Editing Lulav (section)

==Codification in the Torah==
The Torah mentions the commandments to obtain a ''lulav'' for the ''Sukkot'' holiday once in [[Leviticus]]:<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.mechon-mamre.org/p/pt/pt0323.htm|title=Leviticus 23 / Hebrew - English Bible / Mechon-Mamre|work=mechon-mamre.org}}</ref>

''Leviticus 23:40''
: {{rtl-para|he|ולקחתם לכם ביום הראשון פרי עץ הדר כפת תמרים וענף עץ עבת וערבי נחל ושמחתם לפני ה׳ אלהיכם שבעת  ימים}}
:"And ye shall take you on the first day the fruit of goodly trees, branches of palm-trees, and boughs of thick trees, and willows of the brook, and ye shall rejoice before the LORD your God seven days."<ref>Jewish Publication Society translation of 1917</ref>

In the [[Oral Torah]], the ''[[Mishnah]]'' comments that the biblical commandment to take the ''lulav'', along with the other three species, is for all seven days of ''[[Sukkot]]'' only in and around the [[Temple Mount]] when the [[Temple in Jerusalem|Holy Temple]] in [[Jerusalem]] is extant, as indicated by the verse as "in the presence of Hashem, your God, for seven days."  In the rest of the [[Land of Israel]], as well as in the [[Diaspora]], the four species are biblically mandated only on the first day of ''[[Sukkot]]''.  After the destruction of the Temple in 70 [[Common Era|CE]], [[Yochanan ben Zakai|Rabbi Yochanan ben Zakai]] legislated a rabbinical enactment to take the four species for the entire seven days of the holiday in all locations as a commemoration of what was done in the Temple.<ref>''[[Mishna]]'' ''Sukkah'' 3:11</ref>

===Classical Jewish Biblical commentators===
[[File:Isidor Kaufmann Child with Lulav.jpg|left|thumb|[[Isidor Kaufmann]]: ''Child with Lulav'']]

As with all Biblical verses, Jewish law [[Talmudical Hermeneutics|derives numerous details and specifications relating to the commandments by interpreting]] the manner in which words are utilized, spelled and juxtaposed in the verses of the Torah.

[[Rashi]] explains the pertinent verse in the Bible based on the Talmud's erudition.<ref>''[[Bavli]]'' ''[[Sukkah (Talmud)|Sukkah]]'' 32a</ref> which focuses on the spelling of the words in the verse that refer to the ''lulav'': ''kapot t'marim'' (כפת תמרים, "palms [of] dates").<ref>''Leviticus 23:40'' + associated commentary of ''[[Rashi]]''</ref> The first word refers to date stalks (the strands on which the dates sprout) and is written in plural form (''kapót'' - כּפוֹת) instead of singular form (''kaf'' - כף), in order to indicate that the commandment is not to take merely a single leaf of the entire palm.  However the word is written in a deficient manner, without the letter ''vav'', as the plural word would normally contain (כפת instead of כפות).  Rashi further elucidates based on the [[Talmud|Talmud's]] erudition, that the missing letter ''vav'' is to indicate that only a single palm is to be taken. The [[Talmud]] also uses this spelling irregularity to suggest according to the opinion of [[Judah ben Ilai|Rabbi Yehudah]] in the name of [[Tarfon|Rabbi Tarfon]], that the ''lulav'' must be bound if its leaves spread away from the spine of the palm.  This teaching is derived from the similarity between the spelling of the Hebrew words for "palm" and "binding", which would not be a viable teaching had the word for palm been written in its strictly singular form of ''kaf''.

The ''[[Keli Yakar]]'' comments that the words verse in [[Psalms]] 96:12 ''az yeranenu kol atzei ya'ar'' (אז ירננו כל עצי יער, "then all the trees of the forest will sing with joy"), is not only a reference to the shaking of the four species but a hint to this Biblical specification: the Hebrew word ''az'' (אז, "then") is composed of two letters, an ''aleph'' (א), with a numerical value of 1, and a ''zayin'' (ז), with a numerical value of 7, hinting that the four species are to be taken 1 day outside of the Temple area and seven days in the Temple.
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