High Holidays · Sukkot and Simchat Torah
What are the Four Species (arba minim)?
The arba minim (four species) are the lulav (palm branch), etrog (citron), hadas (myrtle) and aravah (willow), which we hold together and wave each day of Sukkot as a single act of praise.
Four gifts of the earth, held as one
Each morning of Sukkot we gather four living things: the לולב (lulav, palm branch), the אתרוג (etrog, citron), three hadasim (myrtle branches) and two aravot (willow branches). Bound together and taken in hand, they are waved toward the six directions, so that all of creation joins in giving thanks to the Holy One, blessed be He.
The sages saw in them the whole people of Israel — some with taste, some with fragrance, some with both, some with neither — held together and none left out.
The source in the Torah
Vayikra 23:40 commands us to take, on the first day, פְּרִי עֵץ הָדָר — "the fruit of a beautiful tree" — together with palm branches, the boughs of a leafy tree and willows of the brook, and to rejoice before the Eternal for seven days. From this single verse the tradition draws all four species.
What to do
Take the lulav in your right hand and the etrog in your left, bring them together, and recite the berachah al netilat lulav, "on the taking of the lulav." Wave them each day of the festival except on Shabbat. On the first day, add the Shehecheyanu blessing that thanks Heaven for bringing us to this season.
Source: Vayikra (Leviticus) 23:40.
For the daily blessing text and the reminder of which mornings the lulav is set aside for Shabbat, My Jewish Day (siddur, zmanim, the Hebrew calendar) keeps the order of the days close at hand.
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