17
It seems, according to this article, that people found a way.
It would seem that as long as Jews stayed in the moderate climate on the shores of the Mediterranean, there was no difficulty obtaining etrogim for the holiday. As people moved north into France, Germany, Poland and Russia, however, the temperature-sensitive tree could not exist and tremendous ...
13
After Sukkos is over (and you don't need them for mitzvah purposes
anymore), collect your leftover aravah branches that you used for
ד' מינים and הושענות. (You may also want to collect other's
branches, because many people just leave their הושענות in shul
when they're done with them -- that's another 5 branches per
bundle!)
Place the branches in ...
12
The Gemara (Sukkah 37B) asks the same question:
R. Jeremiah enquired of R. Zerika, Why in the blessing do we say only ‘To take the palm-branch’? — Because it towers above the others. Then why should not one lift up the ethrog and recite the blessing over it? — The reason is, the other answered him, that as a species it naturally towers above all of them.
11
I had an opportunity for the first time today to see the inside of four common etrogim. I found it fascinating ... and surprising.
Here's a Moroccan etrog
Here's a Hazon Ish etrog (for more details, see here under Contemporary Esrogim)
Here's a Calabria etrog (some of the pulp on the right side was removed for tasting)
Finally, here's a Teimani etrog
...
10
An additional application is the prohibition to sprinkle purifying water on a tamei meis on Shabbos, even if that would allow him to offer his Korban Pesach.
Pesachim 69a
והזאה מאי טעמא לא דחיא שבת מכדי טלטולי בעלמא הוא תדחי שבת משום פסח אמר רבה גזירה שמא יטלנה ויעבירנה ארבע אמות ברשות הרבים
What is the reason that the sprinkling of purifying water does not ...
9
I've tried the paper towel/aluminum foil (my father's method) idea, keeping them in the fridge, and keeping them in water. One year I got a whole lot of them and experimented with around seven different methods for each pair, to see at the end of the week which method would be the best.
The winner (and what I've been doing every year since then): wet them ...
9
The Ma'amar Mordechai can be found here.
The Kaf HaChayim can be found here.
8
So it writes here the following about a Rov called Rabbi Eliezer Aliner, Libava, Latvia, (1904-1980):
Rabbi Eliezer Aliner was born in the city Leipaja/Libava on the coast of the Baltic Sea. This city was used by many rabbis as a summer resort. From an early age Rabbi Eliezer spent much time with them, and he gathered many stories about the activities and ...
7
The reason for taking seventy aravot on Succot was to signify the additional seventy bulls which were sacrificed on the holiday (cf. Sukka 52b); such was the custom of the Sura Academy as attested to by Natronai Gaon (Shaare Teshuvah §312). See also Otzar HaGeonim (Sukka ibid) for additional significations. The custom was ultimately codified by Tur (OC §651, ...
6
Shulchan Aruch (Orach Chaim 658:5) rules explicitly that only if the last person returns the esrog is the first one (and all others) yotzei.
Interesting sidebar: The Biur Halacha is in doubt whether they were yotzei only if the last user returned the esrog on his own volition to the original owner or even if the original owner had to demand it back from the ...
6
The Yerushalmi Sukka 15b halacha 8 seems to be the source for shaking three times :
דף טו,ב פרק ג הלכה ח גמרא הא בהודו לא. להוציא אף באנא ה' הצליחה נא. רב חייה בר אשי בשם רב זה שהוא משכים לצאת לדרך נוטל לולב ומנענע. שופר ותוקע. לכשתגיע עונות קריאת שמע ה"ז קורא את שמע ומתפלל. תני צריך לנענע ג' פעמים ר' זעירה בעי הכין חד והכין חד. או הכין והכין חד. ...
6
In Orach Chaim 4 siman 123, Rav Moshe stronglly asserts that a lemon is not kosher for an esrog and says kol shekein a canary palm is not good for lulav.
Later in the tshuva he quotes the Saba Kadisha in his tshuvos chelek 3 siman 12 who seems to lean to possibly allowing the lemon to be used as an esrog, but points out that even he would not allow the ...
6
It happens to be that I personally have never observed the custom you are describing. Nevertheless, I was able to find a source.
The Beit Yosef (OC 651) cites that this practice was defended by Tosfot (this view is found in our versions of Tosfot to Sukkah 37b, d.h. behodu; link):
ועכשיו שנהגו שש"ץ אומר יאמר נא והצבור עונין הודו וכן ביאמרו נא בית אהרן ...
5
I was just referred to "How to keep your aravos fresh throughout sukkos: The definitive guide for frustrated palm-frond wavers", an apparently anonymous document describing a series of nine experiments, carefully testing different strategies for keeping Aravot fresh. Read the whole thing to see all of the strategies tested and all of the results, including ...
5
Qitzur Shulhhan 'Arukh, Yalqut Yosef (Orahh Hayim 651:45) states (my translation):
אחר שבירך, ינענע הלולב ומיניו שלש פעמים לכל צד. ואף על פי שהוא עתיד לנענע בשעת ההלל, יעשה הנענועים גם עתה אחר הברכה, ללא אומר ודברים. ודעת מרן שבנענוע צריך להקיף דרך ימין, שהוא לצד מזרח דרום מערב צפון. אבל המנהג פעיה''ק ירושלים ת''ו כמו שכתב רבינו האר''י, להקיף דרום צפון מזרח ...
5
It is indeed a problem to "give" the lulav to a minor for the reasons you have stated.
Lending somebody a lulav does indeed mean that they have not performed the mitzvah as they must own it. However as a minor does not perform mitzvot anyway and you only give the lulav to him for practice, you can "lend" him the lulav so he can learn to perform the mitzvah ...
5
Waving the lulav represents our victorious emergence from the judgment of Rosh Hashanah/Yom Kippur.
The following Midrash appears in Midrash Tanchuma on Parshat Emor # 18:
ולקחתם לכם ביום הראשון זה שאמר הכתוב אז ירננו כל עצי יער לפני ה' כי בא
כי בא לשפוט הארץ במי הכתוב מדבר בישראל ובאומות העולם שהקדוש ברוך הוא
דן אותן ביום הכפורים אלו ואלו נכנסין ...
5
Sukkah 37b
א"ל ר' ירמיה לר' זריקא מאי טעם לא מברכינן אלא על נטילת לולב הואיל וגבוה מכולן ולגבהיה לאתרוג ולבריך א"ל הואיל ובמינו גבוה מכולן
Rabbi Yirmeya said to Rabbi Zerika: What is the reason that we recite the blessing only with the formula: About taking the lulav, with no mention of the other species? Rabbi Zerika said to him: Since it is highest of ...
5
In the context of the other coins minted during the revolt and siege of the 1st century, it is not surprising that the depiction of the species is less photographic of "full sets" and more representative of the mitzva and of the holiday. The symbol may have been an act of rebellion in itself, bringing distinctly Jewish practice, whose restoration they were ...
5
Ritva (c. 1300 Spain) changes the girsa: the defining feature is not fruit tasting like wood, but rather the branches cover the wood.
Rashash (19th century Lithuania): Read the word "anaf" as "anav", interchanging the pey with the beis, indicating that Hadas is the branch "anaf" which resembles the fruit "anav".
...
4
There are a number of ways in which hidur is applied to esrog (and acc to the Magein Avraham other mitzvos like seffer torah and shofar as well), all of them enumerated in Shulchan Aruch Orach Chaim siman 656 and the Mishna Berurah there.
The gemara says to add on a third for hidur mitzvah. This is explained either as meaning a third of it's size or a ...
4
Small serations are kosher, large ones are not. See Halachipedia's entry on aravos.
4
From his Laws of Lulav, chapter 7:
ויוליך ויביא ויעלה ויוריד וינענע הלולב שלש פעמים בכל רוח ורוח. כיצד מוליך ומנענע ראש הלולב שלש פעמים ומביא ומנענע ראש הלולב שלש פעמים וכן בעליה וירידה
and he should move it to and fro and up and down, and shake it three times in each direction. How? He moves it to and shakes the tip of the lulav three times, and moves it ...
4
The OK website here talks about when Lulavim are hard to source. It writes:
When No Kosher Lulav Is Available
There were many times in our history that it was impossible to purchase a kosher lulav. Sometimes this was due to war or import limitations, drought or disease of the plants, and, more commonly, extreme poverty. If one cannot obtain a kosher lulav, ...
3
I know what I state will seem "over simplified", but seriously, I would contact some shuls immediately after Yom Tov, esp. Hoshannah Rabbah morning, if you can.
Most congregants leave their etrogim in the shul after davening Hoshannah Rabbah. I can't say who takes them away, but in my shul, I suspect that since the janitor cleans the shul, he may just throw ...
3
The Ritva in Sukka 2b basing himself on the story regarding Helene Hamalkah that when children reach the age of Chinuch, the parents are obligated to provide real kosher mitzvos ie. Lulav and esrog.
The Gemara in Sukka:
אמר רבי יהודה מעשה בהילני המלכה בלוד שהיתה סוכתה גבוהה מעשרים אמה והיו
זקנים נכנסין ויוצאין לשם ולא אמרו לה דבר אמרו לו משם ראייה אשה ...
3
Here is a picture (linked from here). There are several per tree.
Picture http://hamafitzesrogim.com/media/igallery/u/n/untitled_event_-_10_1.jpg
3
With regards to the Sukkah, in the beginning of his introduction to his commentary on the mishna, the Rambam explicitly uses the Halachot of a Sukkah as Halacha L'Moshe MiSinai. He uses it as an example of a Mitzvah that was given by Moshe together with its explanation. It is obvious that explanations to "Dwell in a Sukkah for 7 days" were given, ...
3
The age/status of minor calls forth a general rule but occasionally depends on the situation. The standard is that a boy is a minor before his 13th birthday, and a girl is a minor before her twelfth. The talmud explains some reasoning here (as rashi does on Erchin 13) and there are discussions of outlying examples testing the age vs. the reasoning, but ...
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