direction of waving lulav and Lipa Shmeltzer | Daily Halacha
Question
Shalom dear Rabbi, I have a (small) question that I was thinking about for a long time. There is a song by Lipa Shmeltzer called "Mizrach". In the song there is a chorus [Mirzrach Maariv Durem Zofen] or alternatively [Mizrach - Maariv - Lemala - Lemata - Durem - Zofen] and also [me arba kanfot (ha?)aretz] My question is if this sequence of directions could also be used in the waving of the arba minim. (the video can be seen at http://sparksnext.com/lipa-schmeltzer-mizrach/) Thank you very much. I hope it’s ok if I ask this question. I’ve simply thought about it for a long time :-) Thank you again and Chag Sameach
Answer
No, the two accepted ways are: 1. the regular poskim start with forwards (towards where you daven) and then go clockwise, then up and down (although some, like R. Yhoshua Moshe Aronson, Resp. Yshuoat Moshe, hold that you always start with east, no matter what direction you face, even if Jerusalem is south of where you are, and from there you go clockwise, etc.). 2. the kabbalists (including many sfaradim most Chassidim) go: south, north, east, up, down, west. It’s enough that there are two accepted (though different!) customs, and there’s no room to part with these two ancient traditions. If we’d reform traditions so easily, we wouldn’t be around today! (I'm sure that Lipa himself would agree...). Chag Same’ach! Rav Ari Shvat
