Question of the Week: Which Israeli politician, born in
Poland, received his education at Harvard and New York uni-
versities?

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'salad UOLIJILIS :JaMSLIV

The Most
Beautiful Fruit

What you neec to know to select the perfect etrog.

Elizabeth Applebaum
AppleTree Editor

I

t looks like a lemon, smells
like a fresh breeze and can
cost more than $40. Meet
the etrog.

One of the Four Species used
on Sukkot, the citron, or etrog in
Hebrew, is described in Leviticus
An observant Jew checks an
23:40 as "the fruit of a goodly
etrog for blemishes in the Mea
tree"
(pri etz hadar).
Shearim quarter's "seven species"
The
Targum Onkelos, an
market in Jerusalem.
ancient translation of the Torah's
Hebrew text into Aramaic, ren-
ders the Hebrew as perey liana
etrogin, from which is derived etrog (or esrog in the Ashkenazi pro-
nunciation). The actual origin of the word "etrog" has for years
intrigued linguists, who have suggested the word may derive from
Persian or Sanskrit.
Today, most of the etrogim used in North America are imported

from Israel, though an intrepid Reform congregation in the United
States has managed to grow its own, and potted etrog trees are
available through mail order. For a long time, most Jews obtained

their etrogim, now grown throughout the
Mediterranean, from the Greek island of
Corfu. In 1891, when anti-Jewish riots
swept the island and the rest of Greece,
Jews turned to the etrogim grown in the
Land of Israel.

Top: Etrog with the pitom.
Bottom: Etrog without a
pitom.
Both are from Israel and avail-
able at Borenstein's Book and
Music Store in Royal Oak
Township.

Although most of the etrogim used
today are imported from Israel, other
etrogim come from Italy and Morocco.
Because etrogim will grow wherever
other citrus fruits flourish, etrog trees grow in the private gardens of
Jews in California, Florida and Texas.

Although the etrog produces aromatic oil, and its candied skin is
prized as a confection, the fruit has limited commercial value.
Consequently, most of the etrog cultivation throughout the world
serves essentially one purpose and one purpose only: to be used dur
ing the holiday of Sukkot.

Nonetheless, there was at least one instance when these yellow
fruits were found to have another use. The Talmud recounts the case
of the Hasmonean High Priest, Alexander Yannai, who behaved
improperly in the Temple, and "people pelted him with their etrogim."
Though you may believe that when you've seen one etrog, you've
seen them all, this is not the case. In fact, a number of strains exist.

ETROG on page l 03

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