Four Species
| Halakhic texts relating to this article | |
|---|---|
| Torah: | Leviticus 23:40 |
| Babylonian Talmud: | Sukkah Chapter 3 |
| Mishneh Torah: | Laws of Shofar, Sukkah, and Lulav 7:1-8:11 |
| Shulchan Aruch: | Orach Chaim 645-658 |
The four species (Hebrew: ארבעת המינים arba'at ha-minim, also called arba'a minim) are four plants mentioned in the Torah (Leviticus 23:40) as being relevant to Sukkot.Karaite Jews build their Sukkot out of branches from the four specified plants (see Qaraite interpretation), while Rabbinic Jews take three types of branches and one type of fruit which are held together and waved in a special ceremony during the Jewish holiday of Sukkot. The waving of the four plants is a mitzvah prescribed by the Torah, and contains symbolic allusions to a Jew's service of God.
The mitzvah of waving the four species derives from the Torah. In Leviticus, it states:
Leviticus 23:40 And you shall take on the first day the fruit of splendid trees, branches of palm trees and boughs of leafy trees and willows of the brook, and you shall rejoice before the LORD your God for seven days. English Standard Version
In Leviticus 23:40 the Hebrew terms for the four plants are:
In Talmudic tradition, the four plants are identified as:
During the time of the Temple in Jerusalem, the waving ceremony (called na'anu'im – נענועים) was performed in the Holy Temple on all seven days of Sukkot, and elsewhere only on the first day. Following the destruction of the Temple, Rabbi Yohanan ben Zakkai ordered that the four species be waved everywhere on every day of Sukkot (except on Shabbat), as a memorial to the Temple.
To prepare the species for the mitzvah, the lulav is first bound together with the hadass and aravah (this bundle is also referred to as "the lulav") in the following manner: One lulav is placed in the center, two aravah branches are placed to the left, and three hadass boughs are placed to the right. (This order is the same for both right-handed and left-handed people.) The bundle may be bound with strips from another palm frond, or be placed in a special holder which is also woven from palm fronds.
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