A lulav and etrog set for the Jewish holiday of Sukkot, which begins Friday night, can range in price from $40 to $180, while some premium sets can run up to $500. When consumers purchase their sets, they can often be seen closely inspecting them.
But what are they looking for? Yeshiva students circulate a graphic on WhatsApp that helps them inspect the Four Species—lulav, hadas, aravah and etrog—for things like black spots, blemishes, detached leaves and a missing stem.
Rabbi Reuven Taragin, dean of overseas students at Yeshivat Hakotel and educational director of the World Mizrachi Movement, told JNS that “the reason people are careful about looking for the daled minim, the four species, is because the Torah writes that it should be a ‘pri etz hadar,’ the fruit of a beautiful tree.”
“So in addition to the general idea that we should try to do a mitzvah nicely, the Torah requires something beautiful,” Taragin said.
“It being our first opportunity after Yom Kippur to show our care for mitzvot, adds to the fact that people should express their care,” he said.
‘Can people go overboard? Of course. We’re Jews.’
Rabbi Steven Burg, CEO of Aish, told JNS that “there’s actually something very beautiful about watching people inspect a lulav and etrog so carefully.”
“The Torah doesn’t simply tell us to perform the mitzvah. It describes the etrog as a pri etz hadar, a beautiful or splendid fruit, and Jewish law sets out specific requirements for each of the Four Species,” he said. “People are looking to make sure that the etrog and lulav are kosher for the mitzvah, checking things like their condition, shape, blemishes and various other details.”
Burg said that “there are different levels of scrutiny.”
“There is a difference between making sure something is halachically kosher and searching for an especially beautiful specimen, what we call hiddur mitzvah, beautifying a commandment,” he told JNS. “That’s why you sometimes see someone examining an etrog as carefully as a jeweler might examine a diamond.”
“Can people go overboard? Of course. We’re Jews,” Burg said. “Give us a mitzvah, and we can always find something to debate. But beneath all of that inspection is a really lovely idea: once a year, Jews will stand in a marketplace and spend serious time trying to find the most beautiful object they can use to serve God.”
“In a world where we inspect cars, clothes and electronics before buying them, there’s something rather moving about watching someone devote that same attention to a mitzvah,” he said.
‘It isn’t like buying fruit from a grocery store.’
Rabbi Ezra Sarna, director of Torah and Halacha Initiatives of the Orthodox Union, told JNS that lulav and etrog “are a beloved mitzvah to the Jewish people.”
“There is no shortage of interpretations of what the Four Species represent, including a bouquet of thanksgiving for what the Almighty has given us, different types of Jews coming together and a symbol of victory following our emergence from Yom Kippur with a new dedication to Torah and the Jewish people,” he said.
Sarna also pointed to “hiddur mitzvah,” noting that the Talmud cites etrog as an example of “doing a mitzvah beautifully.”
“So, when a person goes out to buy a lulav and etrog, it isn’t like buying fruit from a grocery store,” he said. “There is a wide range of acceptable options for an etrog readily available in modern times. Personal preferences have developed based on a range of colors, shapes and sizes.”
“Part of the hiddur mitzvah is the idea of spending a little extra to fulfill the mitzvah,” Sarna told JNS. “A mitzvah is not something we do in the quickest and least expensive way. It is a privilege that we cherish.”
