Sunday, September 30, 2007

The Lulav chooses the Jew...

A quick note some of you might enjoy:

In shul on the first day of Sukkot, when everyone had the lulav and etrog that they'd found and chosen from the several nearby lulav markets ("shuks"), a neighbor turned to me and said "it's really the Lulav that chooses the Jew, you know...."

2 comments:

marcel said...
This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.
Unknown said...

In shul before hoshanos when I was taking out my lulav and esrog someone told me that with my tallis (cloak), lulav (wand), and esrog (stone) I had the Deathly Hallows united! I answered that on the 7th day, hoshana rabba, we will be re-enacting the womping willow!

On a more serious note, we know that chazal compare the four species to the spine, heart, lips, and eyes. These are all important organs that can be used for good or bad. The esrog represents the heart which is why we are most meticulous about it being the best quality - the most pure. We inspect it very carefully to make sure it is blemish free, and we should do the same with our heart. We must inspect our thoughts and actions to try and be the best we can. This goes along with the themes of Harry's pure heart and tshuva.