Care should be taken
to keep the Four Species from drying up during the seven days
of Sukkot The Esrog is usually wrapped in cotton or flax and kept
in a special container. It should not be refrigerated. The Lulav
should be kept dry and cool, and the myrtles and willows should
be wrapped in damp paper toweling and refrigerated when not in
use.
The Lulav, Hadassim,
and Aravot are placed together in a Y-shaped holder made of palm
leaves,(which we include with the set that you purchase from us)
with the Lulav in the center, flanked by the three Hadassim on
the right and the two Aravot on the left. Three more bands of
palm leaves are placed around the body of the Lulav.
The assembled Lulav
is held in the right hand, with the spine of the Lulav facing
the person. The Esrog is taken in the left hand with the Pitom
pointing down. (A left-handed person takes the Lulav in the left
hand and the Esrog in the right.) Holding one's hands together,
the blessings are recited, and after the blessings are completed,
the Esrog is turned so that its Pitom points upward. (The Esrog
is held upside down until after the blessings have been recited
because blessings over Mitzvot must be recited prior to the fulfillment
of the Mitzvah, which in this case occurs when all four species
are held in the way that they grow.)
After the blessings
have been said, the Lulav and Esrog, still touching, are shaken
in the following order, three times in each direction: right,
back, left, front, up, down.
The Blessings are
as follows:
Baruch ata *Hashem
*Elokeinu melech ha-olum, asher kidishunoo b'mitzvosov v'tzeevunoo
ahl n'teelas lulav.
Blessed are You, Hashem
our G-d, King of the universe, Who has sanctified us with His
commandments and has commanded us concerning the taking of a palm
branch.
The following blessing
is recited only on the first day that the Four Species are taken:
Baruch ata *Hashem
*Elokeinu melech ha-olum, shehechiyunoo v'kiymunoo v'higiyunoo
lazmahn hazeh.
Blessed are You, Hashem
our G-d, King of the universe, who has kept us alive, sustained
us, and brought us to this season.
*When reciting the
blessings, the name of Hashem should be pronounced in the correct
manner.
