I once figured out that out of the many plants I tried to grow one summer, the two zucchini, three peppers, and one eggplant that actually grew cost me ten dollars each. I think I’m better off just relegating my black thumb to typing articles!
With shemittah coming up, growing produce seems to be on everyone’s mind. Imagine if the blessing of abundant growth was also coupled with the opportunity to enable Klal Yisrael to perform a mitzvah. Meet the man who knows everything you need to know about esrogim, Ori Schwartzman.
It began in 1935 with my great-grandfather, Rav Yehoshua Zev Schwartzman. His sons, Reb Chanan and Reb Dov, planted esrog plant seedlings in the community of Chibat Tzion in Petach Tikvah. Rav Yehoshua Zev and his sons took esrog branches from the Chazon Ish and grafted them with the branches of the Braverman esrogim to create Schwartzman esrogim.
Eighty years and four generations later, our business has become well known. My father, Betzalel, grew the business and brought the esrogim overseas to America and Canada. As the fourth generation, my brother Lidor and I work together in the distribution of our esrogim and also supply Yanover, Moroccan, Chazon Ish, and Teimani esrogim, in addition to our own. This year we gained a fifth generation, when I brought my 16-year-old son, Ofek Chaim, along with me on my annual trip to America.
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