All    In    This    Together

A well-known midrash compares the Four Species to four types of Jews. The esrog has both taste and fragrance representing those Jews who possess both Torah and mitzvos; the lulav has taste but no fragrance representing Jews who have Torah but are lacking in good deeds; hadassim are fragrant but lack taste representing those Jews who are rich in good deeds but lack Torah; and the aravos lack both taste and fragrance representing Jews who lack both Torah and good deeds.

Some spend hundreds of dollars to purchase the most beautiful esrog lulav and hadassim yet if the lowly (and relatively cheap) aravos are halachically deficient they have still failed to fulfill the mitzvah of the dalet minim. By analogy Jews lacking Torah and mitzvos are still part of Klal Yisrael and we cannot do without them.

The same theme runs throughout the month of teshuvah in Tishrei. The Yom Kippur service begins with Kol Nidrei a formal proclamation by three elders of the congregation that all those whose sins are serious enough to land them in cherem are granted permission to participate in the davening.

The presence of such serious transgressors is not just permissible but desirable. The furthest removed Jew is an essential part of the davening. Just as Chazal say “Any public fast in which Jewish sinners do not take part is no fast.”

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