Hadasim / Myrtles: the branches that bind
See my other essays on the remaining plants of the Arba Minim (4 Species): Lulav: https://rabbischeinberg.blogspot.com/2017/10/the-lulav-growth-frozen-in-time.html Etrog: https://rabbischeinberg.blogspot.com/2014/10/the-fruit-that-remembers-what-botanists.html Willows: https://rabbischeinberg.blogspot.com/2017/10/keeping-willows-alive.html Among the Four Species used on Sukkot, the myrtle branches (Hadasim) seemed to me to be the most innocuously pleasant. The Etrog is fragile; the Lulav is dangerous with its sharp leaves; the willows quickly dry out. The myrtle branches are, in my experience,most likely to survive Sukkot intact without harming itself or others. And the myrtle leaves have a fresh, vaguely Mediterranean scent - best unleashed by crumpling up the leaves, or by scratching the myrtle branch itself. In fact, unlike all the other parts of the Four Species, it is not particularly difficult to keep the myrtles fresh and fragrant for weeks and even months aft