Remember Shabbat Then there was Shabbat Shuva and now we have the third Shabbat of the year. And guess what? We're not going to touch our sets of Arbaa Minim, even though the Torah commands us to take them on the first day of Sukkot. In fact, the Torah only commands us on the mitzva of the Four Species on the first day; taking them on all days of Sukkot is a rabbinic command in commemoration of the Beit HaMikdash. And on the Shabbat of Chol HaMoed we don't touch them. This year, however, it is the Torah's command that is set aside by the decree to prevent inadvertent violation of the Shabbat. Aside from a demonstration of the awesome power of the Sages, given to them by the Torah, it needs to be pointed out that they did not have to make this particular decree. But they did. And again (as we discussed with Shofar) we look for a "handle" to understand why the Sages banned Lulav & Etrog on Shabbat. Part of the answer, again, is that we are not dealing with a problematic coincidence of the calendar, we are dealing with "the first among the days declared holy". G-d sanctified Shabbat and commanded us to "keep" it. And He also used Shabbat as a model to teach us how to sanctify time. He did Shabbat, but we do the Chagim. So Chazal maintained Shabbat's position in the form of the g'zeira. Specific to the Arbaa Minim, if they serve as a strong reminder of Nature, and our connection to it, then Shabbat is the ultimate reminder of Creation of Nature (and everything). And so Shabbat itself takes over for the 4 Species for its day of Sukkot. [The Sukkot Homepage]
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