Q:
What should we be thinking about when we’re shaking the lulav and esrog?
A:
Look, you can’t just lean back and do the minimum. You can’t just shake this way, shake that way, and finished. Let’s say you’re a frum person who keeps everything — everything! So, you bought a beautiful esrog, and you paid good money for it. Now you’re holding your lulav and esrog. Is that enough? Maybe you should be mechadeish something in the mitzvah. You have to be a mechadeish.
When you make the na’anuim, you should say to Hakadosh Baruch Hu, “I’m thanking You, Hashem, that You gave me a good heart.” You know, many people have sick hearts. They wish they could have your heart! The medrash says that the esrog is like the heart. So, as you hold up the esrog you think, “Thank You, Hashem, for giving me a good solid healthy heart. And for giving me good eyes.” Many people have trouble with their eyes. And that’s what the hadassim are telling us. The hadassim are shaped like eyes. “You gave me a good backbone.” Many people, nisht eingedacht, lo aleichem, are bent over. They have hunchbacks. Their spines are bent. And you have a straight back. Now, that’s something to think about when you pick up the lulav. That’s called being mechadeish in the mitzvah, putting more into it than the minimum.
After all, what does na’anuim mean? Back and forth, back and forth. What’s that meaning of all that back and forth? It means our thanks are to You, Hashem, because it came from You to us. Our thanks are to You because of what’s always coming from You to us. That’s what we’re saying when we shake the Daled Minim back and forth. We shake in all directions because we say, no matter where the good comes from, it’s coming only from You, constantly.
And therefore, you take the lulav, that’s your backbone, your shidrah, and you take the esrog, which is your heart. And you take the hadassim, your eyes, and you take the aravos, which are your lips, your mouth, and you say, “I dedicate them to You, Hashem, for what You did for me.” Back and forth, back and forth; that’s what you think about by the na’anuim. We say to Hashem, “It all comes from You to me.”
You think it’s silly? It’s not silly at all! I’ll tell you what I think about many times when I say na’anuim. Many times, I think like this: One of the na’anuim is for my oldest son-in-law. Baruch Hashem, I have a good eidim. Baruch Hashem! And baruch Hashem, I have a good second son-in-law. Baruch Hashem, for the next eidim. Baruch Hashem, there’s no trouble there. I never hear any machlokes. My daughters live in shalom with my eidims. Baruch Hashem, I’m happy. Such good eidims. That’s why we make na’anuim. That’s what it means. “I’m thanking You for what You’ve given to me.”
So, when you say tomorrow by the na’anuim, you should start thinking, הוֹדוּ לֲהַשֵׁם כִּי טוֹב — Thank Hashem, for He is good! You married off your daughters well? It wouldn’t be a bad idea to make one of the na’anuim for this son-in-law. “Ay yah yay! I’m thanking You, Hashem, for this son-in-law.’ And by the next na’anuim, הוֹדוּ לֲהַשֵׁם כִּי טוֹב, “I’m thanking You, Hashem, for the next son-in-law.” That’s the way to do it. It’s such a very big thing to have married off your children well that you can never thank enough for a good son-in-law or a good daughter-in-law. And that’s how you should think when you make the na’anuim. It shouldn’t just be a mechanical thing.
TAPE #757 (September 1989)