The four species (Hebrew: ארבעת המינים arba’at ha-minim) are four plants—the etrog, lulav, hadass, and _aravah—_mentioned in the Torah (Leviticus 23:40) as being relevant to the Jewish holiday of Sukkot.[1] Observant Jews tie together three types of branches and one type of fruit and wave them in a special ceremony each day of the Sukkot holiday, excluding Shabbat. The waving of the four plants is a mitzvah prescribed by God in the Torah, and it contains symbolic allusions to a Jew’s service of God.
The four plants
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The mitzvah of waving the four species derives from the Torah. Leviticus 23:40 states:
And you shall take on the first day the fruit of splendid trees, branches of palm trees and boughs of leafy trees and willows of the brook, and you shall rejoice before the LORD your God for seven days. English Standard Version
The Hebrew terms in this verse are:
- pərī ‘ēṣ hāḏār (פְּרִי עֵץ הָדָר), fruit of a beautiful tree
- kappōt təmārīm (כַּפֹּת תְּמָרִים), palm fronds
- ‘ănaf ‘ēṣ-‘āḇōṯ (עֲנַף עֵץ־עָבֹת), a bough of thick/leafy trees
- ‘arḇē-nāḥal (עַרְבֵי־נָחַל), willows of the brook/valley
In Talmudic tradition, the four plants are identified as: