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etrog
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
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
Illustrative: Etrogs for sale at the 'four-species' market in Jerusalem on October 13, 2016. (Sebi Berens/Flash90)
August 21, 2017, 6:32 pm
Russian chief rabbi says EU sanctions won’t harm etrog availability
Berel Lazar says exemption will permit continued export of Italian citrus fruit prized by members of Chabad community
By JTA
Illustrative: An ultra-Orthodox man examines a citron (etrog) in Jerusalem (photo credit: Yonatan Sindel/Flash90)
August 9, 2017, 10:44 pm
As Italy’s citron crop fails, an archaeologist looks to fruit’s 2,500-year history in Israel
After a disastrous frost that looks to wipe out the majority of this year’s etrog yield, Chabad Jewry braces for a crisis ahead of the Feast of Tabernacles
By Amanda Borschel-Dan
Samuel Ekstein from New York City controls the quality of a lime-green citron fruit in Santa Maria Del Cedro, southern Italy, on September 14, 2016. (AFP/Alberto Pizzoli)
October 4, 2016, 4:44 pm
In search for perfect etrog, Italian farmers cultivate an ancient Jewish tradition
Rabbis search Calabrian countryside for unblemished citrons used during upcoming festival of Sukkot
By Angus Mackinnon
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 25, 2015, 11:34 am
As Israel’s groves lie fallow, Morocco captures etrog market
With Moroccan citrons lining international shelves, a look at the country’s long tradition of interfaith cooperation in bringing the fruits to a sukkah near you
By Ben Sales
A man holding an etrog in Morocco. (Ben Sales/JTA)
September 25, 2015, 11:30 am
A trek into Morocco’s wild Atlas mountains — for etrogs
A writer on a mission faces a long, perilous drop before finding success, and an unlikely kinship with a man named Mohammed
By Ben Sales
Cosenza, Italy's Via Arabia decorated with menoras for the holidays. (Mario Tosti)
December 19, 2014, 7:08 pm
Italian town’s Arab Street decked with menorahs for Xmas
Legend has it the Second Temple’s golden menorah was lost by Visigoth invaders in Cosenza in 410 CE
By Rossella Tercatin
Shmuel Mugisha of the Abayudaya Jewish community in Uganda picks up the emergency lulav in Kampala, just a few hours before the holiday began. (Melanie Lidman/Times of Israel)
October 13, 2014, 9:10 am
The Great Ugandan Lulav Crisis, averted with a little help from my fronds
I had two hours in Tel Aviv to rustle up some species and rescue Sukkot for the Jews of Abayudaya. Could Facebook save the day?
By Melanie Lidman
Naftali Berger holding his newly purchased $200 etrog, Oct. 6, 2014. (photo credit: Hillel Kuttler/JTA)
October 8, 2014, 12:35 pm
From Morocco to New York, the quest for the perfect etrog
Tsvi Dahan grows the precious Sukkot fruit on a half-acre plot in southern Morocco. Then he brings the most pristine specimens to New York, for the most demanding of buyers
By Hillel Kuttler
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