The fruit is so rare that medieval Jewish communities appointed special emissaries to locate and acquire it
Have you ever heard the term etroger? This Yiddish word designates a Jewish merchant, who sold etrogs to the Jewish communities of central and northern Europe in the Middle Ages. The Jewish Telegraphic Agency followed up with Josh Teplitsky, associate professor of Jewish history at the University of Pennsylvania, to find out more. Teplitsky heard about the mysterious citron during research he was doing to write a book. A curious fruit, rarely seen in grocery stores or used in cooking. Yet the lemon, as it is called in English, is an indispensable part of the Jewish harvest festival of Sukkot.
The fruit is so rare that medieval Jewish communities appointed special emissaries to locate and acquire it. Wealthy connoisseurs commissioned boxes adorned with precious wood and metals to protect it for the seven days of its use. Even today, only one man grows etrog commercially in the United States – and he’s a Presbyterian!
Laura JeanneauCitrons offered for sale in Bnei Brak, for the holiday of Sukkot
Thick-skinned citron is needed for various rituals during the harvest festival of Sukkot (which began Friday, September 29 at sunset and ends Friday, October 6). A lemon-like fruit native to tropical and subtropical climates, which must have been very difficult to obtain in the pre-industrial era.
Along with Warren Klein, curator of the Bernard Museum of Judaica at Temple Emanu-El, and Sharon Liberman Mintz, curator of Jewish art at the Jewish Theological Seminary library, Teplitsky delved into the fascinating history of the etrog.
“My ancestors came from Eastern Europe. How could they have gotten an etrog for the holidays?” Klein told JTA
The trio’s research into the history, use, care, dissemination and symbolism of the etrog culminated in a book, “Be Fruitful: The Etrog in Jewish Art, Culture and History” published in 2022. From this research was born the exhibition, “Etrog, the wandering fruit”currently on display at the Bernard Museum, located inside Temple Emanu-El on 5th Avenue and 65th Street in Manhattan.
CINDY ORD / GETTY IMAGES NORTH AMERICA / GETTY IMAGES VIA AFPLe Temple Emanu-El de New York
According to Klein, this is the first exhibition devoted solely to the history of this citrus fruit, depicted in ancient Jewish objects. “We spent most of COVID editing the volume, and the idea was to turn the research into this exhibition,” Klein said. The three researchers brought together other researchers, curators, collectors and artists to create a 360-degree study of the etrog: from its origins in China, its distribution across the world by Persian merchants, its determining role in the festival of the Sukkot harvest and how it came to be associated with the Temple in Jerusalem and the Land of Israel.
The exhibition includes ancient depictions and mentions of the etrog in various sources and objects, including bronze coins minted at the time of the destruction of the Second Temple in Jerusalem in 70 CE, which are stamped with a resemblance to the fruit, and mosaics from the floor of a synagogue in Tiberias, Israel, between the 6th and 8th centuries CE.
Olivier Fitoussil/Flash90 Jewish faithful pray in front of the Western Wall in the Old City of Jerusalem during the priests’ blessing on Sukkot, September 22, 2021
“The facsimile of the Rothschild Compendium is the most special – it is the most beautiful Hebrew manuscript ever created,” Mintz said. According to UNESCO, this ornate manuscript from northern Italy, which dates from the 15th century, offers “a rare window into the religious customs, daily life and fashion of the Italian Renaissance.” At the museum, the page from the Rothschild collections on display shows a man with a white beard, his head covered with a prayer shawl, holding in his left hand a dented etrog with the lulav, made of a frond of date palm, willow and myrtle, in his other hand. (Together, these objects are known as the “four kinds” characteristic of Sukkot.)
Boxes designed to hold the fruit are also on display. “The etrog box becomes a microcosm: You can see how Jews created objects to embellish the holiday and the ritual,” Mintz said. “In each place where an etrog box is created, it will reflect a time and place of art and the aesthetic of the Jews at that time.”
Etrog: The Wandering Fruit Exhibition – September 5 – November 20, 2023 at the Herbert & Eileen Bernard Museum at Temple Emanu-El, Manhattan, New York
2023-09-30 17:38:27
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