[Avodah] Excerpted from the New York Jewish Times

[Cantor Wolberg]

Using gematria, Yehuda Aryeh Leib (author of Sefat Emet, "The Language  
of Truth)," and Rebbe of Gora Kalwaria in Poland, near Warsaw, often  
reminded his chassidim that the numerical value of lulav was 68, the  
same as chayim, which means “life.”

It was this strong association with life that Jewish weddings  
traditionally had an abundance of hadassim-style leaves on the chuppa,  
and why fathers would give their sons a myrtle plant headgear wreath  
to wear at their wedding.

But it is the esrog that evokes the greatest emotion and attracts the  
most intense scrutiny. To quote Ibn  
Ezra 
:                                                                                                                                      "There 
  exists no tree-fruit more beautiful than the esrog."

I personally discovered the following:                  
																											                                                  Esrog 
  (spelled without a vov) equals 604 which equals the gematria of "Etz  
Chayim and Shalom together." So the play on words of Etz Chayim which  
offers Shalom equals the numerical value of Esrog.  And Esrog (spelled  
with a vov) equals 610. If you take the esrog (610) and add to its  
numerical value the additional THREE species (hadasim, aravot, and  
lulav), you get 613, the total number of mitzvot in the Torah.

On Yom Kippur we shake ourselves into the awesomeness of the day.   
Four days later, we shake the four species in praise of God.

ri
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