| The Tree of Life Shtender: The Succot Objects
“And you shall take to you ... the fruit of the goodly tree, branches of palm trees, and boughs of thick trees, and willows of the brooks, and you shall rejoice before the Lord your God.†– Leviticus 23:40
“This is my God, and I will beautify him.†– Exodus 15:2
Hiddur mitzvah – the beautification of the mitzvah – is the very concept upon which Jewish ritual art is based. It is embodied more in the etrog than in any other mitzvah. Whereas each mitzvah is supposed to be performed in a manner that beautifies and enhances it, in the case of the etrog, beauty is an essential prerequisite to the mitzvah itself.
“The quest for a beautiful etrog†is a traditional Jewish endeavor into which immense efforts are invested each year. All the aesthetic attributes are studied and refined in the search for the beautification of this mitzvah: color, texture, symmetry, liveliness, perfection, symbolism.
As our Tree of Life Shtender itself is a work of art and an object of beauty, the Etrog box can perhaps be thought of as the very heart of the Shtender. Don't read Etz Hadar, but Etz Hiddur, – the tree of beautification (of the commandments)!
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