Jews all over the world are celebrating the festival of Sukkot
(Feast of the Tabernacles) since last night and for the next
week. According to Jewish custom, this commemorates the time
during the sojourn of the Israelites in the desert, when they
lives in temporary housing (Tabernacles). Among the other
customs kept during the holiday is the ritual use of the “4
species” (Arba’at Haminim) – lulav, hadas, arava and etrog –
which in modern Judaism is interpreted as the palm frond, myrtle
branch, willow branch, and the citron. While the identity of the
first three is more or less accepted by all, questions have been
raised as to the identity of the 4th, since in the biblical text
it is written as “pri etz hadar”. The citron, which is the fruit
identified as the etrog is a very interesting fruit. Its origins
have been disputed, and many have claimed that since the citron
is not a fruit tree local to the Levant but rather to the area
of Persia, it was not used as the etrog until the Persian or
even Hellenistic per