Jewish Museum London is now delivering our learning programmes and collections displays in the community & around the UK. Come and visit us at Swiss Cottage Library from 7 March to 4 April.

Silver Etrog Box

What can we see?

We can see a silver box with intricate designs. We can see a silver etrog on the lid of the box.

Look closely, what can you see?

What do we know?

This is a silver etrog box which would be used during the festival of Sukkot. On this etrog box there are chased panels illustrating the sacrifice of the Paschal Lamb, the giving of the Law on Sinai, the Meal of Tabernacles and the New Year blowing of trumpets.

The etrog is a yellow coloured fruit which resembles a bumpy lemon. It is also one of the four plants (four species) used during the Festival of Sukkot. In the book of Leviticus in the Torah, it reads that one should take a ‘beautiful’ fruit and rejoice with it during the week-long festival of Sukkot. This is seen as a commandment (mitzvah) and is done on every day of the festival. It is also important that the fruit is ‘beautful’ and therefore, many people keep their etrog in a beautiful case like this one. It is also important that the etrog is clean, kosher and in very good condition. For this reason many people would buy their etrog, as well as the other three species, from their Rabbi.

Sukkot is the Jewish Festival of Harvest. It also commemorates the story of the Jews wandering in the desert after they had been freed from slavery in the land of Egypt. It recalls the many miracles they saw during their wandering, the protection of God and the building of booths (sukkot) for shelter during this time.

What do we wonder?

We might wonder why there are scenes from other festivals engraved on this box. We might whether this box was used for other festivals too.

What do you wonder?

Object File

Object Name: Silver etrog box

Date: 1930

Catalogue Number: JM 214

Artist: Unknown. Maker’s mark: ‘A. M.’

Ask us anything

We’re all friends here. Get answers to those nagging questions you’ve always had - you can get a private answer if you prefer.
Ask Us Your Question