The Midrash names three things that stayed a wonder: Pesach, Matzah, and Maror. A fourth thing it
says we never fully grasped: the four species of the lulav. Not the greatest sages. Not Moshe
Rabbeinu himself. Not even Shlomo HaMelech, the wisest of men.

So what is left for the rest of us? Rav Yaakov Shepherd and Eric take up a simple, concrete
meditation from the Magid of Mezeritch for the actual moment of shaking the lulav: forward, to lift
the heart's earthly desire up to the daat; there, to sort it from what is truly desired; back, to
bring that clarity home into the heart. And hidden inside the count of the four species themselves,
the Rav lays out all seven lower sefirot, each with its own earthly pull and its own godly one.

Recorded in Jerusalem, at the Yeshiva of the Mekubalim, Nefesh HaChaim.

This Sukkot the yeshiva is buying a set of the four species, and food for the table, for families
who cannot afford them. Whoever gives receives a real share in the mitzvah of the lulav and etrog
that the money buys. The prayers said at King David's Tomb on Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur were
said with this in mind, and they apply to everyone who joins, even now.
https://www.jgive.com/new/en/ils/donation-targets/176166

The ready to print meditation page from this episode is free. It arrives by email the moment you
ask for it here:
https://join.mekobalim.org

Chag Sameach.

Sukkot, lulav, etrog, four species, Kabbalah, Jewish meditation, Magid of Mezeritch, sefirot, Nefesh HaChaim