Other Interpretations
The mitzvah is derived from the Book of Leviticus (23:40): "And you shall take for yourselves on the first day, the fruit of the hadar tree, date palm fronds, a branch of a braided tree, and willows of the brook, and you shall rejoice before the Lord your God for a seven day period." The verse clearly indicates that one is to rejoice with the four species. Two verses later, the Torah states, "For a seven day period you shall live in booths. Every resident among the Israelites shall live in booths." The Karaites, have interpreted these two verses as saying that the four species were meant for building the sukkah, based upon Neh. 8:14-18.
14 And they found written in the Law, how that the LORD had commanded by Moses, that the children of Israel should dwell in booths in the feast of the seventh month; 15 and that they should publish and proclaim in all their cities, and in Jerusalem, saying: 'Go forth unto the mount, and fetch olive branches, and branches of wild olive, and myrtle branches, and palm branches, and branches of thick trees, to make booths, as it is written.' 16 So the people went forth, and brought them, and made themselves booths, every one upon the roof of his house, and in their courts, and in the courts of the house of God, and in the broad place of the water gate, and in the broad place of the gate of Ephraim. 17 And all the congregation of them that were come back out of the captivity made booths, and dwelt in the booths; for since the days of Joshua the son of Nun unto that day had not the children of Israel done so. And there was very great gladness.
The passage states that it is "written in the Law" to build sukkot and that this commandment should be published and proclaimed to the people to go to the mountains to get palm branches, olive leaves, pine needles, myrtle leaves, and other forms of vegetation with which to build the sukkot. The only verse in the Torah that mentions some of these species is Lev. 23:40, which, according to some Jews such as Karaites, indicates that Ezra's scribes interpreted that verse as referring to building materials for the sukkah, not waving the four species. Yeshiva University Jewish Studies Professor and Hebrew Bible authority Lawrence Schiffman interprets the passage the same way. He writes,
One of the earliest examples of midrashic exegesis was the manner in which Lev. 23:40-42 was interpreted by the book of Ezra. The interpretation proposed here was rejected by Jewish tradition, which saw Lev. 23:40 as referring to the taking of the lulav and etrog, not to the building of the sukkah.
Schiffman believes the passage in Nehemiah is a midrashic interpretation of Lev. 23:40, as do the Karaites. However, his view is that this interpretation was eventually rejected by "Jewish tradition," i.e., majority practice, in favor of the Talmudic interpretation of Lev. 23:40 as referring to waving the Four Species.
Non-karaite Jews hold the verse in Nehemiah cannot be referring to Lev. 23:40, since the language in Nehemiah has some differences from that verse. The pri eitz hadar (fruit of a beautiful tree) and the willow branches are omitted and two species of olive branches are added. It remains unclear according to this interpretation where exactly the scribes in Nehemiah's day "found written in the law" that the Sukkah should be taken from the described species, as no such commandment appears in the books of Moses or anywhere else in the Hebrew Bible.
The fact that the passage in Nehemiah states that the scribes "found" this commandment written in the Law of Moses suggests that it was previously unknown. Furthermore, v. 17 states that the public had not built Sukkot en masse since the days of Joshua (~700 years earlier). Based on this, the blogger "Samurai Scientist" suggests that the tradition of what Lev. 23:40 referred to had been lost, resulting in alternative interpretations referring to construction materials for the sukkot or waving the four species. However, comparable language is used in the Book of Chronicles describing the celebration of the Passover. In II Chronicles 30:26 it states that such a Passover had not taken place from the time of King Solomon until the time of King Hezekiah. Similarly, in II Chronicles 35:18, describing the Pesach performed in the time of King Josiah, it states, "Such a Pesach had not been celebrated since the days of Samuel the Prophet." If such language meant that Passover hadn't been celebrated at all, or even correctly, these passages would conflict. Thus, some commentators have suggested that the true meaning of these passages is that the festivals had not been celebrated with such enthusiasm since those earlier days .
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