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etrog

Greg Kirkpatrick shows how large he grows some etrogs during a pre-Sukkot delivery to Renewal synagogue Chochmat HaLev in Berkeley, California, Sept. 22, 2026. (Aaron Levy-Wolins/J. Staff/Report For America via JTA)
October 3, 2026, 11:34 am
America’s only major etrog grower is in survival mode as global competition heats up
California’s Greg Kirkpatrick has spent his life growing the ritual fruit used during the Sukkot holiday, but says he’s now being forced to reinvent his business or sell his ranch
By Lea Loeb
Winners of the annual Sydney Taylor Book Award were announced Jan. 27, 2025 by the Association of JewishLibraries. (Roaring BrookPress, Harper, Kar-Ben Publishing)
January 28, 2025, 8:49 am
Women vampires, time travel win at Jewish children’s book awards
Young adult novel ‘Night Owls,’ about estries — owl-like women vampires who prey on men, described in medieval Hasidic literature — wins top prize at Sydney Taylor Book Awards
By Penny Schwartz
Aryeh Deri standing in his sukkah holding an etrog he claimed cost him $5,000, October 1, 2023. (Twitter screenshot used in accordance with article 27a of the Copyright Law)
October 1, 2023, 9:01 pm
Deri boasts of spending $5,000 on an etrog, then says he was joking
Shas leader brags he paid cash for the Sukkot fruit, which would be an illegally high cash purchase; office says he was defending the honor of small Moroccan etrog in humorous way
By ToI Staff
Art and materials on display at 'Etrog: The Wandering Fruit' include, from left: Johann Bodenschatz's 'Kirchliche Verfassung der heutigen Juden,' Erlangen, 1748, showing various Sukkot scenes, and 'Nürnbergische Hesperides, oder Gründliche Beschreibung der edlen Citronat, Citronen, und Pomerantzen-Früchte,' a fanciful depiction of the fruit by Johann Christoph Volkamer, Nuremberg, 1708-14. (Courtesy the Bernard Heller Museum of Judaica)
September 30, 2023, 4:54 pm
Thick-skinned world traveler: NYC exhibit explores the life and times of the etrog
Trio of Jewish historians and curators has delved deep into the history, use, care, dissemination and symbolism of the citron that is a central feature of the Sukkot holiday
By Rachel Ringler
Austin Haeems with his etrog trees in Ahmedabad, India. (Courtesy of Haeems/via JTA)
September 29, 2023, 2:51 am
Why are Asian Jews importing etrogs on Sukkot even though their countries grow them?
With the discovery of the Chinese ‘Buddha’s hand’ citron, debates over the kashrut of local fruit have caused some Jewish residents to order etrogs from Israel or elsewhere online
By Jordyn Haime
Illustrative: Jewish merchants come from around the world to buy from Moroccan etrog growers like Mohammed Douch in Assads, September 8, 2015. (Ben Sales/JTA)
October 13, 2022, 5:39 am
Peace with Israel, Jewish agricultural law have Morocco’s etrog industry blossoming
Though Israeli import laws favor domestically grown citrons, every 7 years growers from the high Atlas Mountains corner the market during the biblical farming sabbatical of shmita
By David I. Klein
An etrog fruit. (edelmar/Getty Images via JTA)
October 8, 2020, 11:03 am
Trump envoy brokers etrog deal of the century
President’s assistant Avi Berkowitz helps circumvent coronavirus restrictions after rabbis warned that imports of Italian citron fruit needed for Sukkot had run into difficulties
By Ron Kampeas
Illustrative: Etrogs for sale at the 'four-species' market in Jerusalem on October 13, 2016. (Sebi Berens/Flash90)
October 8, 2019, 11:03 pm
Hundreds of etrogs held up at airport in England over new import regulations
Animal and Plant Health Agency eventually allows the import of citron fruit used for Sukkot on condition stalks are trimmed and they are destroyed after holiday
By JTA
Rachel Levy’s etrog in Utecht, the Netherlands. (JTA/Courtesy of NIK)
September 29, 2018, 12:14 am
Holland sees first naturally grown etrog fruit in decades
A scorching summer produces the country’s first citrus to be used for ceremonial purposes on the Jewish holiday of Sukkot
By JTA
Illustrative: Jewish merchants come from around the world to buy from Moroccan etrog growers like Mohammed Douch in Assads, September 8, 2015. (Ben Sales/JTA)
September 21, 2018, 8:20 am
How a Chinese fruit became a Sukkot symbol
A new book researched over a decade by Rabbi David Moster says that ancient Jews used any fruit on hand for the four species ritual, including pomegranates, dates, figs, or grapes
By Josefin Dolsten
Illustrative: A Jewish worshiper holds the four plant species as he attends the annual priestly blessing during the Sukkot holiday at the Western Wall in the Old City of Jerusalem on October 8, 2017. (Yonatan Sindel/Flash90)
September 1, 2018, 2:49 am
Israel bans entry of Sukkot-related plants over disease fears
Agriculture Ministry insists prohibition is to prevent infection of crops and not to quash competition; task force to deploy at airport
By JTA
Marc Soloway
October 10, 2017, 11:55 am
Marc Soloway
The evocative rituals of Sukkot
I looked on as that unique etrog scent tantalized both wide-eyed children and a frail old woman who’d seen too much
Yoseif Bloch
October 6, 2017, 5:31 pm
Yoseif Bloch
Kol Yisrael aravot
No matter how great you think you are, the humble willow branch does a fine job representing all Jews before God
Rabbis and locals at the Sukkot event at the Museo del Cedro (Citron Museum) in Santa Maria del Cedro. Holding the lulav is rabbi Moshe Lazar. (Credit: Photographer Pino Lo Tufo. Courtesy of Angelo Adduci)
October 4, 2017, 8:11 pm
In Calabria, rabbis and farmers continue a 2,000-year-old etrog tradition
Locals have seen Jews coming to harvest the cherished fruits from time immemorial, and welcome them as family and a key economic mainstay
By Rossella Tercatin
Moshe Lazar, right, explaining to a visitor at an etrog orchard in Calabria in 2015 about how to pick kosher fruit. (Esrogim.info/via JTA)
August 27, 2017, 4:50 am
Some Jews are paying upwards of $500 for an Italian etrog this year
A frost has led to a severe shortage, causing Chabad Hasidim to pony up a pretty penny for the coveted holiday citrons
By Cnaan Liphshiz
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