T H E   F O U R   S P E C I E S What's so important about the Citron, Palm, Myrtle and Willow? Plenty. Our tradition teaches that incredible spiritual blessings flow upon a person when he takes the Four Species, holds them together, blesses, and then shakes them in the proper manner. Very powerful...Try it yourself. People spend lots of time and take great care to find botanically perfect examples of each of the species to use for the waving. This process can take days. Fortunately, at this time of year, the Four Species are sold all over town in preparation for the festival. Examining Aravot with a jeweler's lens "...the fruit of goodly trees, branches of palm trees, and boughs of thick trees, and willows of the brook, to rejoice before the Lord" (Leviticus 23:39-40) 1. Etrog (Citron) Examining an Etrog This book tells how to find a perfect one Green ones are fresher, yellow ones have been off the tree longer Symbol of Fertility - "The fruit of a goodly tree". This is the only one of the four species which is actually a fruit. In the Jerusalem Talmud, the Rabbis had a lot of trouble identifying which fruit this was. In the inimitable language of the Talmud, the question went as follows: "It is written: "the fruit of the goodly tree". A tree which is as glorious as its fruit. Which is it? If you say the pomegranate - its fruit is glorious but the tree is not. If you say the carob - the tree is glorious, but not the fruit. So which is it? - the etrog!" The etrog has other virtues that advance its unique status: its tree produces fruit throughout the year. The pittom or stigma (the fruit's female organ) stays attached to the fruit, even after it has ripened. In some species the pittom protrudes prominently from the fruit. This also explains how the etrog has become a symbol of fertility. 2. Lulav (A Palm Shoot) You can see many variations in quality. Symbol of Victory - In the period of the Second Temple, the palm was a symbol of victory: "They came to the fort in Jerusalem with praise and with date fronds and with lyres and with harps," we are told in the Book of Maccabees, following a Jewish victory over the Greeks. Date palms also appeared on Jewish victory coins of that period. Said Rabbi Avin in the Midrash: "Compare it to two who went before a judge. We know who emerged victorious, because he who carried date fronds in his hands is the victor. So it is with Israel and the nations as they pass before the Lord on Rosh Hashanah: We do not know who is victorious until Israel emerges with date fronds and citrons in their hands...." (Leviticus Rabbah 30) 3. Hadasim (Myrtle Branches) Symbol of Immortality and Success - The abundant myrtle is characterized by its leafy branches that also cover the trunk of the tree. Its branches remain upright and fresh long after cutting. It withstands drought; even after fire, the myrtle pushes out new leaves. The rabbis told us: "He who sees a myrtle in his dream, his property will prosper. If he has no property, he will receive an inheritance from somewhere else." (Brachot 57a) 4. Aravot (Willow Branches) Symbol of Dependence on Water - Willows only flourish in water; they wilt the day that they are cut. In Temple times, the people would go down to Motza (outside of Jerusalem) and pick tall branches of the willow. And they would stand them upright around the altar "Each day they would circle the altar once and exclaim: `Please God, save us! Please God, give us success! And on the seventh day, they would circle the altar seven times.' (Sukka 4,5). The willows soon wilted, pointing downwards around the altar, weeping, as it were, in supplication. They symbolized the farmers' dread of the coming winter: would they be blessed with ample water? The plea - "hoshana" in Hebrew - thus became the source of the nickname of the willow branches "hoshanot." And hence the name Hoshanah Rabbah [lit. The "Great Hoshana"], the name for the seventh day of Sukkot, typified by the seven circuits in the synagogue.