OCTOBER 17 • 2024 | 37
J
N

I

moved to Israel in late summer of
2023, and shortly thereafter, the
time came to get an etrog. As it
turned out, I got my etrog in a total-
ly unanticipated way.
But first, a word about the four
species used on Sukkot: palm
frond, willow, myrtle and etrog (see
Leviticus 23:49). Why those spe-
cies? The verse does not explain, so
Maimonides offers an explanation:
The Torah commands us to take up
fruit and branches on Sukkot to cel-
ebrate the harvest.
Why these specific varieties?
Maimonides explains that, too. They
look attractive, they smell pleasant,
they last through the whole festival
and they are easy to get: “They are
abundant in the Land of Israel at this
season, and everybody can obtain
them” (Guide of the Perplexed 3:43).
Through the centuries, Jews in the
colder places of Europe did not have
that experience. In France, Germany,
Russia and Poland, Jews went to
great lengths to get even one etrog
for whole communities (a situation
discussed in Shulhan Aruch 658:9).
Years ago, as I recall, purchasers
typically went to the supplier and
picked through rows of etrogim to
find the one with the most beauti-
ful characteristics — and that they
could still afford. Then the purchas-
ers had to pick through more loose
bundles of branches to find the
freshest, most beautiful palm, myrtle
and willow. Over the years, though,
it has become more common for
suppliers to select the four species
for their customers. The smaller
branches of myrtle and willow come
in sealed plastic tubular bags, with
the guarantee of validity printed
right on the bag.
A friend offered to drive me to
the open-air market across from

Shuk haCarmel in Jerusalem, where
I could experience the old-fashioned
method of competing with hundreds
of other buyers to choose my own
set of the four species. I opted for
the newer method, getting mine
from the person at a local synagogue
that my son attends, where a mem-
ber provides the four species to the
community at just above cost, with
the profit going to local charities.
So, I had an etrog and lulav picked
out for me, along with sealed plastic
tubular bags of myrtle and willow.
And then, on the day before the
holiday, my son’s next-door neigh-
bor made him a generous offer. The
etrog tree in the neighbor’s yard
spreads over the fence into my son’s
adjoining yard. The neighbor asked
my son to just pick a fruit on his
side of the fence; my son did, and
gave that etrog to me to use this
Sukkot.
So, for the first time in my life, I
had a fresh-picked etrog, so fresh it
even had a leaf attached to the stem.
It came just as Maimonides envi-
sioned the process — easy to obtain
as a gift from a friendly neighbor.

LOUIS FINKELMAN
CONTRIBUTING WRITER

SUKKOT
ESSAY

How I Got
My Etrog

The etrog from my
neighbor’s tree

C
l
i
c
k. C
a
ll. Borro
w
. Give.

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