“I didn’t grow up in a place where etrogs could
grow, much less knowing what they were, so having
one to tend to could help me connect personally
with my ancestral land-based rituals, moreover in
a neighborhood web of others doing the same,” one
WhatsApp member said.

That’s not to say it hasn’t been a challenge. To be
kosher for the harvest holiday, etrog trees must have
unique genetic material; they can’t be clones of a
parent plant. Kosher etrog trees cannot be grafted —
planted from the existing limb of another etrog tree
— and instead must come from a seed.

After Sukkot last year, Weiss frantically called on
community members to donate their leftover etrogs,
from where he harvested his many seeds.

Because of the Northeast’s colder autumn and
winter temperature, the trees must be closely moni-
tored in chillier seasons and brought inside before a
frost. They require year-round sun and regular water.

When Weiss wasn’t keeping his dozens of etrog trees
on a folding table in his backyard, they sat on his
enclosed porch, serving as a Zoom background for
meetings (and a nifty conversation starter).

Weiss was inspired by Rabbi Vivie Mayer, a teacher
of his who also raised etrog trees on the East Coast.

Mayer, however, had little guidance when she took
on a similar project years ago.

“I brought the trees indoors before the first frost
and back outdoors after the last frost. As those weeks
approached, I paid special attention to the nighttime
temperatures,” she said. “When I brought them
outside, I put them near my bee balm and butterfly
bushes, which attract pollinators. But clearly, I was
managing the fertilization like a farmer, as we only
got two fruits in 10 years from four trees!”
With the many variables that any agricultural
process entails, there’s no guarantee that the saplings
will one day flower and fruit, helping to fulfill the
sukkot mitzvah and what Mayer calls “‘hiddur mitz-
vah’ — making a mitzvah lovely and cherished.”
However, Weiss, in the spirit of following the
farming practices of his ancestors, wants to play by
the rules. He’s entrenched in the complicated Jewish
agricultural laws, trying his best to navigate and
apply them to his makeshift etrog arboretum.

As is common in Jewish tradition, the very laws in
question have already been debated and discussed.

Nati Passow, founder of the now-closed Jewish
Farm School in Philadelphia and the director of
operations and finance at Dayenu: A Jewish Call to
Climate Action, has worked in the past to help iden-
tify the beginning of a tree’s orla period, the three-
year wait before a tree’s fruit can be harvested, as well
as answer other questions.

Weiss’ etrog growing project is among a growing
number of Jewish grassroots agricultural projects in
the past two decades, Passow said. It’s an opportunity
to learn from tradition and apply it to today’s world.

“It’s a pretty amazing way to draw from this tra-
dition that emerged from a land far away and then
make it more local and more personal,” he said. JE
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