Language:
Hebrew
Year of publication:
2023
Titel der Quelle:
The Citron Compendium
Angaben zur Quelle:
(2023) 463-470
Keywords:
Agnon, Shmuel Yosef, Criticism and interpretation
;
Etrog
;
Hebrew literature, Modern History and criticism 20th century
Abstract:
This chapter discusses the two strata––the obvious and the subtle––at which S.Y. Agnon’s short story, “The Tzaddik's Etrog” may be read and understood. At the obvious level, Agnon describes a person who wishes to observe the halakhic injunction concerning the “Four Species” with extreme piety, paying careful attention to the excellence of the etrog. But upon arriving home with his precious etrog, the fruit accidentally falls on the ground, and thereby is no longer fit to be used to fulfill the law of the “Four Species.” At the deeper, hidden level, the reader becomes aware of the double meaning of the purchase of an expensive etrog. By making this purchase, the tzaddik (righteous man) places his costly citron above all human needs and completely ignores his commitments to his wife and family. By reading Agnon’s story at these two levels, the etrog is transformed from a botanical object used for a religious ritual into a symbol of a set of values that illuminates the priorities one must set in making crucial decisions during a lifetime.
DOI:
10.1007/978-3-031-25775-9_17
URL:
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