Here’s an image of the Lubavitcher Rebbe benching his lulav and etrog.
Nancy commented, when she saw this image, how his eyes always look directly at you in all his pictures.
The etrog is upside down, which I thought meant the Rebbe is about to make the blessing, but reader JK was quick to correct me (from his iPhone) that the Rebbe never turned the etrog upside down and didn’t bench in shul. He also added: “Get things right before writing to thousands.”
I was impressed by the lavish assortment of hadassim and aravot in his lulav bunch. Why haven’t I thought about it before? All these years I’ve been carefully counting them out, three of this, two of that – when I could have this big, fluffy hedge of a lulav.
This morning I plan to take my spare branches and add them to the ones that have so far survived the daily benching, see what that looks like.
Chag Same’ach!