Page 50 - HaMizrachi # 23 Sukkot Simchat Torah 2020 USA

THE PEOPLE AND THE LAND WHAT’S IN A WORD

David Curwin

ר ָ ד ָ ה ץ ֵ ע י ִ ר ְּ פ ,ןֹו ׁשא ִ ר ָ ה םֹוּי ַּ ב ם ֶ כ ָ ל ם ֶּת ְ ח ַ ק ְ לּו

ל ַ חָנ־י ֵ ב ְ ר ַ ע ְ ו ,תֹב ָ ע־ץ ֵ ע ףַנ ֲ ע ַ ו ,םי ִ ר ָ מ ְּת תֹ ּ פ ַּ כ

n the first day, you shall take more commonly used ones. A number “… go out to the mountains and bring
the product of hadar trees, of examples of such speech are given. leafy branches of olive trees, pine
“Obranches of palm trees, In one case, Rav Nachman used the trees, myrtles [hadas], palms and
boughs of leafy trees and willows of the word etronga. Rav Yehuda said call- [other] leafy trees [etz avot] to make
brook...” (Vayikra 23:40) ing it an etronga is a sign of snobbery, booths, as it is written” (Nechemiah
and it should be called either etrog or 8:15).
It is interesting to note that despite the
Biblical origin of the commandment, the Aramaic etroga. While the use of The Rabbis say that these are refer-
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we don’t use the words found in the etrog is universal today, Rav Nach- ring to two different kinds of myrtle
verse. Let’s look at how the words have man’s etronga was closer to the Persian branches. The hadas mentioned in
changed. turung. 1 this verse is referring to a “wild” type

The verse says we should “take” the The second species listed is תופכ of myrtle, which is appropriate for the
Four Species, using the verb חקל. םירמת – “branches of palm trees.” We roof of the sukkah, and the etz avot is
However, the blessing we say is ל ַ ע refer to the palm branch with the our hadas, which is used for the Four
ב ָ לּול ת ַ לי ִ טְנ, using the verb לטנ. Why did post-biblical word בלול. In Rabbinic Species.
the Rabbis change the verb? Hebrew, lulav can also mean the more The fourth species mentioned is the
general “shoots, sprouts,” and derives “willows of the brook” – לחנ יברע. The
The linguist Yechezkel Kutscher offers from the root בלבל as in Yoma 81b,
the following answer (which he heard where it says “the grapevine shoots Talmud (Sukkah 33b) says while the
from a high school student of his, who [lulavim] sprouted [livlevu].” The root verse is referring to willows that grow
we now know as the famous Rabbi בלבל is parallel to the Biblical הצנ, both by the brook, any willow branches are
Mordechai Breuer): while in Biblical meaning “to blossom.” Both of these acceptable for fulfilling the command-
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Hebrew חקל meant “to take,” by the ment. The word appears five times in
time the Rabbis coined the blessing, roots are related to words meaning “to the Bible, always in the plural form
the verb meant only “to buy.” And shine, to burn” (ץצנ and הבל) since the – aravim. The singular arava first
the halacha is that one need not buy blossoming of a plant radiates like the appears in the Mishnah, which also
the lulav – it can come from hefker shine of a fire. refers to the plural as aravot (as we do
(i.e. have no previous owner) or be The third species is the “boughs of today). Why not the Biblical aravim?
received as a gift. So הליטנ was substi- leafy trees [תובע ץע].” We refer to this
tuted, which only meant “taking.” This may be part of a trend where
species as םיסדה. Unlike the previous words that appeared in Biblical
The first species mentioned is ירפ two species, hadas is a Biblical word, Hebrew with the suffix -im, have the
רדה ץע, which we today call an גורתא. appearing in the books of Yeshayahu, suffix -ot in Rabbinic Hebrew.
The word etrog is of Persian origin, Zechariah, and Nechemiah. The verse
where it was known as turung. A in Nechemiah is interesting because
related word in Persian is naranga, it mentions both etz avot and hadas. 1 In the Jerusalem Talmud, Gittin 12a, the word
meaning “fragrant fruit.” This word Ezra tells the people to study the turunga itself is used for etrog.
eventually made its way to English as Torah, and the people find the laws of 2 See Bereshit 40:10 and Targum Onkelos on
that verse.
the word “orange.” The original form Sukkot. They then order that through-
of the word is hinted at in a story out the Land everyone must. 3 See Sukkah 12a and 32b.
in Kiddushin 70a, describing a dia-
logue between Rav Nachman and י ֵ ל ֲ ע ַ ו ן ֶ מ ֶ ׁש ץ ֵ ע־י ֵ ל ֲ ע ַ ו תִיַז־י ֵ ל ֲ ע ּואי ִ ב ָ ה ְ ו ר ָ ה ָ ה ּוא ְ צ David Curwin is a writer living in Efrat,
Rav Yehuda. Rav Nachman insisted תֹ ּ כ ֻ ס תֹׂש ֲ ע ַ ל תֹב ָ ע ץ ֵ ע י ֵ ל ֲ ע ַ ו םי ִ ר ָ מ ְ ת י ֵ ל ֲ ע ַ ו ס ַ ד ֲ ה and the author of the Balashon blog,
on using fancier words, instead of the .בּות ָּ כ ַּ כ balashon.com.

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