Instead of Lulav Shortage, a Surplus of Goodwill

Egypt didn’t miss an opportunity yesterday snatching a visibly shaken Gilad Shalit, barely released from captivity, with a masked Hamas gunman hovering over him, for a boorish interview.

The same Egypt that weeks before the holiday of Sukkot was set to begin, announced it would not sell palm fronds (lulavim) necessary for the upcoming Jewish holiday. Israel’s Ministry of Agriculture approached its neighbors for help and built up its own supply. US Representative Howard Berman (D-Valley Village) challenged Egypt:

“In light of recent tensions there is a widespread perception that the reported ban on lulav exports was imposed for purely political reasons . . . I sincerely hope this is not the case.”

The New York Times featured brothers who are lulav experts from an upstate New York Hasidic enclave harvesting lulavim with the help of California farmers in an effort to move away from relying on countries in the midst of the Arab Spring. The brothers explain: “We want the strongest, the most beautiful, the straightest [lulavim].”

The lulav is one of the four kinds of plants used in celebrating the weeklong Sukkot festival. The other species used in the holiday service include the citron (etrog or esrog), myrtle branches (hadassim), and willow branches (aravot). Symbolizing various personalities and types of Jews, the four kinds as they are called, represent Jewish unity – a main theme of Sukkot. The cost of an esrog and lulav usually starts at $36 and can go even as high as $300.

Rabbi Yisroel Fried of Chabad of the West Side has been choosing lulav and esrog sets for his constituents for 18 years now. Advertising door to door delivery for those lucky enough to live in doorman buildings, Rabbi Fried works with Rabbi Efraim Keller to secure the best product at various price ranges – from the basic lulav and esrog to the nearly blemish free fruit.

Rabbi Keller, who sells around 5000 sets of the four kinds each year, travels to Calabria, Italy to hand pick the esrogim, grading them and checking them for blemishes. The process is intensive and involves supervision from start to finish to deliver the finest sets to his discerning customers, often Chabad rabbis offering the four kinds to their communities.

With Egypt’s last minute announcement, Jewish communities feared a lulav shortage. But lulav suppliers found alternate sources of palm fronds to make up for the lost Egyptian crop. Israel, using new and better storage techniques that extended the short shelf life of the lulav, was able to fill in a majority of the lost supply. Jordan, despite deteriorating relations with Israel, quietly sold 110,000 lulavim to its western neighbor.

Despite the slight price increase for lulavim, Rabbi Fried had an idea: offer people buying esrogim and lulavim the chance to sponsor another set for the needy or community use. The project was a huge success, with Rabbi Fried’s Manhattan constituents contributing enough to cover costs for those who otherwise could not afford to own the four kinds as well as sets for communal use.

Rabbi Fried notes the higher prices this year “may have discouraged a few people from buying additional sets for their kids, most understood the slight price increase and were interested in helping others participate in the tradition too.”

While the Sukkah (temporary hut) is a more well-known aspect of the Sukkot holiday, this year the lulav, inadvertently helped by Egypt’s balking, made headlines, raising awareness of the mitzvah, and taking Jewish unity up a notch.