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Mishnah Sukkah 3:1-7: Lulav and Etrog

Greco-Roman Period
Also associated with the Sukkot festival is the taking of the lulav (palm frond along with myrtle and willow leaves) and etrog (Citrus medica- a yellow citrus fruit). Detailed laws prescribe the specific qualifications for these “four species.” Many homiletical explanations for this ritual extend its significance beyond its origins in asking God for rain and a successful harvest.

3- 1 A stolen or withered palm-branch is unfit. If it came from an asherah 88 or from a
condemned city, 89 it is unfit. If its tip was broken off or if its leaves were split, it is unfit;
if its leaves were spread apart, it is valid. Rabbi Judah says- “It may be tied up at the top.”
The thorn-palms of the Iron Mount 90 are valid. A palm-branch three handbreadths long,
which is long enough to shake, is valid.

2 A stolen or withered myrtle-branch is unfit. If it came from an asherah or from a
condemned city, it is unfit. If its tip was broken off or if its leaves were split, or if its
berries exceed its leaves, it is unfit. But if one removed a number of its berries, it is fit,
but one may not remove them on the festival day.

3 A stolen or withered willow-branch is unfit. If it came from an asherah or from a
condemned city, it is unfit. Ifits tip was broken off or if its leaves were split, or if it was a
mountain-willow, it is unfit. If it was shrivelled, or had lost some of its leaves, or had
grown in a field [and not near a body of water], it is fit.

4 Rabbi Ishmael says- “[The commandment consists of taking] three myrtle-branches,
two willow branches, one palm-branch, and one citron, even if two [of the myrtle-
branches] have their tips broken off and one does not.”

Rabbi Tarfon says- “…even if all of the three have their tips broken off.”

Rabbi Akiva says- ‘‘Just as there is one palm-branch and one citron, so too there is one
myrtle-branch and one willow-branch.”

5 A stolen or withered citron is unfit. If it came from an asherah or from a condemned
city, it is unfit. If it was oforlah 91 it is unfit. If it was of impure terumah, 92 it is unfit. If it
was of pure terumah, he should not take it, but if he took it, it is fit. If it was demai, 93 the
House of Shammai declares it unfit, but the House of Hillel declared it fit. If it was of the
second tithe, 94 it should not be taken [even] in Jerusalem, but if it was taken, it is valid.
6 If lichens arose on most of [the citron], or if its tip 95 was gone, or if it was peeled, or
split, or had a hole, and was missing something, it is unfit. If lichens arose on a minority
of [the citron], or if its stem was gone, or had a hole and was not missing anything, it is
fit. A black citron is unfit. A [citron] which is green like a leek, Rabbi Meir declares it fit,
and Rabbi Judah declares it unfit.

7 The minimum size for a citron, Rabbi Meir says- “the size of a walnut.” Rabbi Judah
says- “the size of an egg.” The maximum size is such that two can be held in one hand,
according to Rabbi Judah. Rabbi Yose says- “even so that one can be held in two hands.”

87. Trans. S. Berrin.

88. A tree devoted to idolatry.

89. A city condemned to destruction as a result of its idolatrous worship (Deut. 13-13-19).

90. Mentioned in Josephus (War IV, 454) among the mountains that are located to the north of Moab,
opposite Jericho.

91. Fruit grown in the first three years of a tree’s fruit-bearing.

92. The priests’ portion.

93. Produce about which there is a doubt as to whether it has been properly tithed.

94. Produce to be brought to Jerusalem and eaten there.

95. Most etrogim have a protuberance at the tip (the opposite end from the stem). If removed, it renders the
etrog unfit.

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