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As we celebrate the Jewish holiday of Sukkot, host Marcela Sulak reads an extract from a story about the mitzvah of the etrog, by Israeli Nobel laureate S.Y. Agnon. It starts with the narrator making a trip to the Jerusalem neighborhood of Mea Shearim to purchase his own etrog:

“I pushed my way into the shop of a seller of old books, who abandons book selling during the month or so before Sukkot in order to sell etrogs. The shop was full of customers, aside from the usual scholars and the types that crowd about wherever crowds are gathered. A beautiful scent arose from the etrogs and hadasim, which masked the smell of old books, most of which had come from the apartments of poor folk, forced to sell off their libraries to buy Sabbath provisions or to marry off their daughters.”

During his trip the narrator is plunged into a world of over-eager sellers, beleaguered customers, and, most importantly, old rabbinical tales about etrogs.

Text:
“The Etrog,” by S. Y. Agnon. Translated by Jeffrey Saks. Forthcoming in Forevermore: Stories of the Old World and the New, edited by Jeffrey Saks, the Toby Press in 2016.

Music:
Shirei Sukkot – Yerushalayim (Shloshet HaRegalim)
Shirei Sukkot – LaSukkah Sheli
Avihu Medina – Melech BaSukkah

Producer: Laragh Widdess
Technical producer: Alex Benish