Each Sukkot morning, after performing the mitzvah of taking the “Four Kinds,” the previous Lubavitcher Rebbe, Rabbi Yosef Yitzchak Schneersohn, would allow all who wished to do so to use his lulav and etrog. Many chassidim availed themselves of the opportunity, though they had a set of “Four Kinds” of their own, regarding it as a great privilege to perform the mitzvah with their Rebbe’s set.
One day, after the Rebbe’s etrog was returned to him bruised and stained from being handled by hundreds of hands, one of his chassidim said to him: “Why do you allow so many people to use your etrog? Look at what has happened to it! It has lost its hiddur (beauty)!” [1]
“Why,” replied Rabbi Yosef Yitzchak, “this is the most beautiful etrog in the world! What greater hiddur can there be for an etrog than the fact that hundreds of Jews have performed a mitzvah with it?”
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[1]. The chassid was referring to the principle of hiddur mitzvah(“beautification of the mitzvah”), derived from the verse, “This is my G-d, and I shall beautify Him” (Exodus 15:2). According to the Midrash, this teaches us to “make beautiful before Him with mitzvot: make Him a beautiful lulav, a beautiful sukkah, beautiful tzitzit, beautiful tefillin” (Mechilta, ibid.). One of the things that characterizes an etrog as mehudar is a “clean” surface, free of blemishes and discoloring.
[1]. The chassid was referring to the principle of hiddur mitzvah(“beautification of the mitzvah”), derived from the verse, “This is my G-d, and I shall beautify Him” (Exodus 15:2). According to the Midrash, this teaches us to “make beautiful before Him with mitzvot: make Him a beautiful lulav, a beautiful sukkah, beautiful tzitzit, beautiful tefillin” (Mechilta, ibid.). One of the things that characterizes an etrog as mehudar is a “clean” surface, free of blemishes and discoloring.
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