SHALOM!

On each day of the holiday it is mandatory to perform a waving ceremony with the Four Species.

Leviticus 23:40-41 Names of God Bible (NOG)

⁴⁰ On the first day take the best fruits, palm branches, the branches of leafy trees and poplars, and celebrate in the presence of Yahweh your Elohim for seven days. ⁴¹ It is Yahweh’s festival. Celebrate it for seven days each year. This is a permanent law for generations to come. Celebrate this festival in the seventh month.

 

In Leviticus 23:40 the Hebrew terms for the four plants are:

• ‘êṣ hāḏār (עֵץ הָדָר), magnificent/beautiful trees
• təmārîm (תְּמָרִים), palm trees
• ‘êṣ ‘āḇōṯ (עֵץ־עָבֹת), thick/leafy trees
• ‘arḇê-nāḥal (עַרְבֵי נַחַל), willows of the brook/valley

 

During the time of the Temple in Jerusalem, the waving ceremony (called na’anu’im – נענועים) was performed in the Holy Temple on all seven days of Sukkot, and elsewhere only on the first day.

 

To prepare the species for the mitzvah, the lulav is first bound together with the hadass and aravah (this bundle is also referred to as “the lulav“) in the following manner: One lulav is placed in the center, two aravah branches are placed to the left, and three hadassboughs are placed to the right. (This order is the same for both right-handed and left-handed people.) The bundle may be bound with strips from another palm frond, or be placed in a special holder which is also woven from palm fronds.

Sephardic Jews place one aravah to the right of the lulav and the second aravah to its left, and cover them with the three hadassboughs—one on the right, the second on the left, and the third atop the lulav’s spine, leaning slightly to the right. The bundle is held together with rings made from strips of palm fronds. Many Hasidic Ashkenazi Jews follow this practice as well.

In all cases, all of the species must be placed in the direction in which they grew. (For the etrog, this means that the stem end should be on the bottom and the blossom end on top; this is the direction in which the etrog begins to grow, though as it matures on the tree it usually hangs in the opposite direction.)

 

N/B: In the narrower ethnic definition, a Sephardi Jew is a Jew descended from the Jews who lived in the Iberian Peninsula in the late 15th century, immediately prior to the issuance of the Alhambra Decree of 1492 by order of the Catholic Monarchs in Spain, and the decree of 1496 in Portugal by order of King Manuel I.

 

 

The “LULAV” – We are commanded by YAHUVEH / YAHWEH GOD in Leviticus 23:40 to take for ourselves on the first day, the fruit of beautiful trees, branches of palm trees, the boughs of eafy trees and willows of the brook; and you shall rejoice before the LORD your GOD for 7 Days. You hold them together and wave them in the four directions of the earth (North, South, East and West) thereby signifying the Nations and the fact the YAH winks at us.

 

The “ETROG” signifies that we people are like TREES and are supposed to PRODUCE FRUIT. It is said that the “ETROG” is the HEART” This implies that we are produce FRUIT with our HEARTS (in the right place).

The “LULAV” is the PALM BRANCH. It looks like a SPINE which is similar to that in the Human Body. The SPINAL CORD is the BACK BONE / VERY CENTRE / FOUNDATION OF MAN must be connected or else it is not possible to produce the FRUIT OF THE TREE.

The “MARTYLE” TREE / BRANCHES which literally look like EYES, EYES OF MAN. They are connected to GENEROSITY. Note that what you see comes out of the HEART!  What we see with our eyes, we do!

The “WILLOWS” / WILLOW TREE is connected to and looks like the MOUTH of a Human, likes LIPS of a Human. The BIBLE says that the LIPS of a human speak volumes out of the abundance of the HEART. Out of the heart, the mouth speaks.

 

In summary, we have got THE SPINE which is likened to the TORAH / TANAKH (LAWS OF YAH) hence the FOUNDATION at the top, then the EYES of a man which are connected to GENEROSITY, then the LIPS of a man which are the only branch that is connected to the “ETROG” (HEART) hence the FRUIT OF A MAN’S LIPS COME FROM THE HEART! So if your heart is NOT right, then what you say will NOT be right. You can always tell a man’s real heart when he is pressed (James 3). Your behaviour matches the temperature / condition of your heart. You can’t say you love YAH and not love your neighbour!!!

Through the FOUR SPECIES, YAH is trying to pass a MESSAGE which is that: YAH wants us to LOVE HIM with our whole being, that is to say, OUR HEARTS, EYES, LIPS.  Remember in Deuteronomy 6 (THE SHEMA / SH’MA), YAHUVEH/YAHWEH commands us to love HIM with all our HEARTS, MIND, SOUL and STRENGTH!

HEART –

MIND – EYES

LIPS – SOUL

STRENGTH – BACKBONE

YAH adds that we should WAVE THE “LULAV” in the DIRECTION of the FOUR CORNERS OF THE EARTH implying that we SHOULD LOVE OUR NEIGHBOURS AS OURSELVES. If we don’t love our neighbours as ourselves, then we should not say we love YAH! When we do this, it will by default call out to the 4 corners of the earth. It is a SYMBOLIC GESTURE unto YAH that we are WITNESSES to YAH’S People all over the earth just like TZITZIT (Threads). The TZITZIT IMPLY that one is encircled by the COMMANDMENTS OF YAHUVEH / YAHWEH from the 4 corners of the one’s garments. The TZITZIT is like a WEDDING RING which signifies belonging to the ANCIENT COVENANT OF Abraham, Isaac and Jacob/Israel as well as being protected by the BLOOD OF YAHUSHUA. The BLUE LINEN in the TZITZIT actually connects one to the ARK OF THE COVENANT because the COVERING of THE ARK OF THE COVENANT had a BLUE COVERING. One is connected to the POWER OF ALMIGHTY YAH.