What color is your esrog? On this simple question hinges a debate originating in the Mishnah. Surprisingly, one main point centers on Esther Hamalkah
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The common practice today is to use esrogim that have begun to turn yellow even if they are still mostly green. This is not universally accepted; some such as the Brisker rabbanim insist on fully yellow esrogim. In this essay we will explore some of the elements of a centuries-old dispute that continues to this very day.
The Problem with Green Esrogim In the third chapter of Maseches Succah the Mishnah discusses the status of a green-colored esrog with characteristic brevity: “If it is green like a leek [hayarok kikarsi] — Rabi Meir says it is kosher and Rabi Yehuda says it is pasul.” The halachah follows Rabi Yehuda and at first glance things look pretty bleak for the green esrogim.
But the Gemara teases out a nuance regarding the problem with green esrogim. The esrog is described in the Torah as pri eitz hadar and we derive from the word hadar that it must be free of certain aesthetic blemishes. Thus an esrog that is totally dried out or that has certain discolorations is pasul. The initial assumption of the Gemara is that greenness too is an absence of hadar.
The Gemara concludes however that this cannot be Rabi Yehuda’s reasoning. Elsewhere we find that Rabi Yehuda unlike his colleagues permits using a dried-out esrog for he interprets the word hadar differently and does not require that the esrog be beautiful. (The halachah does not follow Rabi Yehuda on this point and we require hadar for our arba minim.) Rather Rabi Yehuda’s reason is that a green esrog is assumed be immature (lo gamar peira).
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