Etrog

Etrog (Hebrew: אתרוג) is one of several varieties of citron, a citrus fruit of the orange and lemon family (Citrus medica var. Etrog). It is one of the Four Species used in a special waving ceremony during the Jewish holiday of Sukkot. The other species are the lulav (date palm frond), hadass (myrtle bough), and aravah (willow branch). (See Four Species for the complete description and symbolism of the waving ceremony.)

Leviticus 23:40 refers to the etrog as pri eitz hadar (פרי עץ הדר), which literally means, "a fruit of the beautiful tree." It can also be literally translated as "a fruit of a beautiful tree." Modern Hebrew translates hadar as "citrus," in connection with the rabbinical definition of the etrog as the fruit referred to by the Torah. The Arabic name for the fruit, itranj اترنج is cognate with the Hebrew. The itranj is mentioned favorably in the hadith.

The etrog is a slow-growing fruit. The citron tree is typically grown from cuttings that are two to four years old; the tree begins to bear fruit when it is around three years old[1]. The fruit is oblong in shape, and sometimes as much as six inches in length. Its skin is thick, somewhat hard, fragrant, and covered with protuberances; the pulp is white and subacid. It is typically bought before the holiday of Sukkot while it is still green, and ripens to a deep yellow during the course of the holiday.

According to halacha, the etrog used in the mitzvah of the Four Species must be unblemished and of perfect form and shape. An etrog that still has a pitom at its tip (the pitom is a small growth that usually falls off during the growing process) is considered especially valuable. The exact details of what constitutes a fitting etrog are included in halacha primers. Because of the rarity of finding a perfect etrog, prices for this species can go as high as $1,000. Many stories are told of poor people in the shtetls of Eastern Europe who paid princely sums for the privilege of owning a kosher etrog for Sukkot. This is also a theme in the Israeli motion picture The Guests.

Although the etrog gives off a pleasing smell, one is not allowed to smell the fruit until the holiday of Sukkot is over, since the primary mitzvah of using the etrog is in waving the Four Species, not in enjoying its smell. After the holiday, however, many people boil the peel of the etrog to make jam, fruit cake and candied fruit.

Modern naturalists assume the north of India to be the etrog's native home, but it passed to the countries of the Mediterranean from Media or Persia; hence the name of the tree, "Citrus medica," and of the fruit, "Malum medica," or "Malum Persica".

It is possible that the Jews brought the tree with them from Babylonia to the Land of Israel on their return from Babylonian captivity. However, this theory has been rejected by later scholars (Isaac, Science 129:179-85, 1959). Andrews (Agr. Hist. 35(1):35-46, 1961) associates the Biblical word hadar with the Assyrian "adaru" (citron), thus placing the etrog firmly in Jewish hands in Biblical times.

---

Etrog was also a nickname used for the Canadian Film Awards in the 1970's.

See also

• Four Species
• Sukkot

 This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Singer, Isidore; et al., eds. (1901–1906). The Jewish Encyclopedia. New York: Funk & Wagnalls. {{cite encyclopedia}}: Missing or empty |title= (help)