shake it baby shake it

We are about to shake what is called, the Hadas (commonly translated as myrtle) and the 4 Minim (sorts) which the bible proscribes for the Festival of Booths: the citron, myrtle, willow and the palm. But do we know if we are really shaking the real thing? Let’s check it out.

The Torah calls the “vegetation” that we should shake, Anaf Etz Avot (a brnch form a patriarchal tree) but it’s difficult to explain why in Nechemya 8.15. the prophet said to the Kohanim to bring an Hadas together with the Anaf Etz Avot, the Torah explicitly meaning two separate plants. The Hadas is NOT what the Torah refers to as Anaf Etz Avot.

Beside that, the Hadas is a tree, not a shrub. You want proof? Look in Yeshaya 55. 13 where he describes the Hadas as a tree. It is a tree not a bush. So why we are shaking the wrong thing here?

Just shake it.

The Gemara says the Hadas is some kind of cedar… not a bush, and that the Hadas can grow to 4 Tfochim thick (Sukkah 37). Come on, don’t tell me the hadas that we have
can possibly be that thic. We are just shaking the wrong girl.

So again, the Anaf Etz Avot is not the Hadas. Even if it is the Hadas, it is a totally different type. It’s a a thick tree. The torah calls that “Etz Avot” = thick tree, but we should continue shaking it as long as we live; shake it as long as you can.

Hadas is Gematriya Samach Tes.

-jachnuon