The Fruit That Remembers: What Botanists Say About the Etrog
The Etrog is undoubtedly one of the most unusual Jewish ceremonial objects. If you have spent some time with an Etrog, you know that it smells wonderful, it doesn't taste so great, and it looks like a mutant lemon, (usually) with a distinctive protrusion on one end. It is one of the Arba Minim , the four kinds of plants that Jews use ceremonially during prayers on the holiday of Sukkot. As I learn more about the Etrog, both Judaically and botanically, I realize what a powerful symbol it is for the Jewish people. In English, an etrog is called a 'citron,' and it's a very early member of the citrus family. According to many botanical scholars, it’s the very first citrus fruit to be cultivated. In fact, almost all of the citrus fruits that we know of today - grapefruits, oranges, lemons, limes - are human creations, cultivated by crossing the four original citrus fruits (citron, mandarin, pomelo, and papeda) with each other. This would indicate that not