Etrog: Difference between revisions

'''Etrog''' ({{lang-langx|he|אֶתְרוֹג}}, plural: ''{{transltransliteration|he|etrogim}}''; [[Ashkenazi Hebrew]]: ''{{transltransliteration|he|esrog}}'', plural: ''{{transltransliteration|he|esrogim}}'') is the yellow [[citron]] or (''Citrus medica'') used by Jews during the week-longweeklong holiday of [[Sukkot]] as one of the [[four species]]. Together with the ''[[lulav]]'', ''[[hadass]]'', and ''[[Aravah (Sukkot)|aravah]]'', the ''etrog'' is taken in hand and held or waved during specific portions of the holiday prayers. Special care is often given to selecting an ''etrog'' for the performance of the Sukkot holiday rituals.<ref>{{cite web | url=https://www.timesofisrael.com/in-calabria-rabbis-and-farmers-continue-a-2000-year-old-etrog-tradition/amp/ | title=In Calabria, rabbis and farmers continue a 2,000-year-old etrog tradition &#124; the Times of Israel | website=[[The Times of Israel]] }}</ref>

The [[Romanization of Hebrew|romanization]] of the Hebrew word]] as ''etrog'' according to thefrom [[SephardicSephardi Hebrew]] pronunciation is widely used. The [[Ashkenazi Hebrew]] pronunciation is ''esrog'' or ''esrig''. It has been [[transliterated]] as ''ethrogetrog'' or ''ethroghethrog'' in scholarly workworks.<ref>[http://lib.ucr.edu/agnic/webber/Vol1/Chapter4.html#acid The Citrus Industry] {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080308005736/http://lib.ucr.edu/agnic/webber/Vol1/Chapter4.html#acid |date=March 8, 2008 }}</ref> The Hebrew word is thought to derive from the [[Persian language|Persian]] name for the fruit, ''wādrang'', which first appears in the [[Vendidad]]. {{sfnp | Moster | 2018 | p= 24 }} Related words are Persian ''turunj'' ({{lang|fa|ترنج}}), likelyand borrowed via [[Aramaic language{{lang|Aramaic]]tmr|{{Script/Hebrew|אַתְרוּגָּא}}}} ''ʾaṯruggā''.<ref>{{Cite news |title=Jerusalem Dig Uncovers Earliest Evidence of Local Cultivation of Etrogs |language=en |work=Haaretz |url=https://www.haaretz.com/2012-02-02/ty-article/jerusalem-dig-uncovers-earliest-evidence-of-local-cultivation-of-etrogs/0000017f-e3c2-d568-ad7f-f3ebc5440000 |access-date=2022-10-10}}</ref> It has also made its way into [[Arabic]] as {{Script/Arabic|أُتْرُجَّةِ}} ''utrujjah'' notably in a [[hadith]] collected in the ''[[Sahih Muslim]]''.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Stetkevych |first1=Suzanne Pinckney |title=Reorientations: Arabic and Persian poetry |date=1994 |publisher=Indiana University Press |location=Bloomington |isbn=0-253-35493-5 |pages=131–133}}</ref><ref>[https://sunnah.com/muslim:797a Hadith no. 288], Book 6 of the ''Sahih Muslim''. via Sunnah.com</ref> A rare Aramaic form, ''etronga'' ({{Script/Hebrew|אתרונגא}}), is significant because it retains the [[alveolar nasal]] sound (as indicated by the ''[[nun (letter)|nun]]'') of ''wādrang'', also observable in the English word '[[wikt:orange|orange]]'.{{sfnp | Moster | 2018 | p= 25 }}

{{mainMain|Citrus taxonomy#Citron varietiesCitrons}}

In [[Modern Hebrew]], ''etrog'' is the name for any [[variety (botany)|variety]] or form of citron, whether kosher for the ritual or not. In general usage, though, the word is often reserved to refer only to those varieties and specimens used ritually as one of the [[four species]]. Some [[Taxonomy (biology)|taxonomic]] experts, like [[Robert Willard Hodgson|Hodgson]] and others, have mistakenly treated ''etrog'' as one [[Greek citron|specific variety]] of citron.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Nahon |first=Peter |date=2015-06-01 |title=Les Agrumes d&#39;'Intérieur : des variétés historiques aux essais actuels |url=https://www.academia.edu/13165498/Les_Agrumes_dInt%C3%A9rieur_des_vari%C3%A9t%C3%A9s_historiques_aux_essais_actuels |journal=Fruits Oubliés}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.citrusvariety.ucr.edu/citrus/ethrog.html|title=ethrog|website=www.citrusvariety.ucr.edu|access-date=2008-04-15|archive-date=2015-06-08|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150608215246/http://www.citrusvariety.ucr.edu/citrus/ethrog.html|url-status=dead}}</ref> The various [[Jewish ethnic divisions|Jewish rites]] utilize different varieties, according to their tradition or the decision of their respective ''[[posek]]''.

{{QuoteBlockquote| On the first day you shall take the fruit of majestic trees, branches of palm trees, boughs of leafy trees, and willows of the brook; and you shall rejoice before the Lord your God for seven days. | [[Leviticus]] 23:40, New Revised Standard Version}}

While the biblical phrase ''peri eitz hadar'' ({{lang|he|פְּרִי עֵץ הָדָר}}) (translated above as "fruit of majestic trees") may be interpreted or translated in a number of ways, the [[Talmud]] derives that the phrase refers to the etrog.

| image3 = P1110901_(7112818305).jpg

In modern Hebrew, ''hadar'' refers to the genus ''[[Citrus]]''. [[Nachmanides]] (1194 – c. 1270) suggests that the word was the original Hebrew name for the citron.{{citation needed|date=May 2020}} According to this view, the word ''etrog'' was introduced over time, and adapted from the [[Aramaic]]. The [[Arabic language|Arabic]] name for the citron fruit, ''itranj'' (اترنج), mentioned in [[hadith]] literature, is also associatedadapted withfrom the HebrewAramaic.

Archaeological evidence for Citrus fruits is limited, as neither seeds nor pollen are likely to be routinely recovered in archaeology.<ref>{{cite webbook |last1=Fuller |first1=Dorian Q. |last2=Castillo |first2=Cristina |last3=Kingwell-Banham |first3=Eleanor |last4=Qin |first4=Ling |last5=Weisskopf |first5=Alison |title=Charred pummelo peel, historical linguistics and other tree crops: Approaches to framing the historical context of early Citrus cultivation in East, South and Southeast Asia |url=https://books.openedition.org/pcjb/2173 |website=AGRUMED: Archaeology and history of citrus fruit in the Mediterranean : Acclimatization, diversifications, uses |series=Collection du Centre Jean Bérard |publisher=Publications du Centre Jean Bérard |language=en |date=15 January 2018|isbn=9782918887775 }}</ref> The earliest evidence of ''etrogim'' in Israel is the 2012 discovery of citron pollen from the second century BCE in excavations at the [[Ramat Rachel]] site.<ref>[http://www.greenprophet.com/2012/07/ramat-rachel-etrog-tree/ First evidence of the etrog tree in Israel]

* [http://www.haaretz.com/print-edition/news/jerusalem-dig-uncovers-earliest-evidence-of-local-cultivation-of-etrogs-1.410505#acid Jerusalem dig uncovers earliest evidence of local cultivation of etrogs]</ref>

After the [[Siege of Jerusalem (70 CE)|fall of Jerusalem in 70 CE]], exiled Jews planted citron orchards wherever the climate allowed: in Southern Europe ([[Spain]], [[Greece]], and [[Diamante citron|Italy]]) as well as in North Africa and [[Yemenite citron|Asia Minor]]. Jews who settled north of the warmer citron-growing areas depended on imported ''etrogim'', which caused much anxiety given the dangers and uncertainties of sea travel. By the seventeenth century, some of the most popular sources for ''etrogim'' were the islands of [[Corsica]] and [[Corfu]].{{cncitation needed|date=April 2020}}

American Jews continue to import the majority of their holiday ''etrogim'' from [[Israel]], except during [[shmita]] when there are [[halacha|halachic]] complications in exporting the produce of Israel. The only commercial grower of etrogs in the United States is John Kirkpatrick, the former chairman of the Citrus Research Board, on a ranch in the town of [[Exeter, California|Exeter]] in the [[San Joaquin Valley]] of California. Kirkpatrick, who is not Jewish, began growing etrogs in 1980 following a phone call with Yisroel Weisberger, an employee at a Judaica store in Brooklyn. In 1995, Weisberger's brother, Yaakov Shlomo Rothberg, became involved in the operation and has since become Kirkpatrick's business partner. {{As of|2010}}, Kirkpatrick has 250 etrog trees and produces 3,000 suitable etrogs per year, with 9,000 that do not qualify due to halakhic requirements.<ref>{{Cite webnews |date=2011-10-12 |title=America’sAmerica's Only Etrog Farmer Isn't Even Jewish |url=https://www.tabletmag.com/sections/community/articles/etrog-man |access-date=2022-10-10 |website=Tablet Magazine}}</ref> While there are other growers in California, such as Inga Dorosz and David Sleeth in the town of [[Gorda, California|Gorda]] near Big Sur, these are not rabbinically supervised and are therefore not kosher.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Wall |first=Alix |date=2016-10-14 |title=The elegant, elusive etrog: Growing the symbol of Sukkot in California |url=https://jweekly.com/2016/10/14/the-elegant-elusive-etrog-growing-the-symbol-of-sukkot-in-california/ |access-date=2022-10-10 |website=J. |language=en-US}}</ref>

A ''pitam'' or ''pitom'' (Hebrew: {{Script/Hebrew|פיטום}}; plural ''pitamim'') is composed of a style (Hebrew: "{{Script/Hebrew|דַד}}" ''dad''), and a [[carpel|stigma]] (Hebrew: "{{Script/Hebrew|שׁוֹשַׁנְתָּא}}" ''shoshanta''), and usually falls off during the growing process. An ''etrog'' with an intact ''pitam'' is considered especially valuable, but varieties that naturally shed their ''pitam'' during growth are also considered kosher. When only the stigma breaks off, even post-harvest, the citron can still be considered kosher as long as part of the style has remained attached. If the whole ''pitam'', i.e. the stigma and style, are unnaturally broken off in their entirety, the ''etrog'' is not kosher for ritual use.

Experimenting with picloram in a laboratory, Goldschmidt eventually found the correct “dose”"dose" to achieve the desired effect: one droplet{{clarify|reason=how does a droplet compare to a drop?|date=December 2014}} of the chemical in three million drops of water.<ref>{{Cite journal|url=http://www.jstor.org/stable/2441301|title=Style Abscission in the Citron (Citrus medica L.) and Other Citrus Species: Morphology, Physiology, and Chemical Control with Picloram|author1=Goldschmidt, E. E.|author2=Leshem, B.|year=1971|journal=American Journal of Botany|volume=58|issue=1|pages=14-23|via=JSTOR14–23|doi=10.2307/2441301|jstor=2441301 }}</ref>

The ''etrog'' is typically grown from cuttings that are two to four years old. The tree begins to bear fruit about four years after planting the cuttings.<ref>Chiri, Alfredo. (2002). [http://home.att.net/~oc_crfg/alfredo-sep02.htm Etrog] {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20050404130602/http://home.att.net/~oc_crfg/alfredo-sep02.htm |date=April 4, 2005 }}</ref> If the tree is germinated from [[Plant propagation|seed]], it will not bear fruit for about seven years, and there may be some [[Citrus fruit growing|genetic change]] to the tree or fruit.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.sunkist.com/products/growing_packing.asp|archiveurlarchive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071017033439/http://www.sunkist.com/products/growing_packing.asp|url-status=dead|title=Sunkist Website|archivedatearchive-date=October 17, 2007}}</ref>

[[File:EtrogC.jpg|thumb|On the right: An Etrogetrog ([[citron]]) next to its Etrogetrog carrier]]

After the holiday, eating the ''etrog'' or ''etrog'' jam is considered a ''[[Segula (Kabbalah)|segula]]'' (efficacious remedy) for a woman to have an easy childbirth.<ref>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=cCWnRJg9S_IC&q=segulah&pg=PA134 |title=Expecting Miracles: Finding meaning and spirituality in pregnancy through Judaism |first=Chana |last=Weisberg |year=2004 |page=134 |publisher=Urim Publications |isbn=9657108519}}</ref> A common Ashkenazi custom is to save the ''etrog'' until [[Tu BiShvat]] and eat it in candied form or as [[succade]], while offering prayers that the worshipper merit a beautiful ''etrog'' next Sukkot.<ref>{{cite web |title=Redirecting... |url=http://www.aish.com/tubshvat/tubshvatinterests/Lchaim_to_the_Trees.asp |url-status=dead |website=www.aish.com |access-date=2008-01-31 |archive-date=2020-03-01 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200301024223/https://www.aish.com/tubshvat/tubshvatinterests/Lchaim_to_the_Trees.asp }}</ref> Some families make jam or liqueur out of the ''etrog'' or make a [[pomander]] by inserting [[cloves]] into the skin for use as ''[[besamim]]'' at the [[havdalah]] ceremony after [[Shabbat]].

File:PikiWiki_Israel_15578_etrog.jpg|''Pitam'' perceptiveclose-up

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* [http://www.citrusvariety.ucr.edu/citrus/ethrog.html The Citrus Variety Collection] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150608215246/http://www.citrusvariety.ucr.edu/citrus/ethrog.html |date=2015-06-08 }} by the [[University of California]] Riverside

* Evyatar Marienberg and David Carpenter, [https://unc.academia.edu/evyatarm/Papers/1218963/The_Stealing_of_the_Apple_of_Eve_from_the_13th_century_Synagogue_of_Winchester The Stealing of the ‘Apple"Apple of Eve’Eve" from the 13th century Synagogue of Winchester]{{dead link|date=September 2017 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}, Henri III Fine Rolls Project, Fine of the Month: [http://frh3.org.uk/content/month/fm-12-2011.html December 2011]