Abstract
Moster explains that prior to the etrog’s arrival in Israel during the Second Temple period (530 BCE–70 CE), the festival of Sukkot (Tabernacles) was primarily an agricultural celebration. That is, every September or October, farmers and their families would celebrate the harvest of their grapes, olives, figs, dates, and pomegranates in the huts (Hebrew sukkot) they had constructed in the fields. Moster then names the societal developments of the Second Temple period that allowed for the etrog, to the exclusion of any other fruit, to become the “choice tree-fruit” of Leviticus 23:40. Moster also suggests that the etrog was chosen instead of any other fruit because of its differentness, which made it suitable for ritual use. Finally, Moster demonstrates that during the Roman and Byzantine periods (ca. 70–637 CE), the lulav and etrog became important Jewish symbols, appearing nearly everywhere in Jewish art and iconography. In fact, because the Samaritans and to some extent Christians employed many of the same symbols at this time, the lulav and etrog were perhaps the only symbols that belonged to the Jews alone.
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Notes
- 1.
Gustaf Dalman , Work and Customs in Palestine, trans. Nadia Abdulhadi Sukhtian (Ramallah: Dar Al Nasher, 2013), 125.
- 2.
Ibid., 165. I have substituted the word “sukkah” for the translator’s “pergola.” The original German word is “Laube.”
- 3.
Edward Robinson and Eli Smith, Biblical Researches in Palestine, and in the Adjacent Regions. A Journal of Travels in the Year 1838, vol. 2, 2 vols. (Boston: Crocker and Brewster, 1856), 81.
- 4.
Dalman , Work and Customs in Palestine, 166. For those who take a similar approach, see Denis Baly, The Geography of the Bible (New York: Harper & Row, 1974), 34–41; David C. Hopkins, The Highlands of Canaan: Agricultural Life in the Early Iron Age (Sheffield, England; Decatur, GA: Almond, 1985), 229; Jeffrey L Rubenstein, The History of Sukkot in the Second Temple and Rabbinic Periods (Atlanta, GA: Scholars Press, 1995), 25–29; Carey Walsh, The Fruit of the Vine: Viticulture in Ancient Israel (Winona Lake, IN: Eisenbrauns, 2000), 139–41.
- 5.
Interestingly, in 1922, Jane Ellen Harrison described the Greek harvest festival called Haloa in a very similar way: “To this day the great round threshing-floor that is found in most Greek villages is the scene of the harvest festival. Near it a booth (skéné) is to this day erected, and in it the performers rest, and eat and drink in the intervals of their pantomimic dancing.” Jane Ellen Harrison, Prolegomena to the Study of Greek Religion, 3rd ed. (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1922), 146. Quoted in Rubenstein, The History of Sukkot in the Second Temple and Rabbinic Periods, 26–27, n. 43.
- 6.
Dalman , Work and Customs in Palestine, 165.
- 7.
Menahem Stern, Greek and Latin Authors on Jews and Judaism, vol. 1 (Jerusalem: Israel Acad. of Sciences and Humanities, 1974), 557.
- 8.
Ibid., 1:546.
- 9.
James L. Kugel , How to Read the Bible: A Guide to Scripture, Then and Now (New York: Free Press, 2007), 657.
- 10.
Translation from Daniel R. Schwartz, 2 Maccabees (Berlin; New York: Walter de Gruyter, 2008), 369. Note that “Tabernacles” has been changed to “Sukkot.”
- 11.
Translation following Rubenstein, The History of Sukkot in the Second Temple and Rabbinic Periods, 76.
- 12.
Daniel R. Schwartz, 2 Maccabees (Berlin; New York: Walter de Gruyter, 2008), 369.
- 13.
Translation from Rubenstein, The History of Sukkot in the Second Temple and Rabbinic Periods, 73; James H. Charlesworth and D. J. Harrington, eds., “Pseudo-Philo,” in The Old Testament Pseudepigrapha, vol. 2 (Garden City, NY: Doubleday, 1983), 321. I have changed “cedar” to “citron,” which is the proper understanding of Latin cedrum in this context. See Howard Jacobson, A Commentary on Pseudo-Philo’s Liber Antiquitatum Biblicarum: With Latin Text and English Translation, vol. 1 (Leiden: Brill, 1996), 517.
- 14.
Rubenstein, The History of Sukkot in the Second Temple and Rabbinic Periods, 73.
- 15.
Reinhard Pummer , The Samaritans: A Profile (Grand Rapids: William B. Eerdmans, 2016), 91–112.
- 16.
Philippe Bruneau, “Les Israélites de Délos et La Juiverie Délienne,” Bull. Corresp. Hell. 106 (1982): 466–504.
- 17.
Reinhard Pummer , Early Christian authors on Samaritans and Samaritanism: texts, translations, and commentary (Tübingen: Mohr Siebeck, 2002).
- 18.
Ruth Jacoby , “The Four Species in Jewish and Samaritan Tradition,” Eretz-Isr. 25 (1996): 404–9.
- 19.
It seems from a number of sources that the use of the four species was concentrated around (and perhaps limited to) the Temple during the Second Temple period. Mishnah Sukkah 3:12 states, “At first, the lulav bundle was taken for seven days in the temple and one day in the rest of the country. When the temple was destroyed, Rabbi Yohanan ben Zakkai ordained that the lulav bundle be taken for seven days in the rest of the country in memory of the temple.” For more, see Rubenstein, The History of Sukkot in the Second Temple and Rabbinic Periods, 182–83.
- 20.
Moshe Dothan, Hammath Tiberias: Early Synagogues and the Hellenistic and Roman Remains, vol. 1, 2 vols. (Jerusalem: Israel Exploration Society, Univ. of Haifa, Dep. of Antiquities and Museums, 1983), pl. 27.
- 21.
See Rina Talgam, Mosaics of Faith: Floors of Pagans, Jews, Samaritans, Christians, and Muslims in the Holy Land (Jerusalem: Yad Ben-Zvi, 2014), 86–95.
- 22.
Rachel Hachlili, Ancient Synagogues—Archaeology and Art: New Discoveries and Current Research, Handbook of Oriental Studies 105 (Leiden: Brill, 2013), 124.
Photographic Credits
Fig. 4.1 American Colony (Jerusalem) Photo Department, A Watch-Tower on Stilts. A Vineyard at the Foot of Mt. Tabor, Photograph, 1933, Matson Photograph Collection, http://www.loc.gov/pictures/resource/matpc.15634.
Fig. 4.2 American Colony (Jerusalem) Photo Department, Galilee Trip. Saffourieh (near Nazareth). Saforis (Sepphoris). General View of the Saffourie[h] Threshing Floors below the Village with Watchman’s Booth, Photograph, 1940, Matson Photograph Collection, http://www.loc.gov/pictures/resource/matpc.20756.
Fig. 4.3 Etan Ayalon, Images from the Land of the Bible (Tel Aviv: Eretz Israel Museum, 2012), 279.
Fig. 4.4 American Colony (Jerusalem) Photo Department, To Sinai via the Red Sea, Tor, and Wady Hebran. Native Hut Made of Palm Branches, Photograph, 1920, Matson Photograph Collection, http://www.loc.gov/pictures/item/mpc2004004410/PP/.
Fig. 4.5 American Colony (Jerusalem) Photo Department, Costumes, Characters, Etc. Fruit Vendor, Photograph, 1920, Matson Photograph Collection, http://www.loc.gov/pictures/collection/matpc/item/mpc2004001343/PP/.
Fig. 4.6 Meir624, Hoshana Rabbah in the Churva Synagogue, Photograph, 2013, https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:הושענא_רבה_בבית_הכנסת_החורבה.jpg.
Fig. 4.9 left and middle images from Avishai Teicher, PikiWiki Israel 7436 Maon Synagogue Mosaic, 2010, https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:PikiWiki_Israel_7436_maon_synagogue_mosaic.jpg; G41rn8, Jordan0060.jpg, Photograph, 2014, 41, https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Jordan0060.jpg.
Fig. 4.10 Courtesy of Todd Bolen/BiblePlaces.com. I have added the two arrows.
Fig. 4.11 Courtesy of Todd Bolen/BiblePlaces.com.
Fig. 4.12 Crispins C. Crispian, Beit Alfa Synagogue Mosaic, Photograph, 2017, https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Beit_Alfa_Synagogue_Mosaic.jpg. I have added the arrows.
Fig. 4.13 Courtesy of Prof. Zeev Weiss, The Sepphoris Expedition, The Hebrew University of Jerusalem. Photo: Gabi Laron.
Fig. 4.15 Humus sapiens~commonswiki, 2nd Century Rome Gold Goblet Shows Jewish Ritual Objects, 2005, https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:2nd_century_Rome_gold_goblet_shows_Jewish_ritual_objects.jpg. I have added the arrow.
Fig. 4.17 Courtesy of Todd Bolen/BiblePlaces.com. I have added the arrows.
Fig. 4.18 Courtesy of Todd Bolen/BiblePlaces.com. I have added the arrows.
Fig. 4.19 Courtesy of Todd Bolen/BiblePlaces.com.
Fig. 4.22 Courtesy of Benyamim Tsedaka.
Fig. 4.26 Image on the left courtesy of Todd Bolen/BiblePlaces.com.
Fig. 4.27 Avishai Teicher, Mosaic of Old Synagogue in Maon, 2010, https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:PikiWiki_Israel_7442_mosaic_of_old_synagogue_in_maon.jpg; Avishai Teicher, Menorah in Maon Mosaic, Photograph, 2010, https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:PikiWiki_Israel_7435_menorah_in_maon_mosaic.jpg.
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Moster, D.Z. (2018). From Foreign Import to Jewish Symbol. In: Etrog. Palgrave Pivot, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-73736-2_4
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