Esrog Shaleim - The Perfect Esrog - PART I

I've been thinking about a classic story. Here's my take on it - copyright 2011 by Neil Fleischmann:

Kasriel and his wife Etta were happily married, not happily ever after but quite happy enough. Kasriel worked as a bank teller. He made a decent living. He was kinder than he had to be to all he came in contact with. He learned Torah; he gave tzedakah. He cherished his life. Some aspects of Jewish observance came easier to him than others and he worked on every element of his religious life. When he was young he had serious anger issues; in eighth grade he threw a tray of food at a kid (Avrumi) who teased him. He learned classic mussar works and practiced what he read in these books - Orchot HaTzadikim was his favorite. He took wisdom wherever he could find it and with the help of friends, rabbis, and teachers he worked on chiseling himself into a mentsch, particularly in regard to controlling his anger.

Some Jews spend money freely on vacations, fancy food, high end clothing, and other similar distractions. Some of those people scrimp when it comes to mitzvot. Kasriel was a rare breed. He didn't spend too much money on his own comfort - he and his wife had what they needed but didn't indulge. It was when it came to mitzvot that he went all out. He bought sefarim with great excitement on a regular basis, he put a twenty dollar bill in the tzedakah box every day (besides many other donations and acts of chesed). Every week for Shabbos he kept the sacred tradition of acquiring the best of the best.

Sukkos was approaching and Kasriel wanted to serve G-d and grow closer to Him during The Season of Happiness. He put his wood walls up in his backyard and his beautiful Sukkah felt like a clubhouse for him and G-d. The day afterYom Kippur Kasriel went to Moishie's sefarim store on Main Street. He asked the proprietor to see the best esrog in the house. The store owner said that they had esrogim ranging from twenty to eighty dollars. "Nothing else?" Kasriel scrutinized the esrogim on the table; none of them sang to him.

After four rousing rounds of "You don't want it" - "Yes I do," Moishie showed Kasriel his one and only esrog with a name, the Eitz Hadar, which was available to purchase for two hundred dollars. Kasriel was happy to pay the price in cash. He carried that kind of money for this kind of occasion. He was thrilled to have an esrog that was truly beautiful in the way that tradition and halachah frame the ideal esrog.