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Sukkot and The Meaning of The Etrog
The Jewish Sukkot festival commences on the fifth day after "Yom Kippur" and lasts for seven days. The word Sukkot literally means "booths", which is in direct reference to the temporary dwelling construction for a seven day live-in within that holiday period. This is not in anyway repentance or any atonement, though it does symbolize the agony of the past when Jews in order to flee persecution had to undergo a long march through Mount Sinai, while living in tents to almost forty years.
The holiday period is also referred to as the "Feast of the Tabernacles", or the season of "Rejoicing". The fruit of the citrus tree whether it is a lemon or orange fruit, plays a crucial role as the "fruit of the goodly tree". The citron, or the Esrog, is a citrus fruit belonging to the same family of an orange or a lemon and has a mention in the holy book as among the four species of plants bearing the fruit of a "noble tree". This conjunction is significant to the Sukkot with the citron, or the Esrog.
The Esrog fruit is practically six inches long and oblong in shape, just like a big lemon. History has it that the Citron fruit or Esrog plant, in all practicality, was originally brought from Babylonia from where the Jews fled from captivity. In a way, the Esrog or Citron, symbolizes "freedom from oppression". During the festival period of Sukkot, which actually is a very joyous holiday and not entirely too solemn, there is one important "symbolic" gesture. Each day of the seven day Succos, a member of every Jewish family is required to wave in each direction, as well as above and below, the Esrog or citron plant that symbolizes that "peace" prevails all around them. For a "tribe" that faced persecution from biblical times, the word "peace" has a different dimension, and the Sukkot along with Esrog serves as a good reminder for generations to come.
There are many variations to the spelling of "Sukkot". Sukkos, Succos, is the spelling in Hebrew transliterated. "Sukkot" is the official English spelling of the holiday. Often when Hebrew words are changed to English the "S" changes to a "T", thus the change.
"Esrog" also has that conversion. In Hebrew it is transliterated to "Esrog" but when the word is converted to English it is spelled, and pronounced, "Etrog."
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