Succot is a very tactile festival. We hold the lulav and etrog in our hands each day. We physically enter the succah, eating and drinking beneath its fragile roof, surrounded by the sights, sounds and sensations of the outdoors. Perhaps more than any other festival, Succot asks us to experience Judaism with our bodies.
There are many interpretations of what the four species represent: the four letters of God’s name, different types of Jews, allusions to various aspects of the Divine. The Sefer Hachinuch offers another interpretation. It sees the four species as corresponding to different parts of the human body.
The etrog resembles the heart, the dwelling place of intellect; the lulav resembles the backbone, calling us to straighten ourselves for God’s service; the myrtle resembles the eyes so that we should not stray after the desires of our eyes; and the willow resembles the lips, making us conscious of the words which we speak.
In the modern world there is always something competing for our attention. Even when our phones are switched off and we leave the outside world at the door of the beit tefillah, our minds can remain occupied. Is the Shabbat lunch ready? What is happening in the community? Where will we be needed next?
How often do we actually bring our whole selves into our Judaism?
The festival of Succot offers us a distinct moment inhabit our Judaism differently, bringing it out of our heads and into our bodies. We do not simply think about our Succot rituals or speak about them. We touch, see, smell, taste and move. We sit in a succah. We hold the four species. Our bodies themselves become part of the mitzvah.
And perhaps this is why the Sefer Hachinuch’s image is so powerful. No single part of us is enough. The mitzvah requires the four species to be gathered together, because we need all parts of us to work together, rather than remaining four distinct qualities.
Succot reminds us that Judaism is not something we do only with our minds. It asks us to embody what we believe: to let our hearts, our eyes, our words and our actions become part of the same Jewish life.
During this Succot may we not simply show up. Rather may we bring our whole selves into the mitzvot: our hearts, eyes, words and bodies. May we not only practise Judaism, but truly embody it.
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