A stolen lulav or a dry one is invalid.  [One] from an asherah or from a city that was led astray is invalid.  If its top was broken off, [or] its leaves severed, it is invalid.  If its leaves spread apart, it is valid. R’ Yehudah says: He should tie them together at the top.  The thorn palms of the Iron Mountain are valid.  A lulav that is three handbreadths long, [long] enough to wave, is valid.

A stolen myrtle twig or a dry one is invalid.  [One] from an asherah or from a city that was led astray is invalid.  If its top was broken off, [or] its leaves were severed, or its berries outnumbered its leaves, it is invalid.  If he decreased them it is valid, but we may not decrease them on Yom Tov.

A stolen willow twig or a dry one is invalid.  [One] from an asherah or from a city that was led astray is invalid.  If its top was broken off, [or] its leaves were severed, or [it is] a tzaftzafah, it is invalid.  [One whose leaves are] wilted, or part of its leaves have fallen off, or [one] from a field, is valid.

R’ Yishmael says: Three myrtle twigs, two willow twigs, one lulav, and one esrog [are required]; even if two are broken off and one is not broken off. R’ Tarfon says: Even if all three are broken off.  R’ Akiva says: Just as there is one lulav and one esrog, so [there is] one myrtle twig and one willow twig.

A stolen esrog or a dry one is invalid.  [One] from an asherah or from a city that was led astray is invalid.  [One] of orlah is invalid.  [One] of contaminated terumah is invalid. [If it is] of pure terumah he should not use it, but if he used it, it is valid.  [If it is] of demai, Beis Shammai invalidate it, and Beis Hillel validate it.  If it is of maaser sheni in Jerusalem, he should not use it, but if he used it, it is valid.

If a scab-like boil grew on most of it, [or] its pitam was removed, [or] it was peeled, [or] it was split, [or] it was punctured and is missing a slight portion, it is invalid.  If a boil covered a minority of it, [or] its stem was removed, [or] it was punctured and nothing was missing, it is valid.  An Ethiopian esrog is invalid.  If one is green as a leek, R’ Meir validates it, but R’ Yehudah invalidates it.

The minimum size of an esrog —- R’ Meir says: Like a nut. R’ Yehudah says: Like an egg.  And the maximum —- so that he can hold two [esrogim] in one hand; these are the words of R’ Yehudah. R’ Yose says: Even one [that must be held] in both hands.

We do not bind the lulav except with its own kind; these are the words of R’ Yehudah. R’ Meir says: Even with cord.  R’ Meir said: It happened that the men of Jerusalem would bind their lulavim with gold wire. They said to him [in rebuttal]: They would bind it with its own kind underneath.

At which point [in the Hallel service] did they wave the [lulav]? At “Give thanks to HASHEM,” at the beginning and end, and at “Please, HASHEM, bring salvation now”; these are the words of Beis Hillel. Beis Shammai say: Also at “Please, HASHEM, bring success now.”  Said R’ Akiva: As I was watching Rabban Gamliel and R’ Yehoshua, all the people were waving their lulavim, but they did not wave anything except during “Please, HASHEM, bring salvation now.”  One who arrived from a journey where he did not have a lulav at hand to use, when he comes home he should take it at his table.  If he did not take it in the morning he should take it in the afternoon, for the entire day is valid for the lulav.

If a [non-Jewish] slave, a woman, or a minor recited [Hallel] for someone, he must repeat after them whatever they say —- and let it be a curse upon him!  If an adult was reciting for him, he must respond after him, “Hallelu Yah.”

In a place where they are accustomed to repeat, he repeats; [where the custom is] to recite as is, he recites as is; [where the custom is] to recite a blessing after it, he recites a blessing after it —- everything [must be done] in accord with the local custom.  If one purchases a lulav from his friend during Shemittah, he must give him the esrog as a gift, because it is forbidden to purchase it during Shemittah.

Originally the lulav was taken in the Temple seven [days], and in the provinces [it was taken] one day.  After the Temple was destroyed, Rabban Yochanan ben Zakkai instituted that the lulav be taken in the provinces seven [days] in remembrance of the Temple; and that the entire Day of Waving be forbidden.

On the first day of the Festival that fell on the Sabbath, all the people would bring their lulavim to the synagogue. On the morrow they would awaken early and come. Everyone would recognize his own [lulav] and take it, for the Sages said: A man cannot fulfill his obligation on the first day of Succos with a lulav belonging to his friend; but on the other days of Succos a man can fulfill his obligation with a lulav belonging to his friend.

R’ Yose says: If the first day of Succos fell on the Sabbath, and one forgot and carried the lulav out into the public domain, he is exempt —- for he carried it out with permission.

15. A woman may accept [a lulav] from her son or from her husband and return it to the water on the Sabbath.  R’ Yehudah says: On the Sabbath we return [it], on the Festival we add [water], and during [the Intermediate Days of] the Festival we change [the water].  A minor who knows how to wave is obligated to take the lulav.