Shake your Gazan lulav

September 29, 2009 - 10:00 PM by

lulavThe upcoming holiday of Succot is providing an offbeat oppportunity for some actual mutual benefits between Israelis and Gazans.

During the Succot celebration, three species are wrapped together in a waving ritual: the ‘hadas’ (myrtle), the ‘aravah’ (willow) and the ‘lulav’ (date palm frond), which are held together with the ‘etrog’ (citron).

Because Israel doesn’t grown enough of the lulavim, they’ve regularly imported them from Egypt. However, due to a cartel there, the prices have skyrocketed, and Israel has found an unlikely source of affordable lulavs – Gaza.

Defense Minister Ehud Barak has signed orders lifting the Gaza blockade to enable the lulav to be imported for the holiday which begins on Friday. The request to import the branches came from the religious affairs ministry, which fears a local shortage as well as the high Egyptian prices could lead to people being unable to afford them.

However, Nehemia Rappel, head of the religious kibbutz movement, called this week for Israelis to buy only Israeli-made lulavs. According to reports, Israelis are expected to purchase approximately 600,000 lulavs in advance of the holiday; with prices will range from seven to 67 shekels.

The next test is whether we begin importing sufganiyot (jelly donuts) from Gaza on Hannuka.

Tags: , , , • Category: A New Reality, Business, coexistence, General, History and Culture, Holidays, Israeliness, Religion 

Comments

2 Comments on Shake your Gazan lulav

  1. Karin on Thu, Oct 1st 2009 9:16 AM

    2. I think the doughnuts would be way too stale having to wait to pass through the border.

  2. Jessica on Thu, Oct 1st 2009 10:36 AM

    3. The whole lulav-and-etrog import business is such a crazy one. I did a fun story about it a bunch of years ago…here’s the link: http://www.nytimes.com/2002/09/25/business/worldbusiness/25FRUI.html?scp=1&sq=jessica%20steinberg,%20lulav&st=cse

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