[Avodah] etrogim and shmitta

[Eli Turkel]

One of the problems during shemitta is buying etrogim which has kedushat
sheviit. According to many it also applies to hadasim and there is also an
opinion (I think R. Akiva Eger) that it applies to lulavim because of the dates.

The usual procedure is that (almost?) all the etrog dealers use otzar bet din
and sell the etrogim in closed boxes. The money paid is for the lulab/aravah
or the work of the seller.
In theory since one is paying only for the work involved things should
be cheaper
than other years.

Real life: Prices are pretty identical to last year. In addition the
closed boxes are
now label A.B.C,... with prices ranging between 30 and 100 shekel depending on
the quality of the goods in the closed box though I have heard stories of closed
boxes selling for 300 shekels for A++ quality.

Yesterday (sunday morning) someone asked R. Elyashiv about this and he said
that it is "shechorah gamur" and completely forbidden. His only advice was to
limit the number of etrogim bought to at most one per family and possibly less.
Of course all this after most people have bought their arba minim.

fun and games in EY

-- 
Eli Turkel