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." 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 Halakha, 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 Halakha 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. Especially important are the form of the etrog also known as the Gidul and the cleanliness of the top part of the fruit. Different authorities in Jewish law disagree on what exactly constitutes the top part of the etrog. Generally it is accepted to mean the top 1/3rd of the fruit.

The primary mitzvah of using the etrog is waving the Four Species just before the Hallel ceremony. After the holiday, some people boil the peel of the etrog to make jam, fruit cake, and candied fruit. It is a Hassidic tradition to eat the Etrog, in the form of preserves, sugared slices, etc, for the holiday of Tu B'Shevat as part of goal of maximizing the variety of fruits eaten on that holiday to praise the Creator of the trees.

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.

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