Living in Eretz Yisrael, I often find myself amused by small, unexpected things. Take aravot, for example. Here, every arava seems to droop. When I lived in Monsey, the aravot stood upright like soldiers. In Israel, I never struggle to find a beautiful esrog, a perfect lulav, or impeccable hadassim — but aravot? For nine years, I have yet to find a set that truly satisfies me.
When I shopped for my arba minim, I watched people carefully examine esrogim, lulavim, and hadasim. They turned them over, inspected every detail, scrutinized every leaf. But when it came to aravot, they simply grabbed the package and walked away without even a glance.
And yet, it was the arava that encircled the mizbeach during Sukkos.
That contrast made me think.
Chazal teach that the willow — the arava — has neither taste nor fragrance. It represents Jews who possess neither Torah scholarship nor meticulous mitzvah observance.
The Pesikta deRav Kahana (Piska 27) says something astonishing:
מה הערבה הזאת אין בה לא טעם ולא ריח, כך יש בישראל בני אדם שאינן לא בעלי תורה ולא בעלי מעשים טובים. אמר הקב״ה: לאבדן אי אפשר, אלא יעשו כולם אגודה אחת והם מכפרים אלו על אלו. לפיכך משה מזהיר את ישראל ואומר להם: “ולקחתם לכם”.
“Just as the arava has neither taste nor fragrance, so too among the Jewish people there are those who are not baalei Torah and possess no mitzvos. The Ribbono Shel Olam said: Since I cannot destroy them, I will bind them together as one agudah, and they will atone for one another. Therefore Moshe warned Klal Yisrael and said: ‘Velakachtem lachem…’”
Remarkable. It crossed the mind of the RBS"O to destroy these Jews — and instead He decided that the only way to save them was to keep them together.
Thankfully, I found another Midrash (Vayikra Rabbah 30) that offers an entirely different perspective:
פרי עץ הדר — זה הקב״ה…כפות תמרים — זה הקב״ה…ענף עץ עבות — זה הקב״ה…ערבי נחל — זה הקב״ה…
In this Midrash, all four minim are equal. Not one is more important than the other, and each “min” reflects an aspect of HaKadosh Baruch Hu Himself.
But Chazal add yet another layer.
In Chagigah (12b), they teach that the arava corresponds to the seventh heaven — the highest, holiest of all:
רַב יְהוּדָה: שְׁנֵי רְקִיעִים הֵן רֵישׁ לָקִישׁ אָמַר: שִׁבְעָה, וְאֵלּוּ הֵן: וִילוֹן, רָקִיעַ, שְׁחָקִים, זְבוּל, מָעוֹן, מָכוֹן, עֲרָבוֹת
ערבות...שֶׁבּוֹ צֶדֶק מִשְׁפָּט וּצְדָקָה, גִּנְזֵי חַיִּים וְגִנְזֵי שָׁלוֹם וְגִנְזֵי בְרָכָה, וְנִשְׁמָתָן שֶׁל צַדִּיקִים, וְרוּחוֹת וּנְשָׁמוֹת שֶׁעֲתִיד[וֹת] לְהִיבָּרְאוֹת, וְטַל שֶׁעָתִיד הַקָּדוֹשׁ בָּרוּךְ הוּא לְהַחֲיוֹת בּוֹ מֵתִים...... . שָׁם אוֹפַנִּים וּשְׂרָפִים וְחַיּוֹת הַקֹּדֶשׁ, וּמַלְאֲכֵי הַשָּׁרֵת,"וְכִסֵּא הַכָּבוֹד, מֶלֶךְ אֵל חַי רָם וְנִשָּׂא שׁוֹכֵן עֲלֵיהֶם בָּעֲרָבוֹת, שֶׁנֶּאֱמַר: ״סוֹלּוּ לָרוֹכֵב בָּעֲרָבוֹת בְּיָהּ שְׁמוֹ״
The throne of the Ribbono Shel Olam rests upon the seventh heaven, called aravos. That is why, on the holiest days, we describe Hashem as “רוכב ערבות” — the "One who rides upon the aravos."
There is no more fitting occasion than Sukkos — the holiday that gathers all Jews together — to speak about the arava, through which we learn to recognize that even those who have neither taste nor fragrance are just as important to Klall Yisrael than those represented by the Esrog!
Remember: a thousand esrogim cannot replace even one arava.
This message goes to the heart of Sukkos. Religious life can tempt us to create a hierarchy of Jewish worth. We naturally admire the “esrogim” — those whose Torah knowledge is deep, whose mitzvah observance is precise, whose lives radiate the fragrance of devotion. But admiration becomes dangerous when it leads us to believe that those who do not resemble an esrog are somehow dispensable.
They are not.
The arava has its own essential place in the service of the Ribbono Shel Olam. His throne rests upon the seventh heaven — arava. Remove the arava from the arba minim, and the mitzvah is incomplete.
It is easy to build community with those who look like us; it is far harder to recognize the holiness of those who do not.
The threats to the Jewish people do not come only from outside — they also arise from within. The moment one group of Jews begins to believe that another group is unnecessary, we endanger something fundamental about our nation.
The arba minim fulfill their purpose only when they are held together. So too with the Jewish people.
Sukkos teaches that participation need not create isolation, and religious conviction need not diminish those who are different from us. We need the esrog — with its Torah, its fragrance, and its beauty — but we also need the arava, because a thousand esrogim cannot replace even one arava.
Conversation between the head of Machon Shilo, Rabbi David Bar-Hayim & renowned physicist Dr. Jeremy England
This is absolutely 💯 brilliant!@graz25863
— Adi (@Adi13) September 24, 2026
"Tell me what you accuse the Jews of, and I tell you what you're guilty of"
Credit: Protect and Save Jews pic.twitter.com/9OaCbcuJdI
The percentage of ultra-Orthodox women diagnosed with breast cancer at a stage where their lives can no longer be saved is five times higher than that of non-ultra-Orthodox women.
This is a painful, sad, and bitter truth.
Despite these harsh statistics, there has never been an ultra-Orthodox MK who has taken action on this issue. Dozens of committees and discussions in the Knesset, but it didn't touch them.
This is my mission. This is what I will do.
אחוז הנשים החרדיות המאובחנות עם סרטן השד בשלב בו כבר לא ניתן להציל את חייהן - הוא פי חמישה מנשים שאינן חרדיות.
— נחומי יפה (@NechumiYaffe) September 24, 2026
זו אמת כואבת, עצובה ומרה.
למרות הנתונים הקשים הללו, מעולם לא היה ח״כ חרדי שפעל בנושא. עשרות ועדות ודיונים בכנסת, אבל זה לא נגע להם.
זו השליחות שלי. זה מה שאעשה. pic.twitter.com/prWQ3ogmqY
The crazed attacker who allegedly pummeled a rabbi in a random attack this week — minutes after he slugged another stranger pumping gas — was cut loose by a judge in both cases, prosecutors said Friday.
Eric Avrutov, 31, allegedly pummeled the 66-year-old Jewish leader and placed him in a headlock on Dahill Road near Cortelyou Road in Kensington around 9:30 p.m. Wednesday — breaking the victim’s shoulder and leaving him petrified, according to a criminal complaint and a member of his congregation.
But Avrutov was granted supervised release by Judge Edward Daniels — over prosecutors’ request that he be held on $10,000 cash bail or $20,000 bond, the Brooklyn District Attorney’s office said.
The attack was considered an unprovoked assault on a stranger — not motivated by hate, according to cops — but it was enough to rattle the rabbi before his community began the celebration of Sukkot.
“More than the physical injuries, he is struggling with the emotional trauma of the incident,” Avrumi Herbst, a member of the rabbi’s synagogue and a close personal confidant, said in an email. “This morning, he was further distressed when the DA’s office notified him that the suspect was released again.”
“I feel it is important to point out that the Rabbi is very resilient and accepts everything that has befallen him as the will of G-d, and he plans to officiate normally during the upcoming holiday, albeit with the physical limitations imposed on him by his shoulder injury,” Herbst added.
“Nevertheless he is concerned for his personal safety and the safety of his neighbors and the casual release of the perpetrator just added to that.”
Just minutes before the attack on the rabbi, Avrutov allegedly slugged another man, 60, on the side of the face as he pumped gas at the Shell station around the corner on Cortelyou Road, police said.
In that case, prosecutors asked for the same bail amount, but Judge Daniels again cut Avrutov loose on supervision.
The reasoning behind the judge’s decisions in both cases was not immediately clear.
Before the back-to-back Wednesday attacks, Avrutov had five previous arrests, police said.
He last found himself in cuffs when he allegedly punched a 23-year-old man and 22-year-old woman in the face at random at Brighton 12th Street and Brighton Beach Avenue around 11:30 a.m. Monday, police said.
But Judge Duane Frankson had no choice but to grant him supervised release because the top charge against him – misdemeanor assault – was not eligible for bail, according to the Brooklyn District Attorney’s Office.
Avrutov was also arrested on Sunday for allegedly showing up at his grandmother’s Brooklyn home in violation of an order of protection back in June, and charged with criminal contempt, prosecutors said.
Prosecutors asked that he be held on $2,500 cash bail or $5,000 bond, but Frankson again cut him loose on supervision, according to the DA’s office.
Avrutov’s record also includes a gun possession rap from 2024, one criminal trespass arrest and another bust for violating an order of protection, police said.
זו תורה וזו שכרה
They already know how to fight, so why not draft them so they can at least fight Arabs instead of Roshei Yeshiva?
Senior Roshei Yeshiva of Ponavezh have issued strongly worded letters supporting HaGaon HaRav Avrohom Moshe Fivelson, following an earlier letter from HaGaon HaRav Moshe Hillel Hirsch protesting the treatment of Rav Fivelson.
HaGaon HaRav Chaim Peretz Berman and HaGaon HaRav Dovid Miller each issued letters condemning what they described as violence, brazenness and bizayon haTorah directed against Rav Fivelson.
Rav Berman wrote of the pain over those who had “mocked you with violence and brazenness and degradation of the Torah,” while expressing support for Rav Fivelson amid the controversy.
Rav Miller issued an equally sharp warning against allowing physical intimidation to become an accepted means of settling disagreements within the Olam HaTorah, writing that a dangerous attitude was taking root of attempting to persuade others “with a wicked fist” and thereby silence the “Kol Yaakov.”
The letters come after Rav Moshe Hillel Hirsch, one of the senior leaders of the Lithuanian Torah world, issued his own public protest over the events surrounding Rav Fivelson.
The intervention of the Ponavezh Roshei Yeshiva adds significant weight to the growing protest within the Olam HaTorah, with the letters emphasizing that disagreements — regardless of their intensity — cannot justify violence, intimidation or degradation of talmidei chachamim.
