CURR 46-49

FROZEN ETROGIM

I have been successful in growing Etrogim, but due to the difference in seasons in this part of the world, they have come to fruit now. Would it be permissible to put them into deep freeze until Succoth? Equally, would it be permissible to re-use an Etrog which has been put into deep freeze after the Festival? (From Rabbi C. E. Cassell, Bulawayo, South Africa.)

THIS question is most interesting and is, I believe, much easier to answer nowadays than it would have been fifty years ago. In the last few years the development and the availability of deep-freezers have resulted in quite a good deal of rabbinic discussion which has found its way into the Responsa literature. The question is whether meat may be put into a deep-freezer and be kept for months. Since the questions involved with the deep-freezer and its use have so far been confined to the matter of freezing meat and using it months later, we ought to go into this question first and see if there are any analogies or principles developed which would aid us in the question which you ask about the Etrog.

About frozen meat, all they knew in the past was of meat that was accidentally frozen by the cold of the northern winter or had fallen into a river in winter during transportation. The question then arose about such frozen meat because of the rule in the Shulchan Aruch (Yore Deah 69:12) that meat which is kept three days without salting may not be boiled (but may be roasted), because after three days the blood is dried up in the veins and arteries and will not be drawn out any more by the salt. Isserles’ note that follows is crucial to all later decisions. He says that we prohibit the use of such meat altogether (not even permitting roasting) because some may believe that boiling also is permitted. What, then, is the status of frozen meat? On the face of it, it should be prohibited because of the lapse of time without salting. In fact, Joseph Teomim (in the Peri Megadim) says that it should be absolutely prohibited because freezing has the effect of cooking.

But a later authority (still before the time of freezers and still speaking of meat frozen by accident, etc.) Jehiel Epstein in the authoritative code, Aruch ha-Shulchan, permits such frozen meat. He says the meat so frozen is in a state of suspension; it is like a stone and the blood does not rot or spoil it. His decision became the basis of the various permissions given recently for the use of the freezer, namely, that the meat becomes like stone, no spoiling occurs and, therefore, after thawing out it is like new, and may be salted and the blood drawn out thereby. This is virtually the decision of the latest authority, Moses Feinstein, in his Responsa Igros Moshe (Yore Deah 28). He says that Joseph Teomim’s objection in the Peri Megadim that freezing is equivalent to cooking (and therefore the meat cannot be eaten since it is as if it were cooked without salting) applies only if the meat were frozen by direct contact with the ice and got wet; but if it is frozen hard and dry, it would be quite usable later. In other words, he follows the decision of Jehiel Epstein in the Aruch ha-Shulchan.

Now, what principles do we derive from this discussion of frozen meat which would apply to the frozen Etrog? One thing is sure, if the freezing is not done merely by putting it on ice, where water from melting ice would penetrate and spoil the Etrog, but if the Etrog is wrapped and frozen dry, then by analogy with the meat, it would be quite usable.

However, the main problem with regard to the suitability of an Etrog for ritual use is not quite the same as a problem with regard to meat, although it is really analogous to it. With meat the question is whether or not the freezing dries up the blood so that it can never be drawn out again. With an Etrog the liquid or the juice must not be drawn out but must remain in it for the Etrog to be usable. An Etrog that is dried up cannot be used. These laws are discussed in Orah Hayyim 648, though there are some authorities (see 648, 4) who it would permit even a dried Etrog if its outer form were intact and its inner seed chambers were intact. But in general the question of whether it was dried up or not is the crucial one. Therefore Isserles says (648, 1) that last year’s Etrog, because it surely must be dried up, cannot be used. This he bases upon a Responsum of Maharil, 5. However the Mogen David questions this decision and says it depends upon whether it is really dried up or not (i.e., not merely upon the age of the Etrog). As to whether it is dried up or not, the Shulchan Aruch gives a definite and practical test: A needle and thread is run through the Etrog and if the thread is damp, the Etrog is Kosher.

Therefore, applying all this to your question, we would conclude as follows: First of all, you do not intend to keep these a whole year but only part of a year. Therefore even Isserles would not object to it. But even if you kept them a whole year, the rule of testing by needle and thread would still apply. Since modern freezing does not involve contact with ice, which on melting would give water to penetrate and spoil the Etrog, then we can say that as long as the Etrog keeps its shape and its beauty (because it has to be hadar) and as long as it keeps its moisture, it is usable.