6. If a stain spread over the greater part (of the citron), if it have lost its crown, or its rind be peeled off, or if it be split, or bored, or if ever so little be wanting, it is disallowed. If a stain be spread over the smaller part of it, if it have lost its stalk, or if it be bored so that no part however small be wanting, it is allowed. A dusky citron is disallowed. A leek green one R. Meier “allows,” but R. Judah “disallows it.”
7. “What is the (legal) size of a small citron?” R. Meier says “like a nut.” R. Judah says “like an egg.” “And of a large citron?” “That one can hold two in his hand,” the words of R. Judah. But R. José says, “One if (it must be held) in two hands.”
8. “They must only tie the palm-branch with its own kind,” the words of R. Judah. But R. Meier says, “even with twine.” R. Meier said, “it happened that the men of Jerusalem tied their palm-branches with gold thread.” The Sages said to him, “underneath they tied them with their own kind.”
9. “When did they shake the palm-branch?” At the beginning and ending of “Oh, give thanks unto the Lord,”[254] and at “Save now, I beseech Thee, O Lord,”[255] the words of the school of Hillel. But the school of Shammai say, “also at ‘O Lord, I beseech Thee,’ send now prosperity.”[256] R. Akivah said, “I watched Rabban Gamaliel and R. Joshua; and when all the people shook their palm-branches, they only shook theirs at ‘Save now, I beseech Thee.’ ” If one be on the road, and have no palm-branch with him, he must, when he gets home, shake it at his table. If he have not done it in the morning, he must do it toward evening, as the whole day is allowed for the palm-branch.
10. If the hymns[257] be read to a man by a slave, or a woman, or a child,[258] he must repeat after them what they read, but it is a disgrace[259] to him. If a grown-up man read it to him, he must repeat after him, Hallelujah.
11. In a place where it is the custom to repeat,[260] a man must repeat; to simply read, a man must simply read; to bless after the palm-branch, a man must bless. In every case according to the custom of the country. If a person buy a [pg 130] palm-branch from his neighbor during the Sabbatical year, he must give him a citron as a gift, for it is not permitted to buy a citron during the Sabbatical year.
12. At first the palm-branch was used in the Sanctuary seven days, and in the country one day. But after the Sanctuary was destroyed, R. Jochanan, the son of Zachai, decreed, “that in the country the palm-branch should be used seven days, in memory of the Sanctuary.” He at the same time also decreed, “that on the day of the wave-sheaf[261] it should be unlawful to eat new grain.”
13. If the first day of the feast fall on a Sabbath, all the people are to bring their palm-branches (beforehand) to the Synagogue. In the morning they come early, and each man must distinguish his own palm-branch, and take it, for the Sages say, “that a man cannot discharge his duty on the first day of the feast by means of his neighbor's palm-branch, but on the other days of the feast he may discharge his duty by means of his neighbor's palm-branch.”
14. R. José says, “if the first day of the feast fall on the Sabbath, and a man forget, and carry his palm-branch out on the public common, he is absolved, because he carried it out with permission.”[262]
15. A woman may receive the palm-branch from the hand of her son, or of her husband, and put it back into water on the Sabbath. R. Judah says, “on the Sabbath they may put it back; on the feast they may add water; and on the middle days they may change the water.” A child who knows how to shake, is bound to shake the palm-branch.