[Avodah] expensive etrog

[Micha Berger]

On Fri, Sep 29, 2017 at 02:05:15PM +0200, Ben Waxman via Avodah wrote:
:  In OH 656 the Mechaber writes that if one is shopping for an etrog
: and sees two etrogim, one more mehudar than the other, you need to
: buy the mehudar (either it is mitzvah or possibly a chiyuv).
: However, this only applies if the mehudar etrog is no more than 33%
: more expensive. The language that the Mechaber uses in the "yesh
: omrim" is "ein meyakrim oto yoter m'shlish"....

There is a machloqes whether the shelish is milevar (Ran, arguing from
the Rif's silence, on Rif Sukkah 16a; Yam shel Shelomom #24), in which
case it's 50% -- 1/3 of the total 150%; or if the shelish is milegav
(Rosh 1:7), i.e. 1/3 in the Western sense, with a total of 4/3 the
original price.

The SA (OC 656:1) holds like the Rosh, lequla, but accoring to the BY,
he was doing so only on the ground of safeiq derabbanan lequla. Hiddur
mitzvah is derabbanan.

My first thought was -- what? It's a word in the pasuq WRT esrog -- "peri
eitz hadar"! That looks more like peshat than asmachta for a derabbanan!

But I realized something. Even though this din is being discussed WRT
esrog, the kelal of kehadeir bemitzvah ad shelish is not specific to 4
minim. As in Rashi (9b "behidur") invoking "ze keili ve'anveihu" to tell
you to buy the more expensive ST if it is up to shelish more pricey than
your other choice.

(So that according to Rashi, if you have only two choices -- mehudas
or very mehudar, and they differ by less than a shelish, you are to by
the very mehudar. Tosafos disagree. This tangent is discussed in the
Shitah Mequbetzer.)

Anyway, the SA calling milegav a qula implies that he sees up to 1/3
as a chiyuv derabbanan, and beyond could well be reshus. If it were
reshus up to a shelish and assur beyond that, then he'd be making lesser
expenditures assur -- a chumerah.

Personally, given the number of Jews who wouldn't spend the money on a 4
minim set, I like spending the 1/3 exactly, and using any other money I
wish to use to fulfill the mitzvah of 4 minim to subsidize someone else's.
(Looking at the archives, it seems I've tried marketing this idea most
years since 1999.) Of course, there are so many Jews who can't afford
yom tov, and I'd like to help with that.... In the end, the calculus of
how to triage that money can get SO difficult.

Tir'u baTov!
-Micha

-- 
Micha Berger             For those with faith there are no questions.
micha at aishdas.org        For those who lack faith there are no answers.
http://www.aishdas.org                     - Rav Yaakov of Radzimin
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