Siman 651 – Binding the minim and saying the beracha

וChelek 6

96. Your bundle should include 1 lulav, 2 aravos, and 3 haddasim. If you can’t find more than 1 haddas, it’s enough as long as the top of that one is not clipped off. If the top is clipped off, still take it for the mitzva, but without a beracha. (ShA 1 – MB 5, 6)
97. After the first day of Sukos, there is room to be maykil and use just 1 haddas even if you can get more from other people. (MB 5)
98. It is a hiddur mitzvah to tie the bundle together using a double knot. A bow does not suffice for this. A mini basket made of woven lulav fronds is acceptable when you stick the species together inside. (MB 7, 8)
99. The string that ties the minim together may be of a different material than the minim. The string is not a chatzitza since it’s there to beautify the bundle. (ShA 1 – MB 9)
100. Sometimes leaves from the bundle become detached and are still tied into the bundle. There is no worry of chatzitza since it is of the same material. (ShA 1)
101. You aren’t allowed to make a double knot on Yom Tov. If you need to bind the species on Yom Tov either make a bow or wrap something around them and then tuck it in. (ShA 1)
102. Tie the haddasim to the right of the lulav and the aravos to the left. The haddasim should be a little higher than the aravos. This seder applies to the bundle of a lefty as well. (Rama 1 – MB 12)
103. When you say the beracha, your hand should be grasping all 3 species in the bundle. Therefore lower the place that they are tied to where your hand will be holding them. (Rama 1)
104. Bind the lulav in 3 places. The Elya Rabba seems to indicate that these 3 are besides for the fourth place that the species are bound together. Leave the top tefach of the lulav unbound, so that the leaves are loose enough to rustle. (Rama 1 – MB 14)
105. Since the bundle has the majority of the minim, take it up in your right hand with the tops pointing upwards. The esrog will be taken in your left hand. (ShA 2 – MB 15)
106. The minim must be taken the way they grow – tops up, cut stems pointing down. This is true of the esrog as well – even though as the fruit grows in weight, it tends to bend downwards. (ShA 2 – MB 17)
107. Picking up the minim horizontally also does not suffice. (MB 16)
108. The minhag Ashkenaz for a lefty, is to hold the bundle in your left hand and the esrog in your right. Whether you are left-handed or right handed, if you switched the species to the wrong hands you are still yotzay. But some poskim are machmir to retake the minim without a beracha. (Rama 3 – MB 19)
109. If both of your hands are equally dexterous, take the bundle in your right hand. However, if in general it is easier for you to use your left, you are a lefty for these halachos. (Rama 3 – MB 20)
110. Stand while taking the minim, and for the beracha. (Rama 5 – MB 27)
111. Berachos on mitzvos must be recited “oiver la’asiason”. For the mitzva of Arba Minim, the following methods are suggested:
     1. Lift the bundle, say the beracha, then lift the esrog. As long as you have not yet lifted the esrog, you haven’t fulfilled the mitzva at all. (ShA 5 – MB 24)
     2. Lift the bundle, lift the esrog upside-down, say the beracha, then flip the esrog upright. As long as the esrog is upside-down you aren’t yotzay. (ShA 5 – MB 25)
     3. Lift all of the minim upright having in mind not to fulfil the mitzva until after the beracha. The Gr”a writes that this is the most preferred method. (MB 25)
112. If you forgot to say the beracha before you took up the minim, you can still say the beracha afterwards because the waving is also part of the mitzva. (The Gr”a holds you can say the beracha even after the waving.) (MB 26 – ShaH 32)
113. On the first day of doing this mitzva, add the beracha Shehecheyanu before fulfilling the mitzva. If you forgot, you can still say Shehecheyanu even on the seventh day when you go to take the minim. (ShA 5 – MB 29)
114. If you deposit the 4 minim into a container and lift the container, you aren’t yotzay. (ShA 7)
115. There is a minhag to remove the tefillin and/or rings from your hand before taking the Arba Minim. They may be a chatzitza. Some poskim hold this is more than just a minhag – it is ikar hadin. Therefore if you took up the minim wearing a ring, remove the ring and take them up again without a beracha. (Rama 7 – MB 36)
116. In the name of the Ari z”l it is written to recite the beracha on the Arba Minim inside a suka and then come to shul to do the other wavings. (MB 34)
117. Wave the minim at the time of the beracha. (ShA 8)
118. If you obtain a lulav in the middle of Hallel, you may say the beracha in between paragraphs. (MB 41)
119. There are 3 scenarios for waving during Hallel:
     1. If you are daavening alone – wave at the first “Hodu” and twice at the last “Hodu” because you double it. And likewise twice at “Ana Hashem hoshia noh”.
     2. If you are daavening with the tzibbur – wave at the first “Hodu” four times for the four responses. Wave twice at the last “Hodu” and twice at “Ana Hashem hoshia noh”.
     3. If you are the chazzan – wave once at the first “Hodu” and once at “Yomar noh…”. Wave twice at the last “Hodu” and twice at “Ana Hashem hoshia noh”. (ShA 8 – MB 39, 41)
120. Since you will wave to 6 sides, divide the six words of Hodu – one word per direction. Divide them evenly for “Ana Hashem…” as well. We don’t wave upon reciting “Hashem”, so the words are an even amount. (MB 37)
121. Stand with your feet planted and face East during the waving. At each wave, bring the bottom of the lulav opposite your chest. When waving the lulav to the West (behind you), lift it over your shoulder and point the top of the lulav to behind you. (MB 37)
122. Begin waving the minim to the East. While holding and lightly shaking the minim, extend your arms and then bring them back close to your chest. Do this 3 times. Then do the same 3 extensions towards the South and then over your shoulder towards the West and then towards the North. The tip of the lulav can be leaning towards the direction of the wave and still counted as “the way they grow”. (ShA 10 – Rama 9 – MB 43, 44, 45, 47)
123. After waving the minim to the four directions, wave them 3 times upwards and then downwards. When waving them downwards, do not invert the minim to point the tips downwards because some poskim hold that it should be “derech gedilasan” now as well. (MB 45, 46)
124. Waving in the four directions will abate harmful winds. Waving upwards and downwards will abate harmful dew. (BeH “may’arba”)
125. When waving the minim, bring the esrog close and connect it to the lulav bundle. This practice is not essential for fulfilling the mitzva. Once you lift the minim you are yotzay, even if you never do the wavings at all. (ShA 11 – MB 49)
126. If you are missing one of the 4 species, you won’t be yotzay just with the other 3. You should take the 3 anyhow without a beracha and with kavana that you aren’t fulfilling the mitzva. It’s just a “zecher”. (ShA 12 – BeH “avol”)
127. Since we pasken that tying the minim is only a hiddur, theoretically, you would fulfil the mitzva by picking up the minim one after the other, consecutively. As a result, the following halacha emerges: Let’s say you said the beracha “…al netillas lulav” and afterward realized your haddasim, aravos or esrog were upside-down. Quickly rearrange the upside down specie and recite another beracha on it. (It’s best to take all 4 again in your hands.) If it was the arava say “…al netillas arava”. If it was a haddas say “…al netillas anaf aytz avos”. But the beracha on the lulav you were yotzay on already. And if this occurs on the first day, you will also repeat a Shehecheyanu on that specie. (ShA 12 – MB 56)
128. The same halacha would apply if you realize that a specie is possul and you have a kasher replacement in the same building (so there will be no hefsek). Quickly replace the possul specie and recite another beracha on it alone, while holding all 4 in your hands. (MB 56)
129. If you don’t have a kasher replacement readily available – it’s considered that you didn’t fulfil the mitzva at all, even on the kasher ones. So when you get the replacement, you need to repeat the beracha “…al netillas lulav” on all 4 of the minim. (Plus Shehecheyanu, if it was the first day.) (MB 56)
130. When doing this mitzva, take only one lulav and one esrog. People who are particular do not add more than 2 aravos and 3 haddasim either. Seven items is kabbalistic. However, if you are concerned about the kashrus of your aravos and/or haddasim, you can take more than the minimum. (ShA 14 – BeH “v’hamidakdkim”)