How Much to Pay for a Mehudar Esrog?

How much extra am I obligated to pay for a more mehudar esrog?

Chazal learn from the words zeh Keili v’anveihu that we beautify our mitzvos, with a nice sefer Torah, a nice lulav, and nice tzitzis. The Gemara puts a price on that beauty and rules that hiddur mitzva goes up to a third, meaning a third above the cost of the mitzva itself, not a third of everything a person owns.¹

The Rishonim differ in their interpretation of the case. Some understand that if a person bought a minimum size esrog which may shrink, he adds up to a third of what he paid to trade for a bigger one. Rashi learns that with two esrogim before him, he takes the nicer one so long as it costs no more than a third more.² The Shulchan Aruch brings the first view as primary and Rashi’s as secondary (yesh omrim).

Yet, the Yerushalmi seems to say that even one who already owns a full-sized esrog should exchange it for a nicer one when he can.³ Where an item carries a pesul concern in the view of some poskim, all agree that the extra third is spent to come out kosher according to every opinion.⁴

The Gemara leaves open whether the third is figured from within or from without (total of 133% or 150%). Since this is a safek derabanan, we are lenient and count a third of the base price. If the kosher esrog costs $60, a nicer one is worth paying $80 for, and those who are stringent go up to $90.⁵ One need not spend the full third. A slightly better esrog is enough to fulfil hiddur, with a third being the maximum one is required to spend when there is nothing else between them.

A person is only required to upgrade once, since otherwise he could always find something nicer, with no end to it. Practically, if there is a cheaper kosher on the table has already fulfilled his hiddur.⁶ If he already bought the first one, and the seller won’t take it back, he need not buy both.⁷

There is no obligation to spend more than a third even for a wealthy man, and Rabban Gamliel’s esrog for a thousand zuz was out of love for the mitzva.⁸ Some say that one of means should add, and whoever does is repaid by Hashem in this world.⁹ Someone whose parnasah is tight is exempt from the hiddur, though not from the mitzva itself.¹⁰

The Alter Rebbe notes that the third is only added onto the chiyuv item (like an esrog). However, one is not required to spend a third for a hiddur activity (such as a specific oneg Shabbos).¹¹

If bidding up a mitzva item will raise the market and leave others unable to buy, it is a hiddur to forego it. If the price of fish for Shabbos climb beyond what people can afford, the Alter Rebbe rules that no one should buy them until the price settles.¹²

The Rebbe teaches that a Yid should learn from Chanukah, where mehadrin min hamehadrin is accepted by all of Klal Yisroel, and carry that approach into every mitzva all year long.¹³

See Sources (open PDF)