Halachic Musings
By Rabbi Yair Hoffman
“Psst . . . Hey, Buddy, wanna buy some arba minim? I got lulavs, esrogs, and some good hadassim for you.”
The hadas, or myrtle, is a woody evergreen plant with essential oils that is indigenous to the Mediterranean area. But watch out! Many know that the nickname for iron pyrite is “fool’s gold.” Few people, however, know that there are non-kosher hadassim out there called “fool’s hadassim,” or “hadas shoteh.”
There is a scandal having to do with hadassim that has not been adequately addressed. When “photocopied mezuzos” were being sold at Jewish sefarim stores and Judaica shops, the sofrim and rabbanim got together and pulled the plug on it. When falsified kosher certifications were printed on non-kosher cheese in Canada this past summer, the Canadian authorities were able to find it and stop it. Yet, for some reason, the scam involving non-triple-leaved hadassim has never been fully revealed or addressed.
The Problem
What is the hadassim scam? It is a fact that is only whispered among talmidei chachamim, but very many of the hadassim that are sold are not kosher—and never were. Most of the hadassim being sold are unkosher because they do not fit the halachic requirement of meshulashim—three leaves emerging from the same circumference of the twig.
The Gemara in Sukkah 32b explains that the word “avos” used to describe the hadas plant means that the leaves are braided. In order for something to be considered braided, three strands are required.
Judaica stores that sell the hadassim (and of late the makeshift street-corner arba’ah minim dealers) should inform the consumer that the majority of hadassim are actually non-kosher—or they should stop selling the problematic ones altogether.
Several Violations
There are three or four areas in which halachah is being violated by the sale of these non-kosher hadassim. First, the people who are innocently buying the arba’ah minim with hadassim that are pasul are not fulfilling the mitzvah of arba’ah minim. They could be spending $150 on an esrog only to find that they did not fulfill the mitzvah at all since the hadassim were pasul.
The second violation is that of berachah levatalah. Those people with hadassim that are not meshulash are reciting blessings incorrectly.
The third violation is that of lifnei iver—putting a stumbling block before the blind.
And finally, the fourth possible violation: Many Rishonim are of the opinion that a non-triple-leaved hadas is actually considered a different halachic genus. If that is the case, then there is also a violation of bal tosif—the prohibition of adding to the Torah. This violation would even be violated if someone had merely added one extra hadas to three fully kosher ones. Other Rishonim hold that the violation involved in using a hadas shoteh—fool’s hadas—is not that it’s a different halachic species or genus, but that it is not hadar, beautiful.
How is it possible that the fool’s hadas is considered a different genus? The Mishnas Yaavetz explains that it is possible for two different genera to emerge from the same parent. There is also the idea that sometimes a male offspring is permitted while a female offspring would be forbidden.
Defining Meshulash
Nearby is an illustration drawn by the author of three types of hadassim leaves that come together. There are three levels of leaves in the illustration. Level (b) is considered meshulash according to all Rishonim (see Tur 646). Level (a) is considered meshulash according to some Rishonim (Tosfos Sukkah 32b “t’lasa”). Level (c) is completely non-kosher.
The Ran’s opinion is that the entire hadas must be meshulash. Ideally, the Shaar HaTziyun says, we should follow this view. However, the Shulchan Aruch 646:5 states that if the majority of the hadas is meshulash, the hadas is kosher b’dieved. According to the simple understanding of this halachah, the hadas must be 3 tefachim (handbreadths) in length, and the majority of the hadas—which must be greater than 1.5 tefachim—must be meshulash.
In practical terms, according to Rav Moshe Feinstein, zt’l, there must be 5.4 inches of meshulash hadas. According to the Chazon Ish, there must be 6 inches. And according to Rav Chaim Na’eh, zt’l, there must be 5 inches.
How To Measure
The Meshulash Portions
The ruling of the Acharonim is that the area that is meshulash does not need to be consecutive, as long as it constitutes the majority of the total hadas (see PMG MZ 646:9 and Shulchan Aruch HaRav #3). Some Acharonim even imply that it is kosher even if the hadas is bigger than 3 tefachim and the meshulash area is only slightly more than 1.5 tefachim (see Bikkurei Yaakov #14). The Mishnah Berurah is concerned, however, for the first view.
We mentioned above that according to the simple understanding of the halachah, one would need to have more than 1.5 tefachim of meshulash for the hadas to be kosher. This is the way the Chazon Ish indicates that the halachah may be. There is, however, a possibility that we do not calculate meshulash by mere distance, but rather by the number of leaf levels. That’s right—when it says majority of the hadas, it could mean that out of 29 leaf levels, only 15 of them need to be meshulash, and since the leaf levels are shorter and thus more numerous toward the top of the hadas, maybe we have a majority of leaf levels.
The Shulchan Aruch HaRav clearly implies that a majority of the number of leaf levels is how we calculate the requirement of meshulash. Those that follow Lubavitch custom can calculate by the number of leaf levels. If you happen to have purchased a semi-problematic set of hadassim, then ask your rav.
There are other halachos that may render a hadas invalid, such as the top wood missing or if it is too dried out and withered. There is even a problem of a grafted hadas, if one knows clearly that it was grafted. This article has dealt solely with the concept of meshulash.
The author can be reached at Yairhoffman2@gmail.com.
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