JUDAICA - Wisdom In Torah

etrog
on the husband and father, to whom they gave the following
directives: “A man should always observe the honor due to his
wife, because blessings rest on a man’s home only on account
of his wife.” “A man should always be careful not to wrong his
wife (with words), for being given to tears, she is easily hurt.”
He should consult his wife in all matters affecting the home:
If your wife is short, bend down and listen to her words (BM
59a). They enjoined the head of the household to be indulgent,
not to take offense, and not to terrorize his household, so as
to avoid quarrels (Ta’an. 20b; Git. 6b).
Personal Relations
Most controversies are due to the tendency to ascribe bad motives
to the words and actions of others. As a result the sages
urged: “Let the honor of your neighbor be as dear to you as
your own” (Avot 2:10), and “Love all men and honor them,
and forgo your will for that of your neighbor” (DEZ 1). Good
and worthy intentions may fail if they are implemented at the
wrong moment. Hence, the rabbis counseled: “Do not pacify
your fellow in the hour of his anger; nor comfort him when his
dead one lies before him” (Avot 4:18). One should not present
oneself to one’s friend, or even to the members of his household,
at an inconvenient time: “Do not enter your own house
suddenly, and all the more, your neighbor’s house” (Pes. 112a)
counseled Akiva. The concern of the rabbis in this matter is
reflected in the statement, “Let all men learn good manners
from the Omnipresent, who stood at the entrance to Eden and
called out to Adam, as it says, ‘The Lord God called to Adam,
saying, “Where art thou”’” (DER 5). Many modern and medieval
ethical works praise Derekh Ereẓ, adherence to its precepts,
and, at the same time, stress the duty of other strictures
to those mentioned in the Talmud.
Bibliography: Krauss, Tal Arch, 3 (1912), 2ff.; A. Kohn, in:
Ben-Chananja, 2 (1859), 66–67, 167–8, 210–1, 258–64 (Ger.); J. Friedmann,
Der gesellschaftliche Verkehr und die Umgangsformen in talmudischer
Zeit (1914); M. Higger, Massekhtot Ze’irot (1929), 1–7; idem,
Massekhtot Derekh Ereẓ (1935), 11–18 (English section); A. Cohen,
Everyman’s Talmud (1932), 168–266; C.G. Montefiore and H. Loewe,
A Rabbinical Anthology (1938), 451–523; G. Friedlander, Laws and
Customs of Israel (1927), passim.
[Abraham Arzi]
ETROG (Heb. גֹ ורתֶ ְא),
citrus fruit among the Four Species
used on Sukkot. The Bible describes what is usually rendered
as “the fruit of a goodly tree” (peri eẓ hadar; Lev. 23:40), traditionally
interpreted as being the etrog (Citrus medica). The
word etrog, the name by which this fruit is known in talmudic
literature, derives, according to one view, from the Persian
torong, according to another, from the Sanskrit suranga,
meaning “beautifully colored.” Some maintain that the etrog
tree, along with its name, reached Ereẓ Israel only during the
Second Temple period, even as it was brought to Greece from
its native land, India, only after the campaigns of Alexander
the Great. Others contend that “the fruit of a goodly tree” is
to be identified with the Pinus or Cedrus, called dar in Sanskrit;
others say that what is meant is simply any beautiful
(hadur) fruit. There is evidence that the etrog was known in
ancient Egypt; its use as one of the Four Species on Sukkot was
probably responsible for its wider cultivation in Ereẓ Israel in
olden days, for neighboring countries set no great store upon
its fruit, which is not particularly good. Indeed, even during
the Hasmonean period, which abounds in evidence of its cultivation
in Ereẓ Israel, the etrog was not grown in Italy and
is not mentioned by Pliny (23–79 C.E.) among the products
of that country.
The etrog was formerly unique among the fruit trees
of Ereẓ Israel in requiring constant irrigation for its growth,
whereas the others were only occasionally irrigated, and then
only to increase their yield of fruit. This fact is adduced among
the various proofs that “the fruit of a goodly tree” (peri eẓ
hadar) is to be identified with the etrog, eẓ hadar being interpreted
as eẓ hiddur, that is, the tree which requires water. Since
the etrog was the only *citrus known in Ereẓ Israel in the mishnaic
and talmudic period, the question of the permissibility
of an etrog from a grafted tree for the performance of the religious
rite did not arise until comparatively recent times.
The etrog was a conspicuous ornamental motif among
Jews during the Second Temple period, appearing on coins
of Simeon and other Hasmoneans, and it is often depicted on
the walls of synagogues and in mosaics. When Alexander Yannai
once acted contrary to the halakhah in the Temple, “all the
people pelted him with their etrogim” (Suk. 4:9; Tosef., ibid.
3:16; Jos., Ant., 13:372). In the mishnaic and talmudic period,
when the etrog was widely cultivated in Ereẓ Israel, it was comparatively
cheap, a large etrog selling for two perutot (Me’il.
6:4). An especially beautiful etrog, which was in great demand
for the festival, cost very much more, at times as much
as the price of three meals (TJ, Suk. 3:12, 54a). There were periods
(for example during the Hadrianic persecutions) when
etrogim had to be brought from far-flung places in Ereẓ Israel
(Tosef., Dem. 3:14). Various uses were made of the etrog; its
thick skin was eaten either pickled in vinegar or boiled to a
pulp (Suk. 36b; Ma’as. 1:4), and a perfume was extracted from
its peel (Suk. 37b), which was also highly valued as an antidote
against snake-bite (Shab. 109b).
Today, the etrog is not extensively cultivated in the world,
and is grown primarily for the citronate that is extracted
from its peel. There are many strains of etrog. In Israel the
small strain is predominant; the large strain was brought
to the country by the Yemenites (cf. Suk. 36b, about a large
etrog which was carried on the shoulder). In addition to the
sour etrog, there is also the sweet strain (cf. Shab. 109b). With
the increase in the species of the genus citrus, the etrog was
crossed with other citrus plants, which probably accounts for
the present difficulty of growing an etrog which has not been
grafted on a lemon or hushḥash stock, the ungrafted variety
being vulnerable to pests and diseases, and its pittam (the
protuberance, the pistil) usually being atrophied. Whereas
in ancient times the pittam was a conspicuous mark of the
etrog’s excellence, there are those today who are particularly
anxious to obtain only an ungrafted etrog, which usually has
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