On the fifteenth of Shevat there is judgment on the trees. This is why it is customary to pray on this day, Rosh HaShana L’Eelanos, for a kosher, beautiful esrog to be used on the next sukkos holiday.
There is a story about a man who gave a lot of tz’daka to poor people who learned Torah. He so loved the mitzva that he sold his spacious house in order to be able to help the poor even more. He and his family moved to a small house. They managed with little. His wife worked but the income was negligible, while he spent most of his time doing mitzvos and good deeds.
At the end of Sukkos one year, his wife gave him ten coins which she had earned, so he could buy something for the children to make them happy.
The man went to see what he could find to buy for them in the market. At that time, two gabboei tz’daka were at the market too looking for donations. When they saw him, they were very happy and said, “Here is the man who does mitzvos. Surely he will give us a nice amount of money for the poor.” The gabbaim knew that he always gave more tz’daka than others, but they did not know that he was no longer rich.
They went over to him and said, “Please join in this mitzva we are involved with. A poor orphan girl who has no parents is about to marry and we want to buy her a wedding dress. Could you please donate to this worthy cause?”
The man thought. He had pity on the orphan bride who did not even have a wedding dress. Hachnasas kalla is a big mitzva. As for his children, they had parents and they would be satisfied with what they had even if he did not buy them presents.
He took out the ten coins that his wife gave him and gave them to the gabbaim. Since he no longer had any reason to be in the marketplace, because he had no more money, he went to shul and learned Torah.
He sat alone in the shul. Everyone else had already gone home, but on the tables were many esrogim that the people had left behind, since Sukkos was over. He thought: These esrogim are hefker (ownerless) now, since they are no longer needed. I will take them and won’t come home empty-handed. He found a sack in the yard and filled it with the esrogim. On his way home he passed the harbor and saw a ship about to sail away.
The man thought: It would be a good idea if I looked for a job to do on the ship and make some money before I go home. What will my wife say if I come home only with a sack full of esrogim that have no value now? She will certainly be upset.
The man boarded the ship and asked the captain if there was any work for him to do. The captain said yes, but a short while later, the ship sailed out to sea and the man did not have a chance to get off!
It was only when the ship reached its destination that the mitzva-man got off on dry land. He put the sack of esrogim on his back and walked to the capital city. He thought he might be able to sell his esrogim to someone who wanted to make some cooked dish out of them. He walked until he became very tired and he lay down under a tree and fell asleep.
***
In the palace, everyone was worried. The king suffered terrible pain and the doctors did not know how to heal him. They had tried many medicines but none of them helped. Hashem put an idea into the mind of one of the doctors who said to the king, “If our majesty the king would eat an esrog that the Jews said a blessing on, he would immediately be healed.”
The king commanded his servants to search for an esrog like this. Even the ministers and the regular folk went out to search for esrogim. They looked in all the cities and villages, in markets and stores, and even on ships that came from afar. They searched but did not find any, because who keeps esrogim after Sukkos?
They then came across the mitzva-man who was sleeping under a tree. They woke him up and asked him, “Do you have anything to sell?”
He was scared because he did not know what they wanted. Maybe it was illegal to sell things in this country. In his fear he said, “I have nothing. I am a poor man.”
But the people saw the sack next to him and said, “Let us see what you have in there.”
When they opened the sack and found the esrogim, they rejoiced, but they were still unsure whether these were the esrogim the doctor meant. They asked, “Where did you get these from?”
The man was even more scared and he stammered, “They are just old esrogim that Jews used on the holiday. Nobody needed them anymore so I took them. There is nothing wrong with that, is there?”
The people laughed and said, “This is exactly what we are looking for! We need these esrogim for the king. Come with us. Do not be afraid. Surely, the king will pay you for them.”
They immediately brought him and his sack to the king. The king ate one esrog and Hashem made a miracle and he was healed.
The king called for the men in charge of his treasury and ordered them to fill the esrog sack with gold coins. When he found out that the man had come from far away and wanted to return to his family, he provided him with a ship and sent him off with great honor.
In the meantime, his wife and family had been very worried over his absence. Now he returned a rich man, richer than he had ever been. The gold he received in exchange for the old esrogim enabled him to buy back his house and be amply provided for, as well as to give tz’daka for the rest of his days.