How do I hold and shake the lulav and etrog?

Here's what you need to know

Holding and shaking the four species (arba minim: lulav, etrog, hadassim, aravot) follows a set sequence, but the exact order of directions for the shaking (na'anuim) varies by community.

The specific rule is

Hold the lulav bundle (with the hadassim, myrtle, and aravot, willow, bound to it) in your right hand, with the heads of the branches up and the bases down, and hold the etrog in your left hand. If you are left-handed, follow your own community's practice or ask your rabbi, because the sources record two positions on this and it is not simply the mirror image of the right-handed case. The blessing has to come before the mitzvah is complete, so say 'al netilat lulav' (adding Shehecheyanu the first time you take them that year) either before you pick the etrog up at all, or while holding it with its pitom (the small stem tip) pointing down. Then turn the etrog upright, bring your two hands together so that the lulav and etrog touch, and shake the species at the points where your congregation shakes during Hallel, in the order of directions your community follows.

Step by step

• Take the lulav bundle in your right hand, with the heads of the branches pointing up and the bases down.
• Take the etrog in your left hand. If you are left-handed, follow your family's practice or ask your rabbi, because the sources record two different positions on which hand holds which.
• Recite the blessing 'Baruch atah Hashem... al netilat lulav,' adding Shehecheyanu the first time you take the four species that year.
• Keep the blessing ahead of the act: either leave the etrog where it is until you have finished blessing, or hold it with the pitom pointing downward until then.
• Turn the etrog upright and bring your two hands together so that the lulav and etrog touch.
• Shake once as you say the blessing, and then at the points in Hallel where your congregation shakes, which are 'Hodu l'Hashem' at the beginning and again at the end, and 'Ana Hashem hoshia na.'
• Move the species out and back three times in each direction, through the four sides plus up and down, in the sequence your community uses; if you do not know it, follow your siddur or ask your rabbi.

Background

The blessing has to come before the mitzvah is complete, and picking up all four species right-side-up together is itself the 'taking' (netilah) that completes it. The sources therefore give two ways to keep the order right: do not pick the etrog up at all until the blessing is said, or pick it up inverted, with the pitom pointing down, so that the taking is not yet finished. Turning it upright after the blessing is what completes the act.

The order of the six directions genuinely differs from one community to the next, and that is why this page does not hand you a single sequence. One order given in the classical codes cycles to the right, through east, south, west and north, and then up and down; other communities follow a kabbalistic arrangement of the same six directions. The shared idea behind every version is that the four species are pointed to every direction, since God's presence fills all of them. Follow the order your siddur prints or your community uses, and ask your rabbi if you are not sure which that is. It is also worth knowing that the sources treat the shakes as not strictly indispensable: however a person shook, the obligation is fulfilled after the fact.

Which hand holds which is a real difference of practice rather than a settled detail. A right-handed person holds the lulav in the right hand and the etrog in the left, and that much is not disputed. For a left-handed person the sources record two positions: one that he still holds the lulav in the same hand everyone else does, and one that the lulav belongs in his dominant hand, which is his left. That is worth asking about rather than working out from first principles, though the sources add that someone who switched them has still fulfilled the obligation. If a physical limitation makes holding both together difficult, that is also a question for a rabbi.

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