Kfar Chabad – Inspectors Sprayed Esrogim for Pesticide Entire Shipment Ruined

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    Kfar Chabad – This year Moshe wanted to play by the rules. Instead of smuggling as he had done in previous years he wanted to go legit.

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    Moshe is an importer of the “Yanova etrog” an expensive variety of citron grown in Calabria, a region on the southwestern tip of Italy.

    But according to Moshe, who used a fictitious name to protect his identity, his attempt to behave lawfully backfired.
    “My entire shipment of etrogim was ruined by Agriculture Ministry officials last Thursday,” Moshe said.

    “The shipment arrived at Ben-Gurion Airport where it was inspected by officials from the Agriculture Ministry and then they sprayed it with some kind of pesticide. A few hours later the etrogim started rotting.

    “I lost everything, everything.
    “I think they did it on purpose to protect local growers from competition.”

    The ministry said in response that “the State of Israel does not normally permit imports of citrus fruits due to various pests, insects and diseases that can be transmitted to humans, animals and plants…
    “In an unusual move, this year the Agriculture Ministry permitted the import of etrogim from Calabria out of consideration for the desires of the public. To allow this import, however, the Agriculture Ministry’s plant protection agency must provide careful supervision aimed at preventing contamination.

    “The etrogim that are imported are inspected upon arrival and undergo a fumigation treatment. This treatment is administered carefully and has been proven to cause no damage to fruit. All the etrogs were treated in this way.”

    The ministry spokeswoman said that she was not aware of any case in which a shipment of etrogim was destroyed.

    “Without receiving shipment details we have no way of providing more specific information. However, any shipment found to be contaminated is either returned to its source or destroyed immediately.”

    The type of etrog grown in Calabria has a long history. Chabad hassidim in particular go to great lengths to obtain the expensive fruit, which is sold in the US for about $150 each and in Israel for slightly less.

    The founder of Chabad hassidism, Rabbi Schneer Zalman of Ladi (1745-1812), claimed that the etrog from Calabria was the one used by Moses the very first time the holiday was celebrated in the desert.

    The last rebbe of Chabad, Rabbi Menachem Mendel Schneerson, was careful to use only etrogim from Calabria.

    Part of the reason for the fruit’s popularity is the long tradition from generation to generation of supervision that has ensured that the fruit was never grafted with a lemon. This is a common practice that makes the delicate citron more robust but that also disqualifies the fruit for use in the religious ceremony during Succot.

    The etrog from Calabria is also known as the Yanova etrog, because it was commonly obtained by Jews in the Italian port city of Genoa as early as the Middle Ages.

    Every year in the summer a delegation of rabbis who provide supervision during the picking of the fruit arrive in Santa Maria Del Cedro, a town in Calabria.

    Moshe, meanwhile, has learned a lesson from his ordeal, which has caused him a financial loss of thousands of dollars.
    “Next year I am not going to be a good boy. Like everybody else, I will smuggle the etrogim into Israel in suitcases and sell them in the black market. This proves that when you try to play by the rules you get burned.”


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    70 Comments
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    chaim
    chaim
    14 years ago

    Well instead of doing an aveyrah by being over dina demalchusa dina, get out of the esrog business. Theres no heter to do what this “moshe” is doing. If the israelies are gonna put pesticide on the esrogim, its your problem. If it ruins the esrogim, than get out of the business. Dont be a crook.

    He's not so smart
    He's not so smart
    14 years ago

    Now that he publicly announced his intentions to smuggle next year, maybe they’ll be on the lookout for him , to check his bags. Maybe he should speak to someone in the agriculture dept. about how to do it legally without getting his esrogim sprayed.

    mendel
    mendel
    14 years ago

    I think the israelli goverment should pay him at least what he laid out

    Anonymous
    Anonymous
    14 years ago

    wrong!!!!13 days ago on rosh hashona hashem decided your not to make money from esrogim this year. if hashem decided you that even if u snuck it in u would have lost your money and heavy fines!. remember !EMUNA!!

    Anonymous
    Anonymous
    14 years ago

    Oy nebech. How sad. When he finally decided to go legally everything is spoiled. Its really upseting.

    To #6
    To #6
    14 years ago

    Ok, so next year u will be left with out a esrog….

    Anonymous
    Anonymous
    14 years ago

    It is also likely that the esrogim were damaged by improper storage before or during the flight. I am willing to bet that they would know by now what ruins citrus fruits. Lots of stuff can happen during shipping.

    Charlie Hall
    Charlie Hall
    14 years ago

    Most countries (including the US) are incredibly strict about imported fruits and vegetables. That the Israeli authorities would insist that the entire shipment be sprayed with a pesticide is no surprise. (And anyone who smuggles in fruit runs the risk of smuggling in some bug that could destroy an entire crop. It is terribly irresponsible.)

    Anonymous
    Anonymous
    14 years ago

    Everything is from Above. If the esrogim were ruined, they were meant to be ruined. Stop crying over spoilt esrogim. Heaven Decrees and things happen. Maybe this time he was “punished” for all the previous times. Maybe this is his tikkun. So he should stop complaining and show everyone how a real frum Jew acts when something goes wrong: he just thanks Hashem !

    Anonymous
    Anonymous
    14 years ago

    I usually buy a modest esrog. But this year my son in law is visiting from California and he asked me to get him an esrog here in Lakewood. He said he always buys a better one, so I bought one for him and one for me at $110 each, way more than I usually spend. Am I a fool to do this?

    formally
    formally
    14 years ago

    I think we need a little more to believe his story. I do not see way it should rot so fast and if true it should have happened not only to him but to everybody else who imports fruits.

    If really true he should have a case
    The story seems a little fishy.

    formally
    formally
    14 years ago

    or maybe it got damaged in shipping or he bought a bad bash and wants to save face with chabad

    me
    me
    14 years ago

    The no imports rule is an economic consideration. It has nothing to do with disease. The Zionim aririm deliberately did this to prevent Jews from performing a mitzvah bihiddur.

    Anonymous
    Anonymous
    14 years ago

    Azoy…the terrible secular zionistas hatched a conspiracy to deny these frumme yidden from performing a “mitzvah bihiddur” by sabatoging these “gold plated” esrogim. Hopefully, the moral of this story is that the great tzadikim who seek to enhance the observances of frumme yidden by reselling an esrog that costs them a few dollar each for a few hundred dollars and who are already planning to smuggle them in next year will be denied the opportunity to do so.

    Never a lemon
    Never a lemon
    14 years ago

    The Krestchniff Rebbe was in Crown Heights today & bought an esrog…from Calabria. Lipa was here yesterday. MBD last week. The esrogim we Lubavitchers use are considered (by us) Mehudar. And that’s why we use them. That’s why we pay a small fortune: because it is important to buy the most beautiful esrog we can afford. We buy 4 in our family (each son has his own.) No expense spared. This is what we choose to spend our money on so we can fulfill the Mitzva to the highest degree.

    Perhaps the Krestchniff Rebbe also believes buying an esrog is very important.

    Anonymous
    Anonymous
    14 years ago

    Oifen ganef brent doos hittel. they paid him back with wat he did

    ganuf
    ganuf
    14 years ago

    This guy is a ganuf from klal yisroel. The rest of us work every day to earn a living, this guy works 2 weeks a year, over-charging for esrogim because everyone has fixed the prices and they can get away with it. I sold esrogim for years, and the mark up is outrageous. That goes for all the people selling esrogim, wholesale they sell esrogim that are compared to other citrus worth pennies for $15 a pop. then the guy in the store or street sells it for $100. It’s outrageous. I made 10K selling esrogim for 4 days. Big time sellers and importers make a couple 100K easy.

    PulpitRabbi
    PulpitRabbi
    14 years ago

    How about the guy extracts the seeds from all his rotten esrogim, while respecting Ministry of Agriculture regulations on the matter, dries them, keeps them dry, buys a field and plants an orchard, so that he can have Oshe Rabbenu’s esroigim in Eretz Yisroel and even be meqayem the mitzvois hateluyois bo-oretz? Double whammy, more profit, less transport (but for that, he’ll need to work all year round).

    Extra benefit, Chabad can keep all the profit within Chabad, as the farmers will be Chabadniks, too.

    malach
    malach
    14 years ago

    I don’t think it’s anybody’s business what etrogim people buy. If the Rabbi of Liadi said that there is a tradition that the Calabrian etrogim were from the original used by Moshe, then his followers certainly have a reason to follow that tradition. If people spend money for etrogim and have the money to spend, again it is their decision. When people profit from an outrageous markup, they will eventually have to pay for their greed. I certainly do not think this is the occasion to trash the Israeli government, but I will say that probably there is another kind of inspection that will not risk the fruit. There are all kinds of problems with pesticide spraying that I will not enumerate. Surely with good will problems like this can be solved. This is supposed to be a chag of simcha. I am very sorry that the person who decided to go straight did not get an immediate positive response, but to look on the bright side maybe this clears up part of his record in Shamayim and he should try again. Chag Someach.

    Anonymous
    Anonymous
    14 years ago

    What you call “form over substance” is what being makpid is all about. Any poisheter yid can be mekayem the mitzvah in a common sense way. Only the most ehrleche yidden have the money to spend on overpriced esrogim so as to be mekayem the mitzvah using such beautiful, elegant and unique specifmens from a special part of Italy which will bring tears to the eyes of hashem and guarantee such yidden and their families a special place in olam haboh.

    formally
    formally
    14 years ago

    as long as people are paying the prices the guy will charge the outrageous prices

    rebbe maham
    rebbe maham
    14 years ago

    Maybe somone with a “Superman kapote” can come and reverse the damage done to the esrogim… On a side note, it’s sad how people here are bad mouthing the whole buying an esrog thing. I’m beginning to think that vesamachta bechagecha is possible only b/c we cant comment on VIN on yom tov. CHAG SAMEACH!

    Anonymous
    Anonymous
    14 years ago

    When I do business I pay for insurance. How difficult is that?

    Mo Kapoier
    Mo Kapoier
    14 years ago

    Economics 101:
    Markets are efficient.

    Economics 102:
    They revert to the efficient mean over time.

    I was in the Arba Minim business for years, I was ehrlich, I made every one of my workers learn, in depth, all the pertinent Halachos and paid them for their study time, I only hired over Bar-Mitzva age, I taught them to be careful not to fool customers…and you know what?

    I made very good money in the business. I didn’t become a millionaire but I made about a 1/2-years good parnassa from it, and I don’t apologize for that.
    I worked about four solid months every year, spread out across the whole year. (Obviously, some periods were busier than others.)

    And guess what?

    I left the business!
    Because it’s extremely hard, extremely competitive, obviously seasonal, dependent on too many factors beyond one’s control, and I found that I can make MUCH MORE money in businesses that are not as pressurized.

    Very few “sochrim” are becoming millionaires, and the competition ensures that the prices don’t get out of hand. Anyone can get a full set of Kosher L’mehadrin Arba Minim nowadays for $25-50. You may have to wait till prices come down Erev YT, you may not get Grade AAA, but they’ll be more than kosher.
    The quality of Arba Minim has improved immeasurably in the 12 years since I left the business, and even Grade C is usually Kosher L’Mehadrin.

    If you think it’s an easy ticket to being a millionaire, no one is stopping you from getting into the business. You’ll find that like any business, it’s got its advantages and its disadvantages, and the harder you work, and the better businessman you are, the better you’ll do.
    (I’m obviously speaking within the framework of Hishtadlus/Hashgacha.)

    Ah Gut Yontiff, everyone, and don’t let Kin’ah ruin your Ahavas Yisroel.

    P.S. Remember, without the profit motive, there would be very few Esrogim to be had.

    Anonymous
    Anonymous
    14 years ago

    The Lubavitcher Rebbe had a Eretz Yisroeldiger esrog which was planted from Yanover esrog seeds in kfar chabad.Other than shmittah years he would do na’anuim with the israeli esrog as well

    Cadd9
    Cadd9
    14 years ago

    I’m off to buy Arba minim now for myself and my two sons. I have a hundred dollar bill bill in my hand I expect change…chag sameich.

    Anonymous
    Anonymous
    14 years ago

    I was in Italy a few months ago. Giant fat esrogim in the fruit market in Rome cost less than a dollar each. And yes, they were REAL esrogim, not lemons. I cut one open, it was a real esrog. All the prices here are a ripoff.
    Good Yom Tov to all.