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The Midrash sees the Four Species as embodiments of four types of people in various stages of commitment to Torah, the willow being on the lowest (no scent and no taste—no Torah knowledge and no good deeds).
On a deeper level, though, each of the four species studies Torah and fulfills mitzvahs. The difference between them lies in the extent of their emotional and intellectual attachment to their experience. The Lulav person, for example, experiences Torah and mitzvahs intellectually but not emotionally, while the willow person lacks both the intellectual and emotional experience. He fulfills Torah and mitzvahs on simple faith alone.
So in a sense, his observance is superior to the experience of the others, since it mirrors the simplicity of the essence of G-d. Without the interference of mind and heart, the simple person’s essential connection to G-d is apparent. Although every soul has this connection, it is often obscured by the human interface.
Because the willow reflects the essence of the soul unadorned, its expression of unity surpasses that of the other four species. Whereas the other kinds embody a self-contained unity—the leaves of each lulav, for example, are tied and united, but one lulav does not unite with another—the unity of the willow is expressed in the fact that it grows closely together with other willows.
How’s that?
Source: Likutei Sichot, vol. 29, pp. 223-5.
ADD A COMMENT
With all due respect, will you please help me understand the way to understand this?
I always thought that faith brings people to intellectual and emotional experiences and not the other way around.
Will you please comment on this?
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