Balady citron

Infobox Cultivar| color = lightgreen
name = Balady

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image_width = 150px
image_caption = Balady, Chazon Ish-Halperin
species = "C. medica L."

Balady Citron is a variety of Israeli citron, or etrog, grown in Palestine for Jewish ritual purposes. "Baladi" is Arabic for "native."

Local Arab farmers began using this name in the mid-19th century to distinguish this variety from the Greek citron, which was cultivated along the Jaffa seashore.

The Balady was grown on the outskirts of Nablus and the neighboring Nazareth, on the outskirts of Safed and Alma al-Shaib, in Umm al-Fahm, in an orchard near Tiberias, and in Lifta village near Jerusalem.

History

The Balady was grown in the Holy Land at the time of the destruction of the Second Temple; however, only small amounts were used as etrog and it was not exported. It is not an attractive variety of citron, and new settlers continued using varieties they were accustomed to use while still at Diaspora [ [http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/6/6d/Letter_by_Torath_Chesed.pdf Letter by Rabbi Shneor Zalman of Lublin, the Torath Chesed]
* Responsa Imrei Bina by Rabbi Meir Aurbach, chapter 11 of the lest cycle of the first volume שו"ת אמרי בינה או"ח-יו"ד סוה"ס סי' יא] .

All of this changed in the 1870s, when Rabbi Chaim Elazar Wachs devoted himself to its cultivation, and managed to get it exported to Europe. Thanks to his high-esteemed authority and constant agitation, many individuals and even communities switched from the abundant "Greek" citron which was also called "Corfu", to the Israeli Balady citron. He believed that this variety of etrog has the strongest tradition-lineage of specie pureness, being found in the wilderness of Israel when the first settlers, including Nahmanides (1194 – c. 1270), arrived there. While the variety is not domesticated, it does not require grafted or intensive cultivation techniques. Even during the following years it was always utilized by great scholars and pious persons, who were certainly clear about its purity and appropriateness.

Even more importantly, he viewed in this trade an economic rescue for the Yishuv haYashan of Jerusalem. He himself spent huge amounts of money to plant etrog orchards in the village of Haitin, which is close to the city of Tiberias. He placed all the profits in the hands of the Warsaw Kolel which he was heading, which provided aid for the Jewish families from Polish origin, who were struggling from hunger and pain. The situation of those families gradually improved as a result of his effort.

He wrote many letters to the rest of the Rabbis in his time to influence the Judaism of Diaspora, that they should use only this strictly kosher citron. Those letters are published in his responsa "Nefesh Haya" as well in the responsas of those with whom he co-responded, and in special booklets dealing with the controversies of the Corfu and in promotion of an Israeli.

At the same time, the pro-Zionist newsletters "haMelitz" and "haLevanon" were instrumental in a vast agitation to build up an Etrog-economy in Palestine, paving the way for a Zionist state.

Decline & Intraspecific Graft

Despite all efforts, the Balady was still unable to compete with the Greek citron. At some years before, the Greek citron was already introduced for plantation by the Sephardic settlers thanks to the financial support and advocacy by Sir Moses Montefiore. This kind was also sold in diaspora as Israeli citron, and did quite a better job in competing with the Greek of Greece. Consequently, the Balady got to run a battle in two directions.

The supporters of the Etrog idea were strained in a conflict of interest. The Greek citron of Jaffa showed a good economical future, whereas the Halachic intensions were against it.

As a partial solution, the Greek-Jaffa citron was occasionally grafted onto Balady rootstock. The progeny achieved the beautiful properties of the scion type, while the possible influence of lemon rootstock was assumed to be flushed, and replaced with that of the most kosher Balady rootstock [ [http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/1/10/%D7%90%D7%92%D7%A8%D7%95%D7%AA_%D7%94%D7%A8%D7%90%D7%99%D7%94.pdf Igros HoRaye 52]
* [http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/4/4f/Igroth_HoRaye.pdf Igros HoRaye 114] ] .

At the end, even Rabbi Vacks himself was forced to commence topworking to part of his orchard, in order to replace part of the crop with the most beautiful Greek citron [ [http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/6/65/Biography_Nefesh_Haya_Etrog.pdf Biography of Rabbi Vacks] ] .

Rescue & Selections

The Old Yishuv rabbis Shmuel Salant and Meir Aurbach highly supported the progeny of Umm el-Fahm, but those declined very fast. Even later, there were still some Israeli rabbis who where not involved in the export, nor in agitation, and preferred doing the utmost for the rescue of Balady. Each of them collected propagation material from a different place, and brought them into cultivation under close supervision. This is how it developed a diversity of sub-varieties or selections called with different naming.

The list of those instrumental rabbis includes (arranged in order of date): Rabbi "Zarach Reuven Braverman" dean of the Yeshiva Meah Shearim, and Rabbi "Yechiel Michel Kibilewitz" [According to Professor Eliezer E. Goldschmidt (Hilkhot Sadeh, issue 146, Elul 5765, Page 24) it was obtained in 1910 at the remote nature of Wadi Qelt.] . Both were students of Rabbi Yehoshua Leib Diskin and are said to have been inspired to this ambition by their great master.

When the Chazon Ish reached the Holy Land, he made his own selection according to his satisfaction. He gave to plant for Yakov Halperin the founder of Zichron Meir in Bnei Brak the variety called Halperin-Chazon Ish, and to the Rabbi Michel Yehuda Lefkowitz the variety called Lefkowitz-Chazon Ish.

Even Rabbi Abraham Kook who very much promoted the intraspecific graft with his Hechsher, still certified that those etrogim cultivated around Schem and different Arabic villages, are not grafted at all.

References

* [http://www.jafgifts.com/esrog/Pri_Etz_Hadar_Jerusalem.pdf Kuntres Pri Etz Hadar (Jerusalem תרל"ח)]
* The publication "Yehuda Ve'Yerushelaim" edited by [http://he.wikipedia.org/wiki/%D7%99%D7%95%D7%90%D7%9C_%D7%9E%D7%A9%D7%94_%D7%A1%D7%95%D7%9C%D7%95%D7%9E%D7%95%D7%9F Rabbi Yoel Moshe Solomon] .
* [http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/4/49/%D7%9E%D7%9F_%D7%94%D7%9E%D7%A7%D7%95%D7%A8_-_%D7%93_%D7%A7%D7%9C%D7%95%D7%92%D7%A8%2C_%D7%91%D7%A0%D7%99%D7%9E%D7%99%D7%9F_-2-.pdf Agudath Pri Etz Hadar Jerusalem]
* [http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/9/98/Letter_from_Palestine.pdf Letter from Palestine by Rabbi Yaakov Even Sapir]
* [http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/7/71/Tzinner_Palestina.pdf Article from Rabbi Tzinner about Citron in Israel]

HaLevanon links

* HaLevanon 11 [http://www.jnul.huji.ac.il/dl/newspapers/halevanon/html/halevanon-18750120.htm no 23] Moshe Montefiori supporting plantation.
* HaLevanon 13 [http://www.jnul.huji.ac.il/dl/newspapers/halevanon/html/halevanon-18770601.htm no 42] Letter by Rabbi Meir Aurbach, [http://www.jnul.huji.ac.il/dl/newspapers/halevanon/html/halevanon-18770706.htm no 47] Letter by the Sephardic Chacham Bashi Rabbi Avraham Ashkenazi that there are some murkavim in Jaffa and in the neighborhood of Jerusalem and that since he realized that all the etrogs are starting with a Pitam, an Etrog that doesn't have one should not be used.
* HaLevanon 14 [http://www.jnul.huji.ac.il/dl/newspapers/halevanon/html/halevanon-18770810.htm no 2] go right to page 4 - History of "Balady" and description of sub-varieties by "Yakov Sapir", [http://www.jnul.huji.ac.il/dl/newspapers/halevanon/html/halevanon-18771005.htm No 9 - page 5] [http://www.jnul.huji.ac.il/dl/newspapers/halevanon/html/halevanon-18771109.htm no 14 - page 4] - [http://www.jnul.huji.ac.il/dl/newspapers/halevanon/html/halevanon-18771116.htm no 15 - page 7] "Yakov Sapir" addressing the conflict between the Jaffa-Greek etrog and the Balady.

External links

* A DNA comparison between the Israeli varieties among others, at [http://grande.nal.usda.gov/ibids/index.php?mode2=detail&origin=ibids_references&therow=796030 The Search for the Authentic Citron: Historic and Genetic Analysis; HortScienc 40(7):1963-1968. 2005]
* [http://www.jewishsf.com/content/2-0-/module/displaystory/story_id/12117/edition_id/233/format/html/displaystory.html Jewish News Weekly]
* [http://query.nytimes.com/gst/abstract.html?res=9405E6DC1230E433A2575AC2A9629C94629FD7CF The New York Times]
* [http://www.jaffa.co.il/main.asp?id=62 The Zionist side about citrus cultivation in Israel]
* [http://www.mideastweb.org/palpop.htm The Palestinian side about citrus cultivation in Israel]
* [http://domino.un.org/unispal.nsf/9a798adbf322aff38525617b006d88d7/e3ed8720f8707c9385256d19004f057c!OpenDocument The Hope Simpson Report] at UNISPAL. CHAPTER VIII. Agricultural Produce. (a) CITRUS CULTIVATION