#130 Lulav for Children
The posuk, Biblical verse, states “Ulekachtem lachem—You shall take for yourselves.” From the words lachem we learn that in order to fulfill the mitzvah of the daled minim, the four species, on the first day of Sukos, they have to be one’s own. (According to many poskim, in chutz la’aretz, outside of Eretz Yisroel, where we celebrate two days of Yom Tov, this requirement applies to the second day as well.) Therefore, on the first days of Sukos one should not give their set of daled minim to a child to use before making the brochos themselves, since according to halacha, a child can be koneh, acquire, but cannot be makneh, transfer ownership. Halchically, when an adult gives their set of daled minim to a child it becomes the child’s, but the child cannot (halachically) transfer ownership back to the adult. Even when the adult has already fulfilled the mitzvah, but now wishes to have other people bench, as many do on mivtzoim, it is not considered lachem, their own, if a child has been given it to use in the interim. One of the options is to buy a child their own set of daled minim. (Incidentally, when giving the daled minim to another person to bench, especially on the first day, the giver should say that it is a gift on condition that it be returned, so that at the time that the recipient is using them they should in fact be using their own, in accordance with the halachic requirement of lachem).