Balady citron facts for kids

Quick facts for kids Balady citron (etrog)
Braverman sub-variety of Balady citron
Species	C. medica L. var. Balady

The Balady citron is a special type of citron fruit. It is also known as an etrog. This fruit is grown in Israel and Palestine. It is mainly used by Jewish people for important religious ceremonies. The Balady citron did not originally come from this area. It was brought here a very long time ago, around 500 or 300 BCE. It was imported by either Jewish or Greek settlers. At first, not many people grew it. But in the 1870s, a religious leader named Rabbi Chaim Elozor Wax helped make it very popular.

What Does "Balady" Mean?

The word Balady comes from Arabic. It means "native" or "local." Farmers in the area started using this name in the mid-1800s. They used it to tell this citron apart from the Greek citron. The Greek citron was grown near the city of Jaffa.

The Balady citron is a type of citron that tastes sour. Other sour citrons include the Florentine and Diamante citron from Italy. The Greek citron is also a sour variety.

How Did Balady Citron Get Here?

Citrus fruits like the citron are not originally from Palestine. Some historians believe Jewish people brought the citron to Judea around 500 BCE. They came from Babylonia. Others think Greek settlers brought it from India about 200 years later, around 300 BCE. Many believe the citron is the oldest fruit grown in this region.

Because the citron is important for Jewish rituals, small amounts were sent abroad during Roman times. In the 1800s, Balady citrons were grown in several places. These included areas near Nablus, Nazareth, Tiberias, Safed, and Alma al-Shaib. They were also grown in Umm al-Fahm and the village of Lifta near Jerusalem.

Around the mid-1800s, Balady citrons started to become important in Europe. This led to a big religious discussion among Jewish people. They debated if these citrons had been "grafted." Grafting is when parts of two different plants are joined to grow as one. If a citron was grafted, some believed it might not be suitable for religious use.

In the 1870s, Rabbi Chaim Elozor Wax worked hard to grow Balady citrons. He also arranged for them to be shipped to Europe. He believed the Balady citron was the purest type. He thought it had the strongest connection to ancient traditions. Rabbi Wax claimed that when Nahmanides (who died in 1270) arrived in the country, this citron was growing wild.

Rabbi Wax wrote many letters to other rabbis. He hoped to convince Jewish communities around the world to use the Balady citron. These letters were published in his religious writings called Nefesh Haya. They also appeared in other books and pamphlets. Thanks to his efforts, many Jewish people started buying the Balady citron. They chose it instead of the Greek citron. Even though the Balady was not widely grown, important scholars and religious people used it. They believed in its purity and suitability for rituals.

Rabbi Wax also saw the citron trade as a way to help the Jewish community in Palestine. He invested a lot of money to create citron orchards in Hittin. He then donated the money earned from these orchards to charity. In 1875, Rabbi Wax planted 600 citron trees. By 1883, over 40,000 Balady citrons had been sent out of the country.

Newspapers that supported Zionism (a movement for Jewish self-determination) also helped. HaMelitz and HaLevanon encouraged growing etrogs in Israel. They saw this as an important step towards Jewish independence.

Some years before, the Greek citron had been brought to Israel. New Sephardic immigrants planted it with money from Sir Moses Montefiore. This new Greek-Jaffa variety was more successful in business than the Balady. Despite all the efforts, the Balady citron could not compete with the Greek citron. By the early 1900s, growing Balady citrons was very basic and limited. The Balady was also considered less attractive. Some new immigrants continued to use the citron types they were used to from their home countries.

People who supported the Balady citron faced a problem. The Greek citron grown in Jaffa looked like it had a good economic future. However, Jewish religious law (Halakha) was against it. As a partial solution, the Greek-Jaffa citron was sometimes grafted onto Balady rootstock. This meant the beautiful qualities of the Greek citron were combined with the pure Balady root. At one point, Rabbi Wax even had to agree to graft some of his own trees. He replaced part of his crop with the Greek citron.

Saving and Selecting Balady Citrons

The rabbis of the Old Yishuv, Shmuel Salant and Meir Auerbach, supported the citrons from Umm el-Fahm. But these citrons quickly became less common. Later, some Israeli rabbis worked hard to save the Balady citron. Each rabbi collected planting material from different places. They then grew these plants carefully. This led to many different types, or "sub-varieties," of Balady citron. Each type had a different name.

Some of the rabbis who helped save the Balady citron include:

• Rabbi Zarach Reuven Braverman, who started the Yeshiva Mea Shearim.
• Rabbi Yosef Chaim Sonnenfeld.
• Students of Rabbi Yehoshua Leib Diskin, who were inspired by him.

When the Chazon Ish arrived in the Holy Land, he chose his own preferred type of Balady citron. He gave plants of the "Halperin-Chazon Ish" variety to Yakov Halperin. Halperin was the founder of Zichron Meir in Bnei Brak. The Chazon Ish also gave the "Lefkowitz-Chazon Ish" variety to Rabbi Michel Yehuda Lefkowitz.

Rabbi Abraham Isaac Kook supported grafting the Greek citron onto Balady citron rootstock. He even gave his Hechsher (kosher certification) for this. He believed it was a good way to grow beautiful etrogs that were also kosher. However, he still recognized the religious importance of citrons grown in different Arab villages. These were not as pretty, but they were praised for not being grafted.

Balady citron varieties are still grown and sold today. You can find them in Israel and in Jewish communities around the world. They are especially liked by followers of the Brisker Rov and the Chazon Ish.

Local Balady citrons are also used in Israeli cuisine. People use them to make jams, juice, and even alcoholic drinks.