It’s the day after, we are tired. The Sukkah is put away (I hope). We survived Tishrei, barely. And for the first time in a month, we’ll have a regular work week . But what to do with the arba minim? You can use the esrog for besamim, jam, or liquor. You can save the hadasim for besamim too, and you already beat the aravos to death. But that poor lulav, what will be its fate? Everyone knows that you are not allowed to throw it in the garbage, that would be a huge bizayon to this chayfetz of mitzvah.
Here are the options I know about that solve this annual dilemma.
- Save it for 6 months and burn it in the chametz. That’s what many people do. These are the same people who eat shmura matzah in the Sukkah. Strange minhagim, but I kinda like the idea of connecting these holidays.
- Take it to shul and put it on top of the Aron. Let someone else take care of it and live with the mystery about what they actually do.
- Take it to shul and leave it in the coat room. Same deal.
- Remove all the leaves and weave an intricate basket to hold your esrog next year. I’ve always wanted to do this but could never figure out how to weave those damn leaves.
- Weave them into a straw hat and wear it on purim. But same problem, I can’t weave.
What do I do? I throw it in the dumpster outside the shul along with all the other ones the gabbai finds in the coatroom and dumps there too. But I feel really guilty about doing this, so I guess that makes up for it. Give me another option in the comments, I’d love to do better than the dumpster.
Find more ways to secretly hide your lulav on page 2 of the search results using 4Torah.com
Dumpster – wtf? They don’t recycle yard waste where you live? Send it back to the earth.
Excellent idea. Old mezuzahs and Sefer Torahs get returned to the ground. I suppose keeping it and selling it to a Catholic for Palm Sunday would just be wrong
That’s a good idea, but it might be moldy by then.
But then they nail it up by their beds, and burn it the next year on Ash Wednesday. Idolatry at its finest!
Keep it in the fridg with the hadassim for next year…
There are people that save it till peasach time and use it for/with the fire wood for shmura hand matzos
I don’t know how to weave either, but i met a kid in my neighborhood collecting used lulavim to weave into koishkelach (those sleeves for the hadassim and aravot that are surprisingly easy to trap your fingers in)…
If you forget to take it out on pesach you get another chance to burn it on lag ba’omer.
yep, that’s what those little loops are made from.
Ooh, you could make and sell finger traps!
And just to clarify- the halacha is that you are allowed to throw away lulavim. same goes for your shofar, same for tzitzit, same for your wife’s wedding ring (not recommended…), same for the beggar you gave a dollar to last week (does he count as a cheftza d’mitzva?).
You are allowed to throw away objects used for mitzvot ASIDE FROM “tashmishei kedusha”. As I understand it, “tashmishei kedusha” refers to anything associated with something from Scripture written on klaf for a mitzva. This basically covers mezuzot, tefillin (including the straps and batim), sifrei torah (including atzei chayim, covers, etc), and megillot. Correct me if I’m wrong…
I didn’t look it up, but from what I remember you CAN throw away an item that was used for a Mitzva (such as luluv or tzitizit), but should not do it in a disrespectful manner. I.e., instead of just throwing it in the dumpster, it should be wrapped and placed carefully in the dumpster.
And re tzitzit, that just goes for the strings. You can cut them off & dispose respectfully (some use them for bookmarks), but you can use the garment for rags if you want.
How sturdy are they? Can they be used for some old school New York-style stickball (lulavball?)?
What about marching around with it like it’s a rifle?
Become a Lulav Monster!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0Zi5wENlwps
I’ve also heard the suggestion of saving it and then giving it to a Christian or donating it to a church to use for Palm Sunday.
Pretty sure that would be assur according to just about every (Ortho) halachic opinion.
Yes indeed
I just left it in shul on hoshana rabbah so someone wiser than I could decide.
I don’t know about lulav, but there’s no need for kiklopt hoshanos.