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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