Soccer Dad

Borei minei v'samim

My father taught me a nice custom some time ago. He embalmed an essrog.

An essrog (citron) is one of the plants that is used during prayers during the holiday of Sukkos (Tabernacles). But after Sukkos, what can you do with an essrog.

Some people make jelly out of it.

Others, like my father, embalm it.

I believe I've seen a process of embalming an essrog that involves making some sort of perserving liquid to soak the essrog in prior to inserting the spices. But I'm not so fancy.

I take a nail and puncture the skin of the essrog. Then, I take cloves of allspice and insert it into the hole.

As you can see in the pictures, I did the embalming at different times. The earlier work was done on the left side, where the cloves are more closely packed. After puncturing the essrog, the juice escapes (some of which is absorbed into the cloves.) The right will shrink over the next few days now that I've punctured that side.

I did the first part with our seven and five year old children.

After the essrog has been embalmed another one of the arba minim (four kinds - of plants) can be added to the mix. The pleasant smelling hadassim (myrtle branches) maintains a nice smell even when dried. But it also absorbs odors. The combined essrog-hadassim-allspice combination is very nice.

So why do this?

Because once we've fulfilled the obligation of using the essrog over Sukkos, it's preferable to use it for another observance rather than discarding it. After Shabbos (the Sabbath) during havdalah (separation) it is customary to make a blessing and smell spices. The embalmed essrog is a very pleasant to observe this mitzvah.

The smell of an embalmed essrog does fade over time. Adding hadassim each year though, keeps a smell around.

Hopefully I can get the children to decorate the plastic container.

Technorati tags: Essrog, Sukkos, Judaism.