[Avodah] hidur

[Eli Turkel via Avodah]

<<There is a famois R Chaim that if one can use both etgrogim then one
should
: first use the beautiful but *might* be pasul since if one uses  the
: minimally kosher one then one has accomplished the mitzvah and there is no
: reason to choose a second one.

This presumes you can afford both, or have access to a friend who will
give you a matanah al menas lehachzir of whichever you aren't buying. The
post you're replying to is "if one is forced to choose".

My own dilemma. Say I earmark $X (Y NIS, in your case) to spend on
my esrog. And say the price of a definitely kosher (or at least, just
as sure to be kosher) but not very hadar esrog is half that or less.
Should I buy myself a mehudar, or should I buy two esrogim and give the
other to someone hitting on hard times? Shouldn't the asei (tzedaqah,
dei machsero) trump a "mere" hidur mitzvah (esrog)? And yet, we know
many great rabbanim who didn't follow this calculus. What am I missing? >>

As usual R Chaim is asking a theoretical question - he was not a posek
In fact I once heard from RYBS that in fact almost all etrogim are kosher
bidieved.
In Israel one can get a mehudar set for about 100 shekel ($25)

see
http://www.dafyomi.co.il/nazir/halachah/nz-hl-002.htm

2. Bava Kama 9a (R. Zeira citing Rav Huna): One must spend up to a third
for Mitzvos.

3. Question: What does this mean?

i. Suggestion: One must spend a third of his wealth to fulfil a Mitzvah.

ii. Rejection: It is unreasonable that if he encounters three (expensive)
Mitzvos, he must exhaust all his wealth!

4. Answer (R. Zeira): One must spend an extra third to beautify a Mitzvah.


Shulchan Aruch (ibid.): Some say that if he finds two Esrogim to buy, and
one of them is nicer than the other, he should buy the nicer one if the
price difference is no more than a third of the other.

i. Source (Beis Yosef DH Kaneh): Rashi (Bava Kama 9b DH b'Hidur) says that
if one found two Sifrei Torah to buy, he should add a third of the price to
buy the nicer one.

ii. Kaf ha'Chayim (17): It seems that neither opinion requires one who
bought an Esrog bigger than an egg to exchange it for a nicer one. However,
the Rosh, Gra and Taz obligate doing so. The Magen Avraham says that
perhaps the Shulchan Aruch holds like the Rosh.

iii. Kaf ha'Chayim (18): One must add a third from an Esrog that one could
bless on without Safek. Hidur depends on what people in the area consider
nice.

-- 
Eli Turkel
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