Q&A: Majority and Presumption Regarding Preparations for a Positive Commandment
Originally published:
This is an English translation (via GPT-5.4). Read the original Hebrew version.
Majority and Presumption Regarding Preparations for a Positive Commandment
Question
A few days before Sukkot, a person gets stuck without a lulav and is considering whether to go to the market.
There is an original presumption, and also a majority that there are no more lulavs in the market.
Is he obligated to go to the market to look for a lulav?
Answer
This is not a halakhic obligation to go to the market. The obligation is to wave the lulav, and going to the market is at most a preparation for the commandment. When we are not dealing with a halakhic rule, presumptions have no halakhic significance.