The Two Maids - Sukkos

```html

A Sukkos Discovery

Two Mothers or Four Mothers?

A small נקודה in an old פיוט — with a fascinating answer

The first day פיוט לסוכות, (Shachris before Kedusha — אקחה בראשון) we say:

“בַּעֲרָבוֹת שְׁתַּיִם” (we take 2 Arovos)
“כְּאִמָּהוֹת שְׁתַּיִם” (like the 2 mothers)

“בַּאֲגֻדּוֹת אַרְבַּע” (we take the 4 minim)
“כְּגִבְעוֹת אַרְבַּע” (like the 4 mothers)

THE OBVIOUS QUESTION

Are there two or four mothers?

My father a”h, while in Shul, was troubled by this question.

He looked in the מטה לוי who explains that the 2 mothers are Leah & Rochel.

But my father wasn’t satisfied with this Pshat.

He came up with his own Pshat that the pronunciation should be KeAmhos with a patach.

When he came home from shul, he checked in his Heidenheim Machzor, that he kept at home.

What Heidenheim Writes

החכם וולף היידנהיים writes that he found a very old Machzor where it says, instead of Keimahos (mothers) — Keamhos (maids).

Instead of a חיריק under the Alef, it is a פתח, referring to the two maids זלפה & בלהה.

This makes perfect sense.

The ערבות, which are the least of the Arba Minim, represent the Amahos — the maids.

And then, that same evening...

I had the opportunity to check out an old 14th-century handwritten Machzor.

In this Machzor it does indeed say KeAmhos with a פתח under the אלף.

כְּאַמָּהוֹת שְׁתַּיִם

Not the two mothers —
but the two maids: זִלְפָּה וּבִלְהָה

```