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The Secret of “And You Shall Take” — The Final Commandment in Parashat Pekudei
Introduction: A Brief Pre-Holiday Lecture
Since this is the eve of a holiday, and time is not abundant, we will suffice with a brief lecture. This lecture is being given on the eve of Sukkot concerning the secret of the verse and commandment ‘and you shall take for yourselves on the first day the fruit of a beautiful tree’ (Leviticus 23:40). We have already studied two lectures on this topic more closely aligned with the plain meaning, not according to the way of the Zohar, and now I simply wish to present to you the words of the holy Zohar in Pekudei.
We learned that this is the final commandment. Indeed, there was a section that was omitted in the previous lecture, it seems to me, but in any case this is the final commandment in the Zohar, from among the book of commandments that the Zohar wrote in Parashat Pekudei of the Master of the Universe. The final commandment is the mitzvah of lulav, commandment number 47, for it only counted forty-seven commandments, as we learned.
The Order of Commandments in Parashat Pekudei
The order is as follows: First the Zohar speaks of the primary commandments of each day — the commandment of the unity of God, the existence of God, the commandment of faith, the commandment of reciting the Shema, prayer, tefillin, tzitzit, mezuzah, all the commandments of each and every day, and the priestly blessing is also an important commandment for it. After that it begins with the order of Shabbat, of holidays, and thus the order of the holidays unfolds from Pesach until Tishrei, until Sukkot.
It turns out that the final commandment that it counts in total — after it already mentioned perhaps the commandment of dwelling in the sukkah — is among the last three commandments: the commandment of dwelling in the sukkah, and commandment 46 is the commandment of the sacrifices of Sukkot, and after that it speaks a bit about Shemini Atzeret, but it does not count a separate commandment for it here. And the last is the commandment of waving the lulav, taking the lulav, ‘and you shall take for yourselves’ (Leviticus 23:40), taking the lulav on Sukkot.
The Innovation in the Brief Language of the Zohar
And the Zohar, in the manner of Pekudei, repeats and mentions things that it already elaborated upon elsewhere, except that it includes them in one word, and often in that one word a novel insight is hidden. Indeed, I have not yet examined this thoroughly, but it seems to me that in the formulation it states, and even in one word, there is a great innovation, there is great clarity that was not stated before, at least not with that clarity. Therefore it is worthy to study it here, and to sharpen the point somewhat.
The Language of the Zohar: To Take the Lulav on That Day
The Commandment and the Species
Thus says the Zohar: The commandment is to take the lulav on that day, on the first day, on that day. It says, ‘to take the lulav on that day’, on that day, meaning on the first day, as it is stated ‘and you shall take for yourselves on the first day’ (Leviticus 23:40), ‘and these are the species’, the species, the species of the lulav, meaning that one should take the lulav with its species.
And behold, in the verse the species are mentioned simply, it states ‘fruit of a beautiful tree, branches of palm trees’ (Leviticus 23:40) and so forth, but in the Gemara the commandment is regularly called by the name of the commandment of taking the lulav. And although the word lulav is not written at all in the verse — though this word is mentioned in the Chumash — in the Mishnah it calls the whole thing by the name lulav, and all the other parts are called the species of the lulav, as if they belong to it. And so is the language of the Mishnah in Menachot, the four species that are in the lulav, the species that are in the lulav. Thus the entire group, the entire collection, the entire matter — the entire bundle is called lulav, and we wave the lulav, as in the language of the blessing ‘on taking the lulav’. And after the species, the lulav, additional things are added to it. And there are deeper explanations in this, and the Zohar indeed addresses the reason that they are all called by the name lulav, and touched upon this somewhat. But this is the name of the commandment: to take the lulav and its species on that day, on the holiday of Sukkot.
The Verse Itself Is a Secret
The Zohar says in very brief language, and I will read all the words: It says, ‘and this is the secret’, this is the secret — not the secret of the matter that one should take the lulav on that day, but that the verse itself is a secret.
And what does it mean that the verse itself is a secret? Behold, they elaborated on this in the articles they wrote. The verse does not explicitly clarify what one should do with the lulav. And indeed, the verse is like a wondrous midrash: ‘and you shall take for yourselves’ and ‘and you shall rejoice’ (Leviticus 23:40). What, when, how, in what manner does this result in ‘and you shall rejoice before the Lord your God’ (Leviticus 23:40)? What is the meaning of the lulav? It is a secret.
And Before the Companions: We Are All Companions
The Companions of the Zohar and the Sages of the Talmud
The Zohar says, we have already established the secret, as we have already explained, ‘and before the companions’. Its intention is that the Zohar itself already explained it. ‘And before the companions’ — sometimes this language can hint at the companions of the Zohar themselves. But it seems to me that when the Zohar emphasizes that we too spoke of this and the companions also spoke of this, its intention is that this is the way of the Zohar to speak as if everything is from Rabbi Shimon bar Yochai and his companions.
The Zohar speaks as if the companions — they include the other Tannaim, the other Amoraim as well, the other sages of the Talmud whom we call our sages of blessed memory, and all our other sages — that all of them explain in their books, each in his place, the matters of the commandments, the laws, the reasons.
How a Jew Should Think: We Are All Students of the Holy One, Blessed Be He
The Zohar says, we have already spoken of this sufficiently, and our companions as well. And this is how a Jew should think: we are all companions of the Gemara, we are all companions of the Tannaim. That is, we are companions, both of us together, receiving at the very same place.
And what is the difference between a teacher and a student and between a companion? When we say ‘our rabbis of blessed memory’, we are saying that they are above us, they are the receivers of the Torah, and from them we receive. But the Zohar stands at a place where it understands that they are our companions. And where do we find such a thing? Shimon bar Yochai and his companions — our companions.
For we are all one. A companion is one. Two people who went to one teacher, both of them are companions, meaning on the same level, both receive. And thus the Zohar thinks: we are all companions. And why? Because we are all students of the Holy One, Blessed Be He, ‘all your children are students of God’ (Isaiah 54:13). All are students of the Holy One, Blessed Be He, all are students of Moses our teacher, who was also a student of the Holy One, Blessed Be He. Moses was the first student, and the Holy One, Blessed Be He, was the first teacher.
And even what we study Torah, we are all students of Moses our teacher. We are all companions — we, the Tannaim, the Amoraim, and what was before the Tannaim, the prophets — we are all companions in the same study hall, in the same yeshiva that is called the yeshiva of Moses our teacher, from the mouth of the Holy One, Blessed Be He, and that same Torah we study. And what they explain, we all struggled with that same difficulty, for even the Tannaim found it difficult: What is the secret of the lulav? We all struggled with that difficulty. Ah, they tell us here the plain meaning, they tell us that the Tannaim already stated the plain meaning, ah, our companions already explained somewhat. The Zohar says, we have already explained ourselves in our book, and our companions have also already explained.
The Midrashim Are Secrets
And the intention of the Zohar here is to say another deep thing. That the midrashim on the lulav have already explained precisely the secrets of the Zohar. It says, everyone knows that all the secrets of the Zohar are built and connected with the ways of the midrashim, except that the midrash speaks in its formulation more in the way of the revealed, meaning, a sefirah is never mentioned in it, matters of divinity itself are never mentioned in it, for as is known the midrash is written in concealment.
Thus the Rambam learned, and thus all the sages received, that the midrashim are not always according to their plain meaning, they are not literal, and the Ramban explained this many times. The Ramban argues many times with Rashi, that when Rashi brings a midrash, the Ramban says, the plain meaning of the verse is not according to your words; and moreover, you do not even understand the midrash, for the intention of the midrash is not to state a simple plain meaning, but its intention is the secret. And the Zohar always goes in this way: the midrashim are secrets.
And sometimes the secret is more hidden, and it is difficult to understand the midrash, and sometimes the midrash is clearer, and one can immediately understand from it what the plain meaning is — and this is the secret. The Zohar says, the secret, the secret of the lulav. The lulav is a secret, and no one understands. You can ask a simple Jew, and although there are simple reasons, but with all due respect they are weak, briefly, feeble stories.
The secret — the lulav certainly has a secret. For it states ‘and you shall rejoice before the Lord your God seven days’ (Leviticus 23:40). Certainly there is meaning in this, that with this lulav we gladden the Holy One, Blessed Be He, and He rejoices with us and we rejoice with Him. We will see further in the Zohar how it establishes this matter. In any case, the lulav certainly has a secret, and the midrashim have already revealed the secret almost close to the way of the Zohar. The word sefirot is not mentioned in the midrash, but the companions have already explained, and one who studies midrash already knows almost what the Zohar is going to say.
The Holy One, Blessed Be He, Takes Israel: The Mirror Image of “And You Shall Take for Yourselves”
The Elevation of the Commandments: What Is Done Above They Do With Us
And what did they say? The Zohar says briefly, thus: ‘Just as the Holy One, Blessed Be He, takes Israel on these days and rejoices with them’ — just as the Holy One, Blessed Be He, takes Israel.
‘And you shall take for yourselves’ (Leviticus 23:40) — it is stated that we shall take. But thus says the Zohar, everyone knows, that every verse in the Torah that tells us to do something is only a reflection, is only a shadow, of something that has already been done above. And we learned there the secret of all the commandments called elevation, the elevation of the commandments. There it is stated the opposite, that what we do is done above, as we have already explained. But this begins with the fact that what is done above they do with us, and we do afterward. ‘What He is, you too’ (Shabbat 133b) — what the Holy One, Blessed Be He, did in the act of creation, He makes us partners in the act of creation; the Holy One, Blessed Be He, does the act of the chariot, He makes us the act of the chariot.
Verses of Taking
Behold, ‘and you shall take for yourselves’ means that we shall take. But one must understand that the matter began from something that the Holy One, Blessed Be He, already took. And thus certainly the midrashim connect here immediately at the beginning of ‘and you shall take for yourselves’ with all kinds of places where taking is mentioned. The midrash also speaks of other verses where it is stated that we shall take, but there are also places where it is stated that the Holy One, Blessed Be He, took.
The Holy One, Blessed Be He, says ‘and they shall take for Me an offering’ (Exodus 25:2), and the midrash says, take Me Myself. And the Holy One, Blessed Be He, took, ‘and I will take you to Me as a people’ (Exodus 6:7). And ‘and I will take you to Me as a people’ is the reflection, the mirror image of ‘and you shall take for yourselves’. And thus indeed the Zohar expounds. It does not bring the verse, but it is thinking of this verse, or of another verse that is a similar matter.
‘And you shall take for yourselves’ means take for yourselves. And what is take for yourselves? Why should a person take? How can a verse come where the Holy One, Blessed Be He, says to a person take for yourselves? The plain meaning is that the Holy One, Blessed Be He, has already taken. And what did the Holy One, Blessed Be He, take? The Zohar says, and it will be stated afterward ‘and you shall rely’. The Zohar says, the Holy One, Blessed Be He, took Israel, ‘and I will take you to Me as a people’.
The Holy One, Blessed Be He, Rejoices in Israel
The Holy One, Blessed Be He, took Israel, and rejoiced with them, as it is stated ‘for the Lord will again rejoice over you for good’ (Deuteronomy 30:9). The Holy One, Blessed Be He, rejoices in Israel, He took Israel. And these are explicit verses, that at the time when it is good for Israel — meaning a holiday, after there were Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur, and they stood in them, and Israel prevailed — the Holy One, Blessed Be He, takes Israel.
That is, He chooses, ‘and chose His people Israel with love’, ‘and chose His people Israel with joy’. The Holy One, Blessed Be He, rejoices in Israel, He takes them. Behold, ‘and you shall take for yourselves’ begins with the fact that the Holy One, Blessed Be He, takes Israel on these days and rejoices with them.
The Secret of Yom Kippur: That the Holy One, Blessed Be He, Can Take Us
And a very interesting thing the Zohar explained. This is not written in the midrash as far as I know, and I say that the second half is written in the midrash, and the Zohar only explains that the midrash comes from this. The Holy One, Blessed Be He, takes Israel, because He understands that this is the meaning of Yom Kippur, that they offered themselves, ‘for on this day He will atone for you to purify you’ (Leviticus 16:30).
And why must one be purified? Before God. So that we can come before God, so that the Holy One, Blessed Be He, can take us, one must be purified, and the Holy One, Blessed Be He, must forgive all the sins. And this is for Him. And this is the meaning of ‘for My sake I will delay My anger’ (Isaiah 48:9). The Holy One, Blessed Be He, must forgive all the sins for our sake, because He needs to be able to take us, therefore He needs to be able to forgive all the sins, to be able to include all the sins.
The Holy One, Blessed Be He, forgives all the sins, and takes us with joy. The Holy One, Blessed Be He, waves matters with Israel. This is the first thing. The Holy One, Blessed Be He, holds Israel, embraces them, takes them, ‘and I will take you to Me as a people’, this is ‘and I will take for Me’, ‘and I will take you to Me’. The Holy One, Blessed Be He, takes Israel for Himself.
And It Returns in Turn: What a Jew Does Reflects What the Holy One, Blessed Be He, Does
And now, when a person knows that what a Jew does reflects what the Holy One, Blessed Be He, does, again the matter is pleasant, and it returns in turn. After a Jew does, he already arouses the measure that the Holy One, Blessed Be He, already did, already established, for the Holy One, Blessed Be He, established the matter so that it would continue onward.
The Zohar says, just as the Holy One, Blessed Be He, takes Israel on these days and rejoices with them, so too, Israel, ‘Israel take the Holy One, Blessed Be He, as their portion’, take the Holy One, Blessed Be He, as their portion, and therefore ‘and you shall take for yourselves on the first day’ — meaning, take Me. Just as I take you, this is the time, this is the time when the Holy One, Blessed Be He, takes me. And this He mentioned, what was revealed, and to think about this, for the Holy One, Blessed Be He, takes Israel, and Israel take the Holy One, Blessed Be He.
The Midrash: The Fruit of a Beautiful Tree Is the Holy One, Blessed Be He
The Exposition of Rabbi Akiva
And this is written in the midrash, an explicit midrash. And in all the midrashim on the verse ‘and you shall take for yourselves’, Rabbi Akiva says — and it is brought in the Ramban here on the verse, and the Ramban explains it according to Kabbalah, and certainly the Zohar connects with the secret that the Ramban explained according to Kabbalah.
The midrash says, ‘and you shall take for yourselves the fruit of a beautiful tree’, Rabbi Akiva says, the fruit of a beautiful tree is the Holy One, Blessed Be He, as it is stated ‘You are clothed in majesty and splendor’ (Psalms 104:1). Branches of palm trees is the Holy One, Blessed Be He, as it is stated ‘the righteous will flourish like a palm tree’ (Psalms 92:13). And boughs of thick trees is the Holy One, Blessed Be He, as it is stated ‘and He was standing among the myrtle trees’ (Zechariah 1:8). And willows of the brook is the Holy One, Blessed Be He, as it is stated ‘extol Him who rides upon the plains’ (Psalms 68:5).
Each of the verses reveals a secret, why the Holy One, Blessed Be He, is called by those names. And the Ramban explains at length that this hints at the different attributes, the different sefirot of the Holy One, Blessed Be He, that each of them is hinted at in the beautiful tree, branches of palm trees, and boughs of thick trees, and willows of the brook. The Zohar in this place does not enter into the details — in other places it enters into this — and we too will not enter into this.
The Lulav of the Holy One, Blessed Be He, and the Lulav of Israel
But what the Zohar clarifies here is, that this is already a reflection. Since this is the time when the Holy One, Blessed Be He, takes Israel, and everyone knows this. And the midrash here, another midrash — this too is a midrash that fewer people know, a deeper kabbalistic midrash, but everyone knows the revealed midrash. The midrash expounds that the fruit of a beautiful tree and its companions are corresponding to the patriarchs, or corresponding to the four types of Jews, and this is a very conceptual midrash.
Thus there are two sides here: what corresponds to Israel and what corresponds to the Holy One, Blessed Be He. The Holy One, Blessed Be He, takes a lulav, just as the Holy One, Blessed Be He, has tefillin that speak of Israel, and Israel have tefillin that speak of the Holy One, Blessed Be He. The same thing — the Holy One, Blessed Be He, has a lulav, in the lulav of the Holy One, Blessed Be He, Israel is spoken of. The lulav of the Holy One, Blessed Be He, is Israel, the four types of Jews, or the four limbs of every Jew, the body of the Jew that we will speak of, or the three patriarchs, all kinds of things. This is the lulav, ‘and I will take for Me’, what the Holy One, Blessed Be He, takes.
The Language of Taking Like Betrothal
The Holy One, Blessed Be He, says, thus Israel shall take ‘for yourselves’. And what shall they take? They shall take the Holy One, Blessed Be He. And the ‘and I will take’, it seems to me that this is a language of taking like betrothal, ‘when a man takes a wife’ (Deuteronomy 24:1), in this language of taking there is a plain meaning here. ‘And you shall take for yourselves’ like ‘when a man takes a wife’. Like a betrothal ring, like the rings that are made on the lulav, as is known.
The Holy One, Blessed Be He, takes Israel, and Israel take essentially in that same very matter. And one can ask the Zohar in another place, where it says that there is an inquiry in the verse ‘for Jacob chose for himself the Lord’ (Psalms 135:4): it is possible to read the verse that the Holy One, Blessed Be He, the Lord, chooses Jacob, or that Jacob chooses the Lord. Which of them? It is both. That is, the same very thing — in the same action in which the Holy One, Blessed Be He, takes Israel, Israel take us. And this is the secret of all the Zohar, that the Zohar says ‘with the arousal from below there is arousal above’, that when we take the Holy One, Blessed Be He, the Holy One, Blessed Be He, takes us. This is the same very thing, and we are not explaining this now at length, but these are known matters.
The Secret of the Stature of Man: The Secret of the Form of Man
Israel Take the Holy One, Blessed Be He, as Their Portion
And further the Zohar says, that on these days the Holy One, Blessed Be He, takes us, and this is the intention of the celebration: just as the Holy One, Blessed Be He, takes Israel and rejoices with them, so Israel take the Holy One, Blessed Be He, and rejoice with Him. That is, they take Him and choose Him as their portion, just as the Holy One, Blessed Be He, took Israel that they should be as it were His, not only according to all the truth, all the length that the matter contains.
And this is the matter, Israel take the Holy One, Blessed Be He, that He should be theirs, in all the length that the matter contains. ‘And we will be distinguished, I and Your people, from all the people that are on the face of the earth’ (Exodus 33:16), Israel request from the Holy One, Blessed Be He, a covenant that He should be theirs. The Zohar says: ‘Certainly a secret’, and concludes, ‘this is a secret, the lulav and its species, this is the secret of the stature of man’. This is the secret of the lulav.
The Stature of Man and the Limbs of the Sefirot
And now we will come somewhat from the general to the particulars. The lulav is species that are the secret of the form of man. And this is further, as everyone knows, that the midrash says that the lulav corresponds to what resembles the mouth, resembles the eye, and so forth, resembles the spine. And therefore the lulav is the main thing, for upon the spine stands the entire person. This is like the stature of man. ‘Your stature is like a palm tree’ (Song of Songs 7:8).
And what does the lulav show? That when one sees a person, one sees his stature. Indeed in the stature there are eyes and there is everything, but everything is the limbs of the person, and what one sees can be called the stature of the person, the lulav. And from this it is called lulav. And this is certainly the intention of what we say that the Holy One, Blessed Be He, takes Israel with all their limbs, but certainly the intention of the Zohar is for something deeper.
As is known, everyone knows that the secret of the Zohar is to understand that the limbs of man are also the limbs of the Shekhinah, like the limbs of the sefirot as it were. The Holy One, Blessed Be He, is not a body, ‘He has no bodily form’ (Yigdal), and this is not our place to explain. But the Holy One, Blessed Be He, also has as it were a body, a stature in which He is revealed in the world, and in His actions and in the modes of His revelation prior to actions, there is as it were a body.
The Double Meaning of the Limbs
And when it is stated that the lulav resembles the mouth and resembles the eye, again there is a double meaning here. The intention is for the mouth and eye of Israel, which shows that the Holy One, Blessed Be He, takes Israel. This is the explanation, the Holy One, Blessed Be He, takes Israel with their mouth, with their eyes, with their lips, and so forth. And this also shows the form of the image of the Creator as it were, the image of God, the image, the form of the Holy One, Blessed Be He.
When one takes the eyes, this resembles the eye, the myrtles that resemble the eye, it shows that the Holy One, Blessed Be He, looks at Israel. And that the willows resemble the mouth shows that the Holy One, Blessed Be He, speaks with Israel, ‘the voice of my beloved, behold he comes, leaping over the mountains, skipping over the hills’ (Song of Songs 2:8). And that the branches of palm trees resemble the spine shows that the Holy One, Blessed Be He, upholds Israel, as it were the spine. The Holy One, Blessed Be He, is the spine of Israel. This is ‘strength and joy are in His place’ (1 Chronicles 16:27), ‘the Lord is my strength and my stronghold’ (Jeremiah 16:19). The Holy One, Blessed Be He, is the strength, the spine. When one speaks of a person’s strength, one says that he has a back, a spine. The strength of Israel, this is the Holy One, Blessed Be He. This is what the spine shows, the lulav.
And the etrog shows that the Holy One, Blessed Be He, is the heart of Israel, the Holy One, Blessed Be He, is our heart. These are all the things that it shows, and this is the plain meaning of the Zohar regarding what we take all the species.
The Point of the Invitation: How the Lulav Connects the Joy
The Question: How Does the Lulav Connect with the Joy of the Holiday
And I wish to add only the point that we learned, that we learned and wrote, and it seems to me that it is a point of truth: that for everything an invitation is needed, one must understand the joy. It is stated ‘and you shall rejoice before the Lord your God seven days’ (Leviticus 23:40). One does not stand seven complete days with the lulav. Indeed there were the people of Jerusalem who stood all day with the lulav, but we do not practice this way, and this is also not the obligation.
That is, in plain terms the order is that during Hallel one takes the lulav, in the morning, and on Shabbat one does not take it at all. In any case, one takes the lulav in the morning, or all day, for all day is fit for reciting Hallel, but in practice one does not take it all day but part of the day.
And the joy is certainly joy. Joy in plain terms means complete. Joy one makes afterward, one arranges a great feast, one dances. Even the dancing is a great feast. And one can say that there is an explicit obligation to dance on the holiday. It is stated chag, and chag is from the language of chagigah, chag is from the language of dancing, to circle and make circuits with the lulav, or without the lulav, afterward, at night, in the morning. These are all the things that we do.
And behold, all these things are good, very good. But how do they connect with the lulav? It seems to me that this is a question that people have in practice, and therefore I say an intention, I say an intention, I have an intention, in the morning I had a lulav, each person in his way and with his intention, very good. Afterward one goes home, one prays further, one eats a feast, one gathers, one does all the joys of the holiday. How do all these things connect with the lulav?
The Lulav Is the Connection of the Two Joys
I think an intention, and they will already remember the intention at the time of taking the lulav. It seems to me that this is the plain meaning, and I have built the plain meaning somewhat as to why I think so. For the plain meaning is, as the Zohar says, that the lulav is the connection of the two joys. The Holy One, Blessed Be He, takes Israel and rejoices with them, and Israel take the Holy One, Blessed Be He, ‘and I will take you to Me’, Israel say ‘and I will take you to Me’, and the fruit of the side shows the Holy One, Blessed Be He, and shows Israel, shows the image of God, that they are this image of God.
And the plain meaning of the special intention in the lulav is, that through the lulav the days become important. That is, we learned in the Zohar that everything needs an invitation. There is nothing, whether one says ‘behold I am prepared and ready’ — for one who practices this way — and whether one must say it, whether one must think it, whether one must do it: everything needs an invitation.
The Parable of the Wedding
That is, as it were, a person makes a wedding, one must invite. And one can ask a question: will not his grandfather come without an invitation? For he knows that there is a wedding, but it is proper that one send him an invitation. And the invitation, as he says, the physicality may come without it. But the feeling that a person has an important friend or important relative or his teacher, that he wants to call him to his joy — one must call him.
And even if he will come without being called, when he comes without being called, he comes in such a way that he does not come with his heart, he does not come with his will, he does not come — one can call this — with his inwardness, with his spiritual level; he does not come, he comes in externality, he comes with his skin, he does not come with his inwardness. And in order that he come in inwardness a request is required. This is the nature of people.
The Spiritual Nature: An Invitation Is a Matter
And this is also the spiritual nature. The spiritual nature is that when one makes an invitation the Holy One, Blessed Be He, also comes. The Holy One, Blessed Be He, comes of His own accord. And as they say, even a small friend who comes without an invitation, the Holy One, Blessed Be He, comes. To the joys of Israel the Holy One, Blessed Be He, comes, the grandfathers come, everything comes, the ushpizin come.
But why do we invite? For the Zohar says that Rabbi Abba used to invite the ushpizin. And why must one invite them? For they come, in any case. The plain meaning is that they come, but one must invite. A matter of holiness requires an invitation. There is a law, an invitation is a matter for something of holiness, an invitation is required. In idolatry there is no invitation, but for matters of holiness an invitation is required, and the invitation is effective.
And what does the invitation accomplish? It accomplishes that when the holiness descends, when the Holy One, Blessed Be He, comes with us, He comes by invitation. That is, with will, with the will of both, and the matter brings out the will of both, face to face brings this out.
The Joy Must Be Joy Before God
One Cannot Simply Sit Down to a Plate of Meat
Since we want to make joy, we want to rejoice, we want our joy to be joy before God, and we want to understand what the matter means — one must call Him. One cannot simply sit down to a plate of meat and wine and say, this is the joy of God. This is the joy of one’s belly.
And how does the joy of the belly become
The Joy Must Be Joy Before God
One Cannot Simply Sit Down to a Plate of Meat
Since we want to make joy, we want to rejoice, we want our joy to be joy before God, and we want to understand what the matter means — one must call Him. One cannot simply sit down to a plate of meat and wine and say, this is the joy of God. This is the joy of one’s belly.
And how does the joy of the belly become the joy of God? Certainly through giving charity, this is certainly part of all the species. This hints at all of Israel, but perhaps another way is needed to hint at why all the species are thus understood, for it is stated ‘and you shall rejoice in your festival, you and your son and your daughter and your servant and your maidservant and the Levite who is in your gates’ (Deuteronomy 16:14). This is part of the joy, and this accomplishes, as Rashi says, ‘if you gladden Mine I will gladden yours’.
And this is also the main thing, this is the main way to explain the ushpizin, as is explicit, that one must invite actual guests. And if one has no guests, let him send money to one who will have guests, and the like — to give charity on the eve of Sukkot, on the eve of the holiday, to a person, so that Israel will have for the holiday. This is the one main way how one invites the Shekhinah.
How One Calls the Shekhinah: Through the Lulav
But besides this, one must literally invite the Shekhinah. And how does one call the Shekhinah to our holiday joy? Through the lulav. And why through the lulav? We have already spoken, because the lulav shows as it were the body of the sefirot, it shows the way in which the Holy One, Blessed Be He, shows Himself in the world. This is the decree, this is the decree of Scripture.
And why specifically the lulav? This is not our concern now. When one takes the lulav, one approaches the Holy One, Blessed Be He, one goes to the study hall, one says Hallel, one stands with the lulav before God, one says to Him ‘I will thank You for You have answered me’ (Psalms 118:21), one says to Him ‘Give thanks to the Lord for He is good’ (Psalms 118:1), one says to Him ‘Please, O Lord’ (Psalms 118:25), one circles the altar, one circles our platform, one circles as it were the place of the Holy One, Blessed Be He, the place where one reads His Torah, the place where one studies it and prays to Him, one circles — and with this one calls the Holy One, Blessed Be He.
And from the fact that one goes with the lulav in the morning, the Holy One, Blessed Be He, is with our joy at night, the Holy One, Blessed Be He, is with our joy all day, the Holy One, Blessed Be He, is with our joy all year.
📝 Full Transcript
The Secret of “Ulekachtem Lachem” — The Last Mitzvah in Sefer HaPekudim
Introduction: A Brief Pre-Holiday Shiur
Since it is erev yom tov and there isn’t so much time, we’re making a brief shiur erev Sukkos on the secret of the verse and the mitzvah “ulekachtem lachem bayom harishon pri etz hadar” (Vayikra 23:40). We’ve learned two shiurim about this more according to the simple meaning, and now I’m going to present what the holy Zohar says in the Pekudin.
This is the last mitzvah from the Sefer HaMitzvos that the Zohar wrote in Sefer Pekudim DeMara Alma. The last mitzvah, this is the mitzvah of lulav, pekuda 47. He only wrote 47 mitzvos.
The Order of the Mitzvos in Sefer HaPekudim
The order goes: First the Zohar discusses the essential mitzvos of every day — mitzvos of yichud Hashem, existence of Hashem, mitzvos of emunah, Krias Shema, tefillah, tefillin, tzitzis, mezuzah, Birchas Kohanim, all the mitzvos of every day. Afterwards begins the order of Shabbos, of yamim tovim, and so goes the order from Pesach until Sukkos.
The last three mitzvos are: the mitzvah of sitting in the sukkah, mitzvah 46 is the mitzvah of the korbanos of Sukkos, and he speaks a bit about Shemini Atzeres, but he doesn’t have a separate mitzvah on that here. Afterwards is the mitzvah of taking a lulav, “ulekachtem lachem” (Vayikra 23:40).
The Innovation in the Brief Text of the Zohar
The Zohar, in the manner of the Pekudin, says things that he has already elaborated at length, but he puts it into one word, and very often in that one word there is a great innovation. I believe that in the text that he says here there is a great clarity that doesn’t appear earlier with the same clarity. Therefore one must learn it here, and sharpen the point a bit.
The Language of the Zohar: Linetla Lulav Beha’hu Yoma
The Mitzvah and the Minim of the Lulav
The Zohar says thus: The mitzvah is “linetla lulav beha’hu yoma”, on that day, meaning bayom harishon, “ve’inun zinin dilin” — one must take the lulav with the minim.
In the verse it says “pri etz hadar kapos temarim” (Vayikra 23:40) and so on, but in the Gemara it’s always called the mitzvah of netilas lulav. Lulav isn’t even a word that appears in that lulav, but in the Mishnah one calls the entire mitzvah by that name, and the other parts are called the minim of the lulav, as if they belong to it. It says in the language of the Mishnah in Menachos “four minim shebalulav,” the minim that are in the lulav. The entire bundle is called a lulav, just as one says the blessing al netilas lulav. The Zohar sees why specifically everything is called by the name of the lulav, we’ll touch on something here. The name of the mitzvah is to take the lulav and its minim on that day, in the city of Sukkos.
The Verse Itself is a Secret
Says the Zohar: “veha’i raza” — the secret. Not the secret of the thing, but the verse itself is a secret. It’s not clear in the verse what one should do with the lulav. It’s literally a wondrous midrash. “Lekachtem lachem” and “usmachtem” (Vayikra 23:40) — how does from this come out “usmachtem lifnei Hashem Elokeichem” (Vayikra 23:40)? What is the meaning of the lulav? It’s a secret.
Vekamei Chavraya: We Are All Chaverim
The Chaverim of the Zohar and the Sages of the Talmud
Says the Zohar, the secret we have already established, “vekamei chavraya”. Sometimes it can mean the chaverim of the Zohar itself. But when the Zohar emphasizes that both we have spoken of it and the chaverim, he means that chaverim are the other Tannaim, the other Amoraim, all the other sages of the Talmud whom we call chachameinu zichronam livracha, who explain in their books matters of the mitzvos, the halachos, the reasons.
How a Jew Should Think: We Are All Students of the Almighty
This is how a Jew should think: We are all chaverim of the Gemara, of the Tannaim. What is the difference between a rebbe and a student and a chaver? When we say “rabboseinu zichronam livracha,” they are higher than us, they are the receivers of the Torah, and from them we receive. But the Zohar understands that they are our chaverim. If two people went to one rebbe, they are both chaverim, both on the same level, both receivers. Why are we all chaverim? Because we are all students of the Almighty, “kol banayich limudei Hashem” (Yeshayahu 54:13). We are all students of Moshe Rabbeinu, who was also a student of the Almighty — Moshe was the first student, and the Almighty the first rebbe.
We — the Tannaim, the Amoraim, and before the Tannaim the prophets — are all chaverim in that beis midrash, in the yeshiva of Moshe Rabbeinu, from the mouth of the Holy One Blessed be He, we learn the same Torah. The same question that was difficult for the Tannaim is also difficult for us: What is the secret of the lulav? Says the Zohar, we have already explained ourselves in our book, and our chaverim have also already explained.
Midrashim Are Secrets
The Zohar means here an even deeper thing: that in the midrashim on the lulav they have already explained literally the secrets of the Zohar. All the secrets of the Zohar are built and connected with the ways of the midrashim, only the midrash speaks in its text more in the revealed way — there never appears any sefirah, any matters of true divinity. The midrash is written in a concealed manner.
This is how the Rambam explained, that midrashim are not always literal, not literal. And the Ramban argues many times with Rashi: when Rashi brings a midrash, says the Ramban, the simple meaning in the verse is not so, and besides that, the midrash itself doesn’t mean simply the simple meaning, the midrash means a secret. Midrashim are secrets.
Sometimes the secret is more concealed and it’s harder to understand the midrash, and sometimes the midrash is clearer. Lulav certainly has a secret, for it says “usmachtem lifnei Hashem Elokeichem shivas yamim” (Vayikra 23:40) — there’s certainly some meaning, that with the lulav one rejoices before the Almighty, and the Almighty rejoices with us. The midrashim have already revealed the secret almost close to the way of the Zohar. The word sefiros doesn’t appear in the midrash, but whoever learns midrash already knows almost what the Zohar is going to say.
The Almighty Takes the Jews: The Mirror Image of “Ulekachtem Lachem”
Nesias HaMitzvos: What is Done Above We Do
Says the Zohar: “kema dekudsha brich hu natil lehon leyisrael behanei yomin vechadu behon” — just as the Almighty takes the Jews. “Ulekachtem lachem” (Vayikra 23:40) says that we should take, but every verse in the Torah that tells us to do is only a mirror, a shadow, of something that has already been above. We learned the secret of nesias hamitzvos, that what is done above we do afterwards. “Mah hu af atah” (Shabbos 133b) — what the Almighty did in maaseh bereishis, we make ourselves partners in maaseh bereishis; the Almighty makes maaseh merkavah, we make maaseh merkavah.
The Verses of Taking
“Ulekachtem lachem” began from something that the Almighty has already taken. The midrashim connect immediately with all kinds of places where it says taking — both where we should take, and where the Almighty has taken. The Almighty says “veyikchu li terumah” (Shemos 25:2), take Me Myself, and the Almighty has taken “velakachti eschem li le’am” (Shemos 6:7). This is the mirror image of “ulekachtem lachem”. The Zohar doesn’t bring that verse, but he thinks of another verse that is a similar thing.
“Ulekachtem lachem” means take yourselves. How does a verse come where the Almighty tells a person take yourselves? The simple meaning is that the Almighty has already taken — He has taken the Jews, “velakachti eschem li le’am”.
The Almighty Rejoices with the Jews
The Almighty has taken the Jews and rejoiced with them, as it says “ki yashuv Hashem lasus alecha letov” (Devarim 30:9). These are the explicit verses, that when things go well for the Jews — a yom tov, after there was Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur and the Jews were victorious — the Almighty takes the Jews, He chooses: “uvachar be’amo Yisrael besimchah”. “Ulekachtem lachem” begins with the fact that the Almighty takes in these days the Jews and rejoices with them.
The Secret of Yom Kippur: The Almighty Must Be Able to Take Us
Here the Zohar explains an interesting thing: The Almighty takes the Jews, and this is the meaning of Yom Kippur, that they offered themselves, “ki bayom hazeh yechaper aleichem letaher eschem” (Vayikra 16:30). Why must one purify oneself? So that one can come before Hashem, so that the Almighty can take us, one must cleanse oneself and the Almighty must forgive all sins. This is for Him — “lema’an shemi a’arich api” (Yeshayahu 48:9). The Almighty must forgive all sins because He must be able to take us. The Almighty grabs the Jews, He holds them around, “velakachti eschem li le’am” — the Almighty takes the Jews for Himself.
Vechozer Chalilah: What a Jew Does Mirrors What the Almighty Does
If one knows that what a Jew does mirrors what the Almighty does, it goes smoothly, vechozer chalilah. After a Jew does, he already awakens the attribute that the Almighty has set up for him so that it should continue further.
He says: Just as the Almighty takes the Jews and rejoices with them, af hachi “Yisrael natlu lei lekudsha brich hu lechalka” — they take the Almighty for their portion, ve’al da “ulekachtem lachem bayom harishon”: You should take Me, just as I take you. This is the time that the Almighty takes us, and therefore the Jews take the Almighty.
The Midrash: Pri Etz Hadar Zeh HaKadosh Baruch Hu
Rabbi Akiva’s Derasha
This appears in an explicit midrash, which is brought in the Ramban on the spot, and the Ramban explains it according to kabbalah, and the Zohar connects with that secret.
The midrash says: “Ulekachtem lachem pri etz hadar”, says Rabbi Akiva, pri etz hadar zeh HaKadosh Baruch Hu, as it says “hod vehadar lavashta” (Tehillim 104:1). Kapos temarim zeh HaKadosh Baruch Hu, as it says “tzaddik katamar yifrach” (Tehillim 92:13). Va’anaf etz avos zeh HaKadosh Baruch Hu, as it says “vehu omed bein hahadasim” (Zechariah 1:8). Ve’arvei nachal zeh HaKadosh Baruch Hu, as it says “solu larocheiv ba’aravos” (Tehillim 68:5).
Each one of the verses shows a secret why the Almighty is called by these names. The Ramban explains at length that this means the different attributes, the different sefiros of the Almighty, that each one is hinted at with the etz hadar, kapos temarim, va’anaf etz avos, ve’arvei nachal. The Zohar in that place doesn’t go into the details, and we won’t either.
The Almighty’s Lulav and the Jews’ Lulav
What the Zohar makes clear here is, that this is already a mirror, because this is the time that the Almighty takes the Jews. There is another midrash — a deep kabbalistic midrash that fewer people know — but the revealed midrash everyone knows: that pri etz hadar corresponds to the avos, or corresponds to the four types of Jews.
There are two lulavim. The Almighty takes a lulav, just as the Almighty has tefillin that speak about the Jews, and the Jews have tefillin that speak about the Almighty. The same thing: In the Almighty’s lulav it speaks about the Jews — the four types of Jews, or the four limbs of every Jew, or the three avos. This is “velakachti li”, that the Almighty takes.
The Language of Taking Like Kiddushin
Says the Almighty, so should the Jews take “lachem” — they should take the Almighty. “Velakachti” is a language of taking like kiddushin, “ki yikach ish ishah” (Devarim 24:1), like a kiddushin ring, like the rings that one makes on the lulav, as is known.
The Almighty takes the Jews, and the Jews take essentially the same thing. In another place the Zohar says that there is a question in the verse “ki Ya’akov bachar lo Y-ah” (Tehillim 135:4) — one can read that the Almighty chooses Ya’akov, or that Ya’akov chooses Y-ah. This is both. In the action that the Almighty takes the Jews, the Jews take Him. This is the secret of the entire Zohar, “be’isarusa delata isa’ar le’eila” — when we take the Almighty, the Almighty takes us.
Raza DeKumsa De’adam: The Secret of the Stature of Man
The Jews Take the Almighty for Their Portion
Further says the Zohar, that in these days the Almighty takes the Jews and rejoices with them, and so the Jews take the Almighty and rejoice with Him, and they choose Him for their portion. Just as the Almighty has taken the Jews to be, as it were, His, so the Jews take the Almighty that He should be theirs, “venifleinu ani ve’amcha mikol ha’am asher al penei ha’adamah” (Shemos 33:16). Says the Zohar: “da raza, lulav vezinohi da raza dekumsa de’adam”.
The Stature of Man and the Limbs of the Sefiros
The lulav are minim that they are the secret of the form of man. The midrash says that a lulav is similar to the spine, the hadasim similar to the eye, and so on. Therefore the lulav is the essence, because on the spine stands the entire person. This is the stature of man, “zos komasech damsa letamar” (Shir HaShirim 7:8). When one sees a person, one sees his stature, and this is the lulav. From this it is called the lulav.
Everyone knows that the secret of the Zohar is to understand that the limbs of man are also the limbs of the Shechinah, just as the limbs of the sefiros, as it were. The Almighty is not a body, “ein lo demus haguf” (Yigdal), but He has, as it were, a stature through which He reveals Himself in the world, in His actions and in His ways of revelation.
The Double Meaning of the Limbs
When it says that the lulav is similar to the mouth and similar to the eye, it means a double meaning: It means the mouth and the eye of the Jews, which shows that the Almighty takes the Jews with their mouth, with their eyes, with their lips; and it also shows the, as it were, form of the image of the Creator of the world, the divine image.
The hadasim which is similar to the eye shows that the Almighty looks at the Jews. The aravos which is similar to the mouth shows that the Almighty speaks with the Jews, “kol dodi hineh zeh ba medaleg al heharim mekafetz al hagevaos” (Shir HaShirim 2:8). The kapos temarim which is like a spine shows that the Almighty holds the Jews — the Almighty is the Jews’ spine, “oz vechedvah bimkomo” (Divrei HaYamim I 16:27), “Hashem uzi uma’uzi” (Yirmiyahu 16:19). The strength of the Jews, the backbone, this is the Almighty. And the esrog shows that the Almighty is the heart of Israel, our heart. This is the simple meaning of the Zohar on why we take all these minim.
The Point of Invitation: How the Lulav Connects the Joy
The Question: How Does the Lulav Connect with the Joy of Yom Tov
I want to add a point that we have learned and written, that for everything one needs an invitation. It says “usmachtem lifnei Hashem Elokeichem shivas yamim” (Vayikra 23:40). One doesn’t stand the entire seven days with the lulav — there were indeed people of Jerusalem who stood the entire day with the lulav, but we don’t conduct ourselves so, it’s also not the obligation. Simply one takes a lulav in the morning by Hallel (on Shabbos one doesn’t take it at all), one takes it part of the day.
And simchah simply means shelamim — one makes a great meal, one dances. It says chag, from the language of chagigah, from the language of dancing and going around, making hakafos with the lulav or without the lulav, at night and in the morning. But how does all this connect with the lulav? It’s a question that people have practically: One had in the morning a lulav with intention, and afterwards one goes home, one davens, one eats a meal, one farbrengs — how does all this connect with the lulav?
The Lulav is the Connection of the Two Joys
The simple meaning is, as the Zohar says, that the lulav is the connection of the two joys: The Almighty takes the Jews and rejoices with them, and the Jews take the Almighty, “velakachti eschem li”. The pri etz hadar points to the Almighty and to the Jews, to the divine image.
The special intention in the lulav is, that through the lulav the days become significant. We learn in the Zohar that everything needs an invitation. Whether one says “hineni muchan umezuman”, whether one thinks it, whether one does it — everything needs an invitation.
The Parable of a Wedding
Just as a person makes a wedding, he must invite. You can ask, won’t his grandfather come without an invitation? He knows that there’s a wedding. But it’s fitting that he should send an invitation. The physicality will perhaps come without it, but the feeling that a person has an important relative or his rebbe, he wants to call him to his joy. Even if he will come without calling, he comes as if externally, with his skin, not with his inner self. For it to be with inner self, a request is needed. This is the nature of human beings.
The Spiritual Nature: Invitation is a Thing
And it’s also the spiritual nature. When one makes an invitation the Almighty also comes — the Almighty comes already by Himself, like a relative who comes without an invitation. To Jewish joys the Almighty comes, the grandfathers come, the ushpizin come.
But why do we invite them? The Zohar says that Rabbi Abba would invite the ushpizin (guests). Why must one invite them, they come anyway? Because a davar shebekedusha (matter of holiness) requires an invitation. There is a halacha (law), hazmana milta — for avodah zarah (idolatry) there is no invitation, but for devarim shebekedusha (matters of holiness) the invitation helps. When the kedusha (holiness) comes down, when the Ribbono Shel Olam (Master of the Universe) comes to us with an invitation, He has come beratzon (willingly), beratzon shnayim (by mutual will), panim b’panim (face to face).
The simcha (joy) must be simcha lifnei Hashem (joy before God)
One cannot simply sit down to a plate of meat
Since we want our simcha to be simcha lifnei Hashem, one must call Him. One cannot simply sit down to a plate of meat and wine and say, this is a simchas Hashem (joy of God) — that is a simchas kriso (joy of the belly).
How does it become a simchas Hashem? Certainly through giving tzedakah (charity), it is surely a part of all the species, the remez (hint) of all Jews. This is how we understand “v’samachta b’chagecha atah u’vincha u’vitecha v’avdecha va’amasecha v’haLevi asher bish’arecha” (Deuteronomy 16:14) — this means, as Rashi says, if you gladden Mine, I will gladden yours. This is also the essential way of explaining the ushpizin: one must invite practical guests, and if one has no guests, one must send money to someone who will have guests, give tzedakah erev Yom Tov (the eve of the holiday) so that Jews will have for Yom Tov.
How does one call the Shechina (Divine Presence): through the lulav
Besides this, one must literally invite the Shechina. How does one call the Shechina to our simcha of Yom Tov? Through the lulav. Why with a lulav? Because the lulav points to, kivyachol (so to speak), the guf hasefirot (body of the sefirot), to the way in which the Ribbono Shel Olam reveals Himself in the world. This is the gezeiras hakasuv (decree of Scripture).
When one takes a lulav, one goes to the beis hamidrash (study hall), one says Hallel, one stands with the lulav lifnei Hashem (before God), one says to Him “odecha ki anisani” (Psalms 118:21), “hodu l’Hashem ki tov” (Psalms 118:1), “ana Hashem” (Psalms 118:25), one walks around the bimah (platform), kivyachol the Ribbono Shel Olam’s place where we read His Torah and we daven (pray) to Him — with this one calls the Ribbono Shel Olam. And through the fact that one goes with the lulav in the morning, the Ribbono Shel Olam is with our simcha at night, with our simcha the entire day, with our simcha the entire year.