מקבלת אשה מיד בנה ומיד בעלה ומחזירתו למים בשבת. רבי יהודה אומר: בשבת מחזירין, ביום טוב מוסיפין, ובמועד מחליפין.
A woman may take [the lulav] from the hand of her son or from the hand of her husband and put it back in water on Shabbat. Rabbi Yehudah ruled: On Shabbat it may be put back [into the water in which it was previously kept], on a festival day [water] may be added, and on the intermediate days [of the festival water] may [also] be changed.
General observations
The mishnah discusses waving the lulav when the first day of Sukkot occurs on Shabbat. mSuk 4:1 states: לולב וערבה ששה ושבעה ([The ceremonies of] the lulav and the willow [continue for] six or seven[days]). The next mishnah clarifies this further:
לולב שבעה כיצד? יום טוב הראשון שלחג שחל להיות בשבת, לולב שבעה, ושאר כל הימים, ששה.
[When] the ceremonies of the lulav [continued for] seven [days], how is this? If the first day of the festival fell on Shabbat, the lulav [is carried for] seven days; but [if it fell] on any other day, [it is carried only] for six.
Likewise, the following mishnah states:
ערבה שבעה, אם יום השביעי של ערבה חל בשבת.
The willow [is carried for] seven [days], if the seventh day of [the ceremonies of] the willow fell on Shabbat.
As a further clarification the Tosefta states:
לולב דוחה את השבת בתחילתו וערבה בסופו.
The [rite of the] lulav overrides [the prohibitions of] Shabbat at [the festival’s] beginning and the [rite of the] willow at the end.
Thus, if the first day of Sukkot occurs on Shabbat, then the prohibition against carrying on it does not apply to the lulav. Our mishnah states that even a woman, who is not obligated to wave the lulav, may carry it on Shabbat in order to put it back in the water where it was placed on the previous evening, so that it will not wither or lose its shape.[1]
[1] Ha-Meiri, Bet HaBehira to mSuk 3:15 writes: “And this is the halakhah. And in our time, when the lulav is not waved on Shabbat, if a person took the lulav out of the water it is forbidden to return it to the water. And simultaneously we now judge men like women since now it is improper both for men and for women [to return the lulav to the water].”
Feminist observations
The above halakhah concerning women and lulav provides an interesting piece of evidence regarding family life in antiquity. The reality discussed in the mishnah was probably the result of a development dating back to as early as the Second Temple period, as the following mishnah indicates:
מצות לולב כיצד? יום טוב הראשון שלחג שחל להיות בשבת, מוליכין את לולביהן להר הבית והחזנין מקבלין מהן וסודרין אותן על גב האצטבא, והזקנים מניחין את שלהן בלשכה. ומלמדים אותם לומר: כל מי שמגיע לולבי בידו הרי הוא לו במתנה. למחר, משכימין ובאין והחזנין מזרקים אותם לפניהם והם מחטפים ומכין איש את חברו. וכשראו בית דין שבאו לידי סכנה, התקינו שיהא כל אחד ואחד נוטל בביתו.
How was [the ceremony of] the lulav carried out? If the first day of the festival fell on Shabbat, they brought their lulavim to the Temple Mount, and the attendants received them and arranged them in order upon the portico, while the elders laid theirs in the chamber. And the people were instructed to say: Whoever gets my lulav in his hand, let it be his as a gift. On the morrow they arose betimes and came [to the Temple Mount] and the attendants threw down [their lulavim] before them, and they snatched at them, and so they used to come to blows with one another. When the court (bet din), however, saw that they reached a state of danger, they instituted that each man should wave [his lulav] in his own home.
According to this source, the above halakhah relating to women and lulav dates back to the Second Temple period, when the amendment that one should wave the lulav at home was instituted.
According to Tal Ilan,[1] the mishnah discussed here (like others) testifies to the fact that although during the Second Temple period women probably participated in the fulfillment of timebound commandments connected to the Temple, including that of lulav, with the destruction of the Temple their participation in these commandments ceased, and once they ceased to fulfill the ritual commandments they were allowed to profane the Shabbat on account of the lulav in order to prevent their husbands from profaning it.
Although the mishnah here places women in an enabling role vis-à-vis their husbands, unlike Ilan, I believe that this halakhah testifies to a family life where the woman actively participated in rituals, such as those connected to the lulav. Although women were not obligated to fulfill the commandment of waving, and they did not actually participate in the ceremony associated with it, nonetheless they were not completely removed from playing an auxiliary role to the men in the family. In my opinion, this mishnah, together with mSuk 3:10[2] which states that a woman may recite the Hallel prayer while waving the lulav and the husband repeats what she says, demonstrates that although women were not obligated to wave the lulav, they were nevertheless active partners in implementing tasks connected to it.
According to Tal Ilan,[1] the mishnah discussed here (like others) testifies to the fact that although during the Second Temple period women probably participated in the fulfillment of timebound commandments connected to the Temple, including that of lulav, with the destruction of the Temple their participation in these commandments ceased, and once they ceased to fulfill the ritual commandments they were allowed to profane the Shabbat on account of the lulav in order to prevent their husbands from profaning it.
Although the mishnah here places women in an enabling role vis-à-vis their husbands, unlike Ilan, I believe that this halakhah testifies to a family life where the woman actively participated in rituals, such as those connected to the lulav. Although women were not obligated to fulfill the commandment of waving, and they did not actually participate in the ceremony associated with it, nonetheless they were not completely removed from playing an auxiliary role to the men in the family. In my opinion, this mishnah, together with mSuk 3:10[2] which states that a woman may recite the Hallel prayer while waving the lulav and the husband repeats what she says, demonstrates that although women were not obligated to wave the lulav, they were nevertheless active partners in implementing tasks connected to it.