According to Chazal, the arba minim, the four species, represent different types of people – different kinds of Jews. The Esrog represents the tzaddik, the wholly righteous person. The Lulav and Hadassim represent the Jew who is a work in progress, and the Arava personifies the Jew who is totally derelict – one hasn’t learned the Torah and is unkind to others. When we make a bracha upon shaking the Lulav and Esrog the bracha is focused on the Lulav (as we say Al Netilas Lulav). Furthermore, when we make the bracha, the Lulav is held in the right hand – the more significant hand. Why? Why is such eminence and honor ascribed to the Lulav? Why is the Lulav so paramount? The Esrog, the tzaddik, is relegated to the left hand! It’s not even mentioned in the bracha! Why is the Esrog so seemingly mistreated? Isn’t it the tzaddik? It should be held with utmost importance!
I would like to share with you a beautiful answer that I heard from my father, Rav Yitzchok Fingerer shlita based on the Kesav Sofer. When we take the Esrog – the tzaddik, and unify it with the Lulav, Hadassim, and Arava’s – the other types of Jews, those other Jews become ignited and inspired. Because of the Tzaddik (the Esrog), the other categories of Jews (the Lulav, Hadassim, and Arava’s) want to do Teshuvah. They want change.
The Kesav Sofer says something incredible: When the Jews who were transformed by the tzaddik return they are considered even holier than the tzaddik! When those who were unaffiliated or needed chizuk, come back, they are considered greater than the Tzaddik! Why? Because the power of Teshuvah elevates a person to the greatest of heights. That’s why the Lulav is the focus of the bracha and is held in the right hand. The Lulav and the accompanying Hadassim and Arava’s become greater than the Esrog! That’s the power of Teshuvah. The Gemara in Berachos 34b says that in the place where a Baal teshuvah stands, the greatest tzaddikim can’t stand. Why? Because balei teshuvah suppress their desires. They conquer their impulses. That’s how great and special they are. This means that those who return spiritually are considered even holier than those who impacted them! That’s why the Lulav is held in such high regard. That’s the power and greatness of teshuvah!
One year, one of the students of the Mir Rosh Yeshiva, Rav Nosson Tzvi Finkel, went away for the Shabbos between Yom Kippur and Succos and he left the lulav that he had purchased on his bed in the Mir dormitory. When he returned after Shabbos, the student found his lulav smashed on his bed- his lulav had become pasul (invalid). He asked his roommate what happened and the roommate responded that his friend came for Shabbos, and he needed a place to sleep, so he figured that he wouldn’t mind if he used his bed. The student was very upset, and he expressed his frustration to Rav Nosson Tzvi. Rav Nosson Tzvi told him that many people bring him lulavim because they want him to use their lulav. Rav Nosson Tzvi invited the man to come to his house and choose a lulav from his collection.
Later that day, the student went to Rav Nosson Tzvi’s home and found several beautiful lulavim on the table. He chose one and then asked Rav Nosson Tzvi how much it will cost. Rav Nosson Tzvi insisted that the student only pay him the price he had paid for his first lulav – which was less than half the value of this lulav. Rav Nosson Tzvi said, “I’m doing this on one condition – you can’t bear a grudge against your roommate.” The student agreed and went back to Yeshiva elated at the thought of using this beautiful lulav on Succos. Later this man found out that Rav Nosson Tzvi did not have any extra lulavim. He had asked all his family members to put their lulavim on the table, and then made sure that each of his family members had a lulav – aside from him. Rav Nosson Tzvi was punctilious in his mitzvah observance because he loved all mitzvos – and the mitzvah of promoting peace in the yeshivah was as important as the others! What Greatness!
