. The poritz started to beat him. Why do you say it’s a hoshana? It’s just a little rod. And the Jew insisted, it’s a hoshana.

And so he beat him, the Jew was determined, he didn’t give in, he said that it’s very beautiful, it’s not a rod, until the poritz went away, a Jew came to the beit midrash, I don’t remember which tzaddik you remember, it’s a Hasidic story, and the rebbe told him, you should know that this was the Satan himself, the poritz, he only wanted you to say that it’s not a hoshana, that it’s a rod. Thank God, you overcame the test, and in honor of this, Jews will have a good year.

Analysis of the Story: The Battle Between Physical Reality and Meaning

So yes, I present you like how it goes, this is the story. What does the story bring out? I think it’s a very deep story, Hasidism is really with a must, a poritz came, it’s a metaphor of the lesson, yes? But it’s a beautiful story, it brings out very well a thing, yes?

Someone asks a person, what does the Jew do on Purim, it’s Sukkot, what does a person do? He walks around with a hoshana, okay? The Gemara for both things also calls it hoshana, yes? But we call the hoshana the aravah, let it be so, he walks around with a hoshana.

A gentile comes and tells him, hey, I see you’re walking with a rod. No. Why isn’t it a rod? Because you’re a gentile? No. You think that it’s technically physically as if it’s the same tree that he uses for his to wash his. Yes, you can also sweep the floor with a lulav, it says in the Gemara, you clean the house. Fine. But I’m not taking a broom, I’m taking a lulav, a mitzvah.

What does it mean there’s a difference? What have you talked yourself into? The poritz comes, the yetzer hara comes, the power of imagination, as the Rambam says, the evil is a power of imagination. And he says, that means, look at it, it’s the same leaf, it’s a small leaf, a willow leaf. You’re a crazy creature. I told you the story about the gentile with the honey, yes?

The Battle Against “Just” – The True Meaning of Mitzvot

The Gentile’s Perspective: Everything Looks the Same

Maggid Shiur:

Yes, you can also sweep the floor with a lulav, it says in the Gemara, cleaning the house. Very good. But I’m not taking a broom, I’m taking a lulav, a mitzvah. What does it mean there’s a difference? You’ve talked yourself into it? The poritz comes, the yetzer hara comes, the power of imagination, as the Rambam says, the evil is a power of imagination, and he tells you, “Look at it, it’s the same leaf, it’s a small leaf, a willow leaf. You’re a crazy creature.”

The Story with the Honey and the Gentile’s Confusion

Have I told the story of the non-Jew with the honey, yes? May I tell it? Someone told me a story that he was a bachur (young student) in some place, and it bothered him that the women were leaning on the mechitzah (partition: the separation between men and women in shul), beit mikdash me’at (small sanctuary), and it’s immodesty. He told the story, yes? So he decided that he’s going to take revenge, so he poured honey on the entire mechitzah, so they shouldn’t be able to… they should get all stuck. In short, the yeshiva ketanah (younger students in the yeshiva) caught the bachur, and they started to… what’s going on with you? Okay, they asked him how he could do such a thing.

They asked the non-Jew who cleans the beit midrash (study hall) there, he saw that someone came and poured honey. He says, yes, I saw. Well, why didn’t you say anything? You’re the janitor, your job is to stop it. He says, come listen to me, I don’t know what you people do. Two weeks ago someone brought some kind of horn from an animal, and stood on the bimah (platform in the middle of the shul) and blew it. A week later everyone came with white clothes and circled around the bimah with them. Later they bring a chicken, they slaughter it, and they say things over it. Later they came with leaves to shul, and a new little leaf, today early in the morning another little leaf. I have to understand that specifically the honey, that’s honey?

Do you understand? This is the same kelipah (shell, externality). Why isn’t it funny? Because it’s not true at all. They didn’t shake lulav (palm branch taken on Sukkot), they blew shofar (horn blown on Rosh Hashanah), they didn’t make any blowing, they didn’t take any chickens, they didn’t take any horns, they didn’t take any leaves. Exactly. Everything has a meaning. Why isn’t he part of the story? He doesn’t know, for him it all looks the same.

The Midrash: King Solomon Couldn’t Explain the Four Species to Non-Jews

And the midrash (aggadic interpretations of the Sages) says about the arba’ah minim (four species taken on Sukkot – lulav, etrog, hadasim, aravot), that the non-Jew only knows about parah adumah (red heifer, a law that cannot be understood). The midrash says that shalosh eileh naflu mimenu, ve’eilu hen: arba’ah minim shebalulav (three things fell from him, and these are they: the four species of the lulav), which Shlomo HaMelech (King Solomon) also didn’t know. Shlomo HaMelech doesn’t mean that Shlomo HaMelech didn’t know, I mean that Shlomo HaMelech wanted to speak with all the non-Jews. He couldn’t explain to a non-Jew what you do with the arba’ah minim? It’s some kind of magic, I don’t know what, ritual. But the Jew knows that it’s not, there’s a meaning in it. What’s the meaning? The meaning is part of the whole long story. It’s not a ritual, it’s very beautiful. Do you understand? So… when I take the lulav, I tell myself, the Rambam, yes, because with this you remember. It’s a completely different pe’ulah (action).

Two Yetzer Haras: Against Not-Knowing and Against Expanding

There are two yetzer haras (evil inclinations). One yetzer hara is not to know that you’re just doing an action, and the second yetzer hara is that you shouldn’t make greater kavanah (intention). First understand the action. One yetzer hara says you’re doing nothing. That can’t be together. Not everything is just exactly what you think is the kavanah. Not just what the Rambam said. Moshe Rabbeinu (Moses our teacher) thought that the kavanah, every part of the action is part of the kavanah. There’s no contradiction one to the other.

That means, you buy a beautiful etrog (citrus fruit taken on Sukkot), that’s one part of the kavanah. That the etrog looks like a torch that the Roman mena’tze’ach (victor, leader) looks like, that’s part of the kavanah. It’s all true. It’s true. There are more kavanos that I haven’t mentioned yet. That’s all part of the kavanos. If you want to find, what’s the nekudah merkazit (central point)? What’s the main thing that everything revolves around? I can find some way how everything fits into one thing. It doesn’t work out.

The Midrash’s Breadth: Many Reasons Are All True

Because the human stubbornness that shouldn’t be thought is, that it’s just funny things that the Almighty goes and does. Most of the just not that He puts it in. When someone puts it in, is what the midrash was very broad. The midrash never grabbed, the midrash never comes, in midrash, there’s a machlokes (disagreement), there’s a machlokes, sometimes there’s a machlokes, literally a simple explanation. But the midrash has no problem that someone said, yes, why not indeed? Let’s understand.

The Rambam really doesn’t understand. Why does the midrash say? There’s so much that the Rambam speaks about this, he complains. The midrash should be able to have twenty-four explanations on the same thing. It can’t be. Yes, yes, yes, you can learn it this way in a positive way, lemaaseh (practically). As if, the midrash that reads in, looks like a complaint. The midrash can say, ah, it’s against all kinds of Jews, and it’s against this, and it’s against that. In short, can you tell me why indeed?

And I don’t understand, and what you eat kugel on Shabbos, you know it has more reasons than the midrash has on lulav? Real reasons! If someone is misbonein (contemplates) on the expert, he sees this! Someone is misbonein on the expert, he sees this! What’s the truth? All are true! The midrash was broad enough, I davened that he can say an entire drashah (sermon, teaching) just about what Jews buy and they give money for the esrog. The truth is that you do it. The truth is that you do it. Exactly. You don’t need to know. The korbanos (sacrifices) is just to hear what you do. The truth isn’t that you do it, not I do it. The others, I do it as part of understanding the whole action.

Against “Only”: The Principle of “Also”

I say the potatoes, Shabbos potatoes. I say the food is proper, the potatoes are children. The others shook it for the Torah (Torah) came because it was a festival of the generations of the megillah (scroll). Bring the lulav, the Maharshal’s, and the Torah makes it a mitzvah (commandment). Could also be, could also be, but that’s only one part. And this you can understand why this isn’t a funny thing, because it was never a funny thing.

Questions and Discussion: Retroactive Reasons and Anachronism

Student:

Both. Retroactive reasons also work. What? Anachronistic?

Teacher:

It’s not anachronistic, because I’m not trying to explain what you’re trying to explain. We live later, we don’t live then. And it’s not anachronistic. And anachronistic is, by the way, it’s not. First of all, it’s not. I can ask you a question, I’ll answer you. First of all, if someone says that for Moshe Rabbeinu, Moshe Rabbeinu said that you should take a lulav because in Rome the minhag (custom) is that you come out of the court with a lulav, then it would have been something before, because Moshe Rabbeinu didn’t live in Rome. But he doesn’t say that, he says why should I take a lulav. Now, I can explain to you. Not only, also. Not only, also.

No, never only. A person doesn’t do anything only. A person doesn’t do anything only. Whoever says only, rabbosai (gentlemen), whoever says only must be uprooted. Whoever says that everything is done only… living in Boro Park is fine for him. And even more so, living in only, certainly the mitzvah. Do you think that the Almighty didn’t know that you’re going to live in Boro Park and He made a mitzvah? Do you mean to say the reality? It’s not only. Those who say only…

Questions and Discussion: All Reasons Can Be Included

Student:

Rabbosai, all the reasons that come later, can all be included. Certainly. All these reasons, not all of them, usually not all. This Moshe Rabbeinu one hundred percent said. This isn’t even a doubt. This is even more basic than what I said.

Teacher:

You’re still not listening to me. That’s even more basic than what I told you about buying the esrog. Simple, this is literally, the mitzvah itself, this isn’t even a reason. This is like the reality. Of course, that’s why you’re doing the mitzvah. And that’s true. That’s why the esrog isn’t a citrus fruit. Really because of that.

Student:

Why can’t it be a reason? You mean a reason?

Teacher:

I don’t mean that I mean by itself a reason. When I say reason, I say plainly the description of the action. What does it mean what we do? What it means is all these things. That’s what…

Student:

But that can’t be the reason. Why not? Because that’s not the reason why I do it.

Teacher:

It is indeed the reason. You don’t know the reason, it’s bad. It’s not bad. It’s not bad. I agree, it’s not bad. It’s not the only one. It’s not true that it’s the only one. It may indeed be. Not that it may be, it must be. And see, those who don’t live in Boro Park, they don’t take an esrog. They don’t take it. Some yes, some no, but very few. It must be.

Against Narrowing: “Min HaMetzar” and the Principle of Breadth

The only is narrowing. Earlier it came out, min hametzar (from the narrowness – verse from Psalms said on Rosh Hashanah) was already Rosh Hashanah (Jewish New Year). You can’t be narrow. There’s no only. There’s also and also and also. Human actions are not described by only. All the baalei mussar (ethics teachers) say, you shouldn’t say with only. What does that mean? You live in an olam hadimyon (world of imagination). It’s clear all these things.

On the contrary, I don’t know if it means a reason. I said what I make it for. I make it for part of the meaning. Of course, it’s a real thing. Part of the meaning. I’m very against the people who try to get away from the real things and say, you have to have in mind, you have to mean something else only, something only. You don’t have to mean anything only, you have to mean perhaps also.

If someone is a baal da’as (person with understanding), he understands the whole hishtadlus (effort). If someone is a greater baal da’as, he also understands the kabbalah (mystical teaching). If someone is a greater baal da’as, he also understands the juiciness. There are all kinds of things that you can expand, you can make that your action should mean more. The truth is that it already means beforehand, you didn’t know about it.

The Difference Between a Jew and a Non-Jew Who Takes an Esrog

But the meaning of what you do, the description, if someone wants to explain to the AI what this is, he needs to add that this is a Jew, and the Jews have long had such a custom, and all Jews in Boro Park do so, and also there are reasons etc. etc. etc. etc. These are all things.

Student:

No, because non-Jews don’t know anything. Reasons, you can’t learn this at all for a person outside. Also why I… No, not correct.

Teacher:

Exactly, I’m against that kind of reasons. Because that’s a very narrow kind of reason. It’s not the whole reality. It’s not even most, by the way, usually it’s not even any of it. A large part of the reasons is only for the non-Jews.

No! When a non-Jew takes an esrog, it really means, except if he comes to shul, it’s a part of the Jews. But when a non-Jew would take an esrog just like that, it wouldn’t mean anything, because then it’s really a ritual. When the non-Jew takes an esrog it doesn’t mean anything. A Jew takes an esrog it means something, because Jews take it mostly, already for a very long time, and they’ve already had so many kavanos in it, and they’ve already said so many midrashim about it, so many teachings about it. This is all part of when you take an esrog, you take it with all these meanings.

When the non-Jew takes an esrog, his grandfather didn’t take an esrog. So he doesn’t have to take an esrog? I’m not saying, perhaps he does indeed. But it’s not… You can’t be narrow, the good kind of reason is only such a reason that you can say to a non-Jew. What something? The reason why I eat noodle kugel, you also can’t say to a non-Jew. You can’t.

The Parable of Noodle Kugel

Well, Reb Yoel, you heard one time. This isn’t even such a good noodle kugel, but you eat it because it’s a Jew who eats noodle kugel. Understand? I love it very much, because I’m a Jew who eats noodle kugel on Shabbos. Now you want to just have a nice Esther wanted and say over. I want more reasons for the lulav? I want more reasons.

Announcement: One More Important Thing About Hallel

One more important thing that must be said. I just need to say one important thing about the Hallel (Hallel prayer said on Sukkot), very important thing, this is already also in the chibur (writing/book).

The Person as “Medaber”: Speaking Is Integral to Human Actions

The Foundational Principle: Doing Without Speaking Is Not Human

He said, as it says in the sforim hakedoshim (holy books): If you did it and it wasn’t befarsem (publicly), ke’ilu lo asah (as if he didn’t do it), true?

Wow! Devorim peshutim (simple things). If you did it and it wasn’t spoken about, you didn’t do a human thing. Perhaps a behemah (animal) does and doesn’t speak – it can’t speak. A fish does things and doesn’t speak. It’s davened count, it’s true.

This is no part of you not, this is no part of you not, this is no part of you not – your representation on that says in this. I’m not one who does the things, that’s me. Okay, I have some problem, that’s the yetzer hara (evil inclination).

Of course, a part of what a person is, is one hundred percent, what a person speaks about. A person is such a kind of thing that he must speak about what he does – everyone knows. A person can’t do a thing without speaking about it.

Wow! Therefore, every thing that a person does, he speaks about it.

Proof #1: Megillas Esther and Purim – The Necessity of Speaking

I have a great rayah (proof), this is already here, a great rayah from two main things, but perhaps much more.

Every – I don’t know – let’s talk about the megillah (scroll), because this isn’t written, I’m not allowed to say things that aren’t written.

About Megillas Esther (Book of Esther), okay, what do you do on Purim? You make a big party, and you send to each other, and you distribute candy to everyone, even to the poor. That’s what you do on Purim when you – so it says in the megillah.

Ah, you tell that you read the megillah. Ah, why do we read the megillah? It doesn’t say in the megillah that you should read the megillah.

But it says itself – I tell a person – why do you eat like a glutton? Hello, that’s what I’m telling you. It doesn’t say in the megillah that you should read the megillah. It says that you should make a big party and distribute to everyone. That’s what it says.

Why? No, it doesn’t say. Only miderabbanan (from the rabbis). Yes, I know, I also learned in a cheder (Jewish school), I know that they say so, but it doesn’t say there in the megillah.

How do you know that you should read the megillah? It’s simple. Are you a person or are you an animal? Are you a glutton? Do you eat without speaking? You’re a person.

Proof #2: Shabbos and Kiddush – Remembering Through Speaking

Shabbos, does it say in the Torah that you should say kiddush (sanctification over wine)? It doesn’t say. It says al pi dibur (according to speech). Does it say that you should make a big Shabbos? It says that you already make merubeh (much), you make a party, you sit down to a simchas seudah (joyful meal).

Yes yes, this says in the Torah or this says in the Gemara (Talmud). Very good. Not in zachor (remember) it also doesn’t say.

Do me a tovah (favor), in zachor it doesn’t say anything that you should remember to make Shabbos. Only what? Every rabbi understands that a person is such a kind of briyah (creation) that speaks.

The Experiential Proof: Eating Without Speaking Feels “Weird”

Have you ever had a chasunah (wedding)? Did you speak about it at the wedding?

At our weddings we don’t say any drashos [Torah speeches], and this is one of the great pegam habris [damage to the covenant]. A wedding without a drasha is a pegam habris. One must speak at a wedding. This is the essence of mitzvos kiddushin [the main commandment of marriage], ma’amar [speech], that one must speak.

One says sheva brachos [seven blessings], exactly, kodem [first]. One must speak much more, and all seven blessings one must speak about, and even more. The fact that we don’t speak today at… the fact that in America there are no drashos at a wedding is a great problem. It’s a very strange thing, for a human being.

Why? Vadai [certainly], the in-laws, one will speak lichvodo [in his honor], a chasan [groom] doesn’t need to speak. Certainly, make a toast. This is a wedding. Certainly, people speak, one chats among themselves, because it’s not part of the main thing.

Anyway, have you ever seen a party where one doesn’t speak? One doesn’t stand up, someone says, “Rabbosai [my masters], today is…”

Why? Don’t you know? I invited you, I sent you an invitation. You’re making a party lichvod [in honor of] making a chanukas habayis [dedication of a new house]. You will surely stand up and say, “Rabbosai, it’s a party lichvod a chanukas habayis.” Are you a strange creature? No, you’re not a strange creature, you’re a normal person.

An adam [person] is a medaber [speaker], a mevahir [clarifier], he is such a kind of thing that he speaks about what he does, and he speaks… I don’t know… one minute, why exactly? No problem. From the perspective of a helicopter this is a kushya [difficult question].

This is what a person… a person is a thing, I can even say why, but first let’s say this. A person who is a thing that he does, he speaks about it. Okay? Kach hiyu ha’adam [such is the person].

When he makes Shabbos, he goes to say pesukim [biblical verses] about Shabbos. Why am I now making a seudah [meal]? I don’t know, certainly not. But I must speak with him every week again. Because I don’t feel that it’s worth it. I feel something… I didn’t speak, I didn’t tell anyone that it’s today a Shabbos seudah. I just sat down and ate fresh. It feels very weird.

Try it out. Try on Shabbos, eat without kiddush, you’ll see that it feels strange. Even at seudah shlishis [the third meal] it feels strange. Therefore, when one makes a seudah and one doesn’t speak about it, it feels weird.

From this one must bentsh [say grace after meals] every seudah, make a farbruch [opening blessing], a nochbruch [closing blessing], or add some dibur [speech]. “Shnayim she’ochlim ve’ein beineihem divrei Torah, harei zeh ke’ilu ochlim mizivchei meisim [Two who eat and there are no words of Torah between them, this is as if they eat from the offerings of the dead]”.

He is a dead person, you understand? It’s not a living person. A living person speaks. What does he speak? Certainly, he speaks shtusim [nonsense], it’s certainly zivchei meisim [offerings of the dead], because it’s not a living thing. He speaks divrei Torah [words of Torah], certainly he is a living person. He speaks divrei chochmah [words of wisdom], he speaks now the thing.

But a person is such a thing that speaks. He doesn’t do things without speaking about them, okay?

The Great Proof: Almost No Mitzvos of Speech in the Torah

Therefore, the entire Torah doesn’t contain a mitzvah [commandment] of tefilah [prayer], but everyone understands that he must pray every day. That is, a Jew is such a thing that believes in the Almighty, he must speak about it. Whether he speaks to the Almighty, from the Almighty, about the Almighty – I don’t know, that’s already details. It’s a fact.

I have a proof of this. The rayah berurah [clear proof] is that in the Torah there is never any mitzvah – most mitzvos shebedibur [commandments that are through speech], not most, kim’at [almost] except for mikra bikurim [the declaration at first fruits], there are two or three mitzvos. There is not even one time a mitzvah of speech in the Torah.

And most things that we do, let’s think, we are Jews, yes? All of you know the four mitzvos, and you know that most things that people do are we talk, right? Most mitzvos. A Jew is such a thing that speaks very much. An entire siddur [prayer book] one says every day. And not one of the mitzvos of speech is written in the chumash [the five books of Moses]. Almost not one of them.

The chachamim [sages] were metaken [ordained] that one should make brachos [blessings], and the chachamim made nusach hatefilah [the text of the prayer], and the chachamim said that one must say the Torah. It’s not even written in the Torah that one must learn Torah.

Almost, it says “vedibarta bam [and you shall speak of them]”. It says that one must lay tefillin [phylacteries], and memeilah [consequently] “vedibarta bam”. Speak about it. This is written in the Gemara. Exactly, in the Torah it says that one must lay tefillin, and memeilah “vedibarta bam”. The verse comes, the same thing, says the Gemara, lay the tefillin.

Because this is a normal thing, a person who does something, speaks about it. And if the reason why he does something is because it’s written in a verse, what does he say? That it’s written in a verse. That’s how it goes, that’s how a person goes. That’s how human beings work, okay?

Proof #3: The Gemara About Hallel – “What Are They, Animals?”

The Gemara says thus: How does one know that Moshe Rabbeinu [Moses our teacher] already wrote Hallel [the praise psalms]? “Efshar Yisrael talu es pischeihem venatlu es lulveihem velo amru es haHallel [Is it possible that Israel hung their Pesach offerings and took their lulavs and didn’t say the Hallel]?”

What are they, animals? They eat? When they eat a korban Pesach [Pesach offering] lichvod “betzeis Yisrael miMitzrayim [when Israel went out from Egypt]”, what does one say?

Do you think they said that nusach [text] or not? Okay, that’s already another chakirah [investigation], one said another nusach. Who cares? There are other nuschaos [texts].

But it can’t be, it can’t be that they are not people. And if there are things, a person has many kinds of diburim [speeches]. He has speeches just spoken, he has speeches that are a song, it’s a shirah [song], which fits, there is a time when a shirah fits, there is a time when a kinah [lament] fits, and so on. For each thing there is the kind of speech that fits. But without speaking there is no such thing.

Therefore these are simple matters. If we know that a Jew takes a lulav [palm branch] on Sukkos, he must speak about it. What does he say? What does the lulav say? He says “hodu laHashem ki tov [thank God because He is good]”. He must speak, he must say what he does.

He stands with a lulav, he stands nothing, he stands? Speak! He must say “hodu laHashem ki tov ki le’olam chasdo [because His kindness is forever]”, “ana Hashem hoshi’ah na [please God, save now]”. Everyone, there are a few verses that one says. This is what he says, these are simple things that come out.

Application: Tekias Shofar – The Shofar “Speaks”

You can see tekias shofar [blowing the shofar], one stands and blows shofar [ram’s horn]. Ah, the shofar is an animal, it speaks. One must say, how does one know that “ani Hashem Elokeichem [I am the Lord your God]” is malchus [kingship]? This is a makor [source]?

These are simple matters, you blow shofar, it already speaks about it. What can be blowing shofar without speaking about it? It can’t be, it’s not a human thing bichlal [at all].

Thanking and Praising Is Speaking

Thanking is, the Almighty already knows that you thank, that’s not the point. Thanking, is this the speaking? Yes, certainly. Certainly, as it says certainly, everyone knows, “lo hameisim yehalelu Kah [the dead will not praise God]”, memeilah one needs a living lulav, it says in the Yerushalmi [Jerusalem Talmud].

Certainly, the thanking is a din [law] in lulav. Not the thanking, praising, thanking, Hallel, however you want to call it. It’s speaking about the lulav, that one comes leshabeach po’olo shel haKadosh Baruch Hu [to praise the work of the Holy One, Blessed be He], so is leshon haMidrash [the language of the Midrash].

The Meaning of Lulav: “Hello, I Am Here”

A lulav that we said before, whatever the meaning, four different ways how it is, but this is the meaning of lulav. One comes, I am here. Simple peshat [plain meaning], I am here, hello, I am here. You need to say, hello, I am here.

“Baruch haba beshem Hashem [blessed is he who comes in the name of God]”, hello, I am here. I still live, “shehecheyanu vekiyemanu vehigi’anu lazman hazeh [who has kept us alive and sustained us and brought us to this time]”. This one says with the lulav, simple matters.

And one adds, there was once a tzarah [trouble], the Almighty helped, “kol goyim sevavuni beshem Hashem ki amilam [all nations surrounded me, in the name of God I cut them down]”, thus. This is plainly a human thing.

The essence of Hallel is made to say with a lulav, or it’s made for another occasion also, you must speak about it. This is the plain meaning of the Hallel, therefore one must speak.

And whoever can, people see that it’s simple that it’s so, one doesn’t even need to be mesbir [explain]. If not, people don’t understand. One stands and shakes and says, and it’s very simple.

Simple matters, and a freilichen yom tov [happy holiday].