[Avodah] Shehechiyanu on esrog jam

[Zev Sero]

On 31/01/18 11:08, Micha Berger via Avodah wrote:
> According to the MB, one can't use them either. But according to other
> shitos... It is covered by esrog? (Can you use a fingered citron for the
> mitzvah on Sukkos?)

AIUI, yes, these are kosher esrogim, because this is their natural form, 
so they have the din of "Esrog Hakushi", which if it grows on a normal 
tree is possul, but if it grows on a tree which naturally produces such 
esrogim it's kosher.  According to R Ari Zivitofski this is the psak 
received by the Jews who settled on the Malabar Coast in the late 15th 
century and found these esrogim growing there.


> Nowadays, many fruit down't even seem seasonal.
> Apples just cost a little more part for the year. How do we justify
> making shehechiyanu at all,

Indeed, if one can't tell whether it's from the new season one cannot 
say shehecheyanu.  This is why we don't say it for potatoes, carrots, 
etc., which are commonly stored in root cellars and available all year. 
The same is nowadays true for apples and oranges.

With other summer fruit there are still noticeable seasons, since in the 
winter the price goes up dramatically, so high that most people don't 
buy them.  This is the equivalent of a situation the poskim discuss, 
that rich people preserve a fruit but poor people don't, and the psak is 
that the rich people are batla da'tam and one says shehecheyanu when the 
new season's fruit comes in.  If the price of Chilean fruit in winter 
comes down to the point that everyone thinks nothing of buying them, 
then indeed the shehecheyanu for those species will disappear.

-- 
Zev Sero            A prosperous and healthy 2018 to all
zev at sero.name       Seek Jerusalem's peace; may all who love you prosper