Bar Kochva's arba minim

The Jerusalem Post is running a history of the etrog -- all you wanted to know, and much, much more. Among the interesting tidbits, it includes the factoid we wrote about last year plus the following:

The use by Bar Kochba of the etrogim on his rebellion coins is all the more poignant when we discover that one of the very few letters found intact in the caves of the Judean desert by Yigal Yadin was written by Bar Kochba himself, and deals with his army and its supply difficulties.
"Shimon to Yehudah Bar Menashe: Kiryat Arabaya. I have sent two donkeys. You shall send two men with them to Yehonatan bar Be'ayan and to Masabla. They shall pack and bring back to you palm branches and etrogim. You should send others from your place to bring back myrtles and willows. See that they are tithed. Send them all to my camp. Our army is large. Peace."

This letter -- one of 18 found, written between 132 and 134 in Bar Kochva's name -- was in Aramaic. The letters are now in the Shrine of the Book.