What you'll learn

• 1 (01:40) **Background and Motivation** - R' Yehuda Schwartz introduces his interest in Halacha, history, and science, and explains why he wrote a detailed article on Moroccan esrogim.
• 2 (07:29) **Why Focus on Esrogim?** - Schwartz describes his shock at seeing people spend over $100 on esrogim that looked like cucumbers, and his mission to inform the public.
• 3 (12:12) **Pre-1500 History: No Grafted Esrogim** - Before 1500, grafting was not a halachic issue; the first grafted esrog appeared in Florence, Italy during the Renaissance.
• 4 (15:02) **The Yanova and Carfu Esrogim (1700s-1800s)** - The Yanova (Genoa) esrog was the Ashkenazi tradition for nearly a thousand years, but the Carfu esrog from Greece became a major controversy.
• 5 (19:54) **Advantages and Disadvantages of the Yanova Esrog** - The Yanova esrog has a strong Ashkenazi mesorah, but grafting was rampant in Italy, especially after WWII, making it controversial today.
• 6 (22:30) **The Baladi/Chazon Ish Esrog and Grafting** - The Chazon Ish esrog originated from Carfu esrogim grafted with native Baladi esrogim in Eretz Yisrael, which is why they look different.
• 7 (25:22) **Moroccan Esrog Enters the Scene** - The Moroccan esrog was not mentioned until the mid-1800s because the Sephardic world was cut off from Ashkenazim, and the Iberian Peninsula was impassable for Jews from 1492 to 1834.

+ Full timestamped outline available in the app