5840 —אתרוגי קלבריה ואתרוג המורכב – והעזרה האמיתית לארץ ישראל בקיום התורה והמצוות

B"H, 12 Marcheshvan, 5718

Brooklyn.

Shalom u'Vrachah!

In reply to your letter of Chol HaMoed Sukkos, in which you ask the reason why it is the custom among many Jews to take esrogim from the region of Calabria for the mitzvah of esrog.

I am surprised at your question on this, at a time when much has already been written about it in responsa and halachic authorities, etc. See the Responsa Chasam Sofer, Orach Chaim 207, the Responsa Bikkurei Shlomo 28, and many more.

As for what you bring in your letter, that there are rabbis who take esrogim from other places, I am also surprised at the question. For there are, after all, many matters in which communities differ from one another according to the rulings of their great Torah authorities, though all accept in the fullest measure the Torah of Moshe and its mitzvos (it is understood that we are speaking here of true great Torah authorities and leaders of the Jewish people, and not of those whose authority comes from money and similar reasons). In particular details of law, just as it was already in the time of the Mishnah and the Gemara, with the disputes of Beis Shammai and Beis Hillel, so too it is possible in later generations; but, understandably, not in the laws that have been accepted in the Shulchan Aruch by the whole Jewish people.

I must add further that what surprises me most of all in reading your letter is that you connect your question on this with helping Eretz Yisrael, although it has no connection or relationship to it. For one must take an esrog because so G‑d, blessed be He, commanded, and it must be an esrog of which the Torah says that it is an esrog. For the great Torah authorities who have accepted that a grafted esrog is invalid according to the Torah, it makes no difference in what country it grows; the fact that it grows in Eretz Yisrael adds nothing at all toward fulfilling the mitzvah of esrog with it, according to those who have accepted the law that a grafted esrog is invalid, and it is a blessing in vain. And it is not with such money that one can help the land, especially a land that is called the Holy Land, which means just what it says, that it is a land all of whose matters must be holy, and, in the Torah's expression, ארץ אשר עיני ה' אלקיך בה מראשית שנה ועד אחרית שנה "a land upon which the eyes of the L‑rd your G‑d are, from the beginning of the year until the end of the year" (Devarim 11:12). The truest truth is that only by going in the way of Torah and mitzvah can Jews be helped and bring the redemption near. Just as the exile came only because of our sins, as we say in prayer, ומפני חטאינו וכו' "because of our sins, etc." (Musaf for the Festivals), so too the redemption will come through teshuvah for the sins and transgressions, as is the ruling of the Gemara and the halachic authorities in several places (see Sanhedrin 97b; Rambam, Laws of Teshuvah 7:5), that then G‑d, blessed be He, will send us our righteous Moshiach, who will gather in the exiles and bring us to the true and complete redemption. Therefore every Jew who truly wishes to do something to bring the redemption near and shorten the exile must first of all do everything he can so that the observance of the Torah and its mitzvos among Jews become ever greater, and must fight with every possible means against everything that opposes this. And may G‑d, blessed be He, help you do your part in this in the fullest measure.

With blessing,

In the name of the Rebbe, may he live long and good days,

Secretary

Summary

This letter explains that the choice of esrog is a matter of halachah, not of helping Eretz Yisrael: a grafted esrog is invalid wherever it grows. The Holy Land and the whole Jewish people are truly helped, and the redemption brought near, only by strengthening Torah, mitzvos and teshuvah.