Sunday, October 01, 2006

Daf Yomi - Sukkah 29 - Four Species and Hashem's Name

Rashi writes that a dry lulav is invalid because the mitzvah must be mehuderes, performed with a beautiful object, as it is said this is my G-d and I shall beautify Him, and we learn from this verse that one should beautify himself before HaShem when fulfilling a mitzvah. Tosfos questions the words of Rashi from the Gemara earlier on Daf 11b that states that the mitzvah of glorifying a mitzvah is only a Halacha l’chatchila, preferable, but the mitzvah is not invalidated if one uses an object that is not beautiful for a mitzvah. The Gemara there states that it is preferable to tie the lulav with the hadassim and the aravos. If one does not tie the lulav with the other species, however, he has still fulfilled the mitzvah. Rav Aharon Yosef Weingarten in the Sefer HaYovel L’Chasam Sofer suggests an answer to resolve the question of Tosfos on Rashi. The Gemara in Gittin Daf 20 states that if one wrote the name of Hashem in a Sefer Torah without the proper sanctity, it is invalid. The Gemara explains that the reason for this is because of the verse that states this is my G-d and I shall beautify Him. The Bais Yosef in Orach Chaim 651 rules that one must join the esrog with the lulav in order to fulfill the mitzvah. The Bais Yosef cites the Rikanti who claimed that this secret was revealed to him in a dream. On the first night of Sukkos, a Chasid by the name of Rabbi Yitzchak appeared to the Rikanti and the Rikanti noticed that Rabbi Yitzchak was writing the Name of Hashem, but Rabbi Yitzchak wrote the letter hey separate from the first three letters. The Rikanti told him that this was incorrect and Rabbi Yitzchak responded that this is what is being done in the community of the Rikanti. The Rikanti protested and wrote the name of Hashem correctly. The Rikanti did not comprehend the meaning of the dream until the following morning when he observed the people in his community holding the esrog distant from the lulav. The Rikanti recalled the Medrash in Parashas Emor that states that the four species allude to the Name of HaShem. Just like the Name of HaShem must be written with all the letters adjacent to each other, the four species must also all be held together. This, then, could be the possible explanation for the opinion of Rashi. A dry lulav will be invalid ex post facto because it is lacking in the mitzvah of this is my G-d and I shall beautify Him, as the mitzvah of lulav is akin to writing the Name of HaShem. This approach is also found in the Sefer Shaarei Orah from Rav Meir Bergman.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

See the Kopos Temorim for three answers on Rashi (al pi derech hapshat).

Avromi said...

Thanks chaim - as a matter of fact, I had those tirutzim opened, but due to lack of time and I thought this one was more interesting to all, I wrote this one.