Rabbi Shmuel Rabinowitz, Rabbi of the Western Wall and Holy Sites
Amid the temporary nature that characterizes the festival of Sukkot, the concept of hadar stands out. The word conveys beauty, splendor, and refinement. It occupies a central place, specifically on Sukkot, because, after the repentance and purification of the Days of Awe, a person arrives at a festival in which he is called upon to express the wholeness he has sought to attain.
The Torah itself emphasizes the idea of hadar in the festival’s central mitzvah, the mitzvah of the Four Species, and even makes it part of the definition of the mitzvah:
“And you shall take for yourselves on the first day the fruit of the hadar tree”
(Leviticus 23:40)
In Judaism, we are familiar with the concept of hiddur mitzvah – beautifying a mitzvah. This means fulfilling God’s commandments in an aesthetically pleasing and exemplary manner, thereby demonstrating one’s love for the mitzvah. This is expressed in the verse, “This is my God, and I will glorify Him” (Exodus 15:2), which the Sages interpreted (Shabbat 133b) as, “Adorn yourself before Him with mitzvot.”
Yet the Four Species introduce an even more profound dimension: beauty is not merely an additional enhancement to the mitzvah; it is part of the mitzvah itself. An etrog that does not meet the requirements of hadar is not simply a less beautiful etrog. It lacks a condition necessary for fulfilling the mitzvah properly.
This is why, every year, we witness the remarkable spectacle in the Four Species markets. People are not satisfied with merely finding a kosher etrog. They spend considerable time examining, turning over, inspecting, and comparing them, seeking to find the most perfect etrog possible.
The idea is easy to understand. The Sages compared the etrog to a righteous person, who possesses both taste and fragrance. The etrog symbolizes the complete human being. Just as a righteous person is expected to strive for wholeness in every aspect of his personality and conduct, so too the etrog he holds in his hand is meant to express that wholeness.
Yet one of the great Jewish thinkers, Rabbi Yisrael Meir Weintraub z”l, offers a different and deeper perspective. In his view, Sukkot, which comes after the days of repentance and forgiveness, reveals the true meaning of hadar.
Hadar is not necessarily something uniform. On the contrary, beauty is often created precisely through a richness of different shades and colors. A single color on its own does not create the fullest beauty, whereas the proper combination of different shades creates a richer and more impressive picture. So too with a human being: human perfection is not measured by a life free of struggle, but by one’s ability to take all the different parts of one’s personality and build from them a better and more rectified reality.
For this reason, the beauty of a person’s inner being is enhanced when it is shaped by different shades and dimensions. This is the meaning of the teaching of our Sages:
“In the place where those who have repented stand, even the completely righteous cannot stand.”
(Talmud, Berachot 34b)
What is the special advantage of one who has repented? After all, the completely righteous person has never sinned, whereas the person who repents has traveled a path of sin, failure, and correction. Yet it is precisely the journey that the penitent person has undergone that adds depth and dimensions to his personality that are not found in someone who was never required to confront those places within himself.
The completely righteous person lives with the good within him, whereas the person who has repented is required to confront the evil as well, and then to transform it and harness it to the service of God. Through this process, he develops a more complex and richer personality. This is not the beauty of a perfection that has never known brokenness, but a beauty created through repair and rebuilding.
This also explains the linguistic connection between hadar and returning. In the Aramaic language in which the Talmud is written, hadar means “to return”: hadaran alach – “we will return to you,” and hadar bei – “he changed his mind” or “he returned from his position.” Repentance is a process of returning to one’s source, to the inner place where a person was meant to be from the outset. Yet a person does not return to exactly the same point at which he stood before. He returns after having traveled a journey and confronting his weaknesses, and through that experience, building a deeper and more multifaceted sense of wholeness.
This is why the concept of hadar is so fitting for Sukkot, which comes immediately after the days of repentance. Yom Kippur symbolizes purification and forgiveness, while Sukkot teaches us how to carry that awakening into our lives. It is not enough for a person to leave his sins behind. He must know how to use his strengths from that point forward, and how to turn the decisions he made during the Days of Awe into an actual way of life.
The beauty and splendor of Sukkot express the state a person is meant to reach after completing the journey of the Days of Awe. After forgiveness and purification, he must gather his strength, rebuild his personality, and bring his repentance into his everyday life.
Immediately after Yom Kippur, a person does not remain in the synagogue with his elevated feelings. He goes out into the world, constructs a sukkah, takes the Four Species, and begins to build. This is the transition from purification to life, from decision to action, and from repentance to the rebuilding of the human being.
