Egypt – It seems that almost every year, there are rumors of lulav shortages in advance of Succos – but this year, Amin Ahmed Abaza, Egypt’s agricultural minister, says he means business and he will ban lulav exports from El-Arish.
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Anin says that unsupervised harvesting of lulavim that grow atop date palms is damaging his country’s date crop.
The greater problem could be that Egypt is wising up to the fact that Israelis will pay up to $52 for a ‘mehudor lulav – for which the Egyptian growers receive between $1 and $3.
Why would any self-respecting Jew buy a lulav from Egypt; they are such Sonei Yisroel. I am not talking about the political situation with Israel. The continuous anti-Semitic statements and articles emanating from major Egyptian politicians, clergy and journalists is no different than the Nazi propaganda under Hitler Y’msh. Only a couple of years ago, they ran a dramatization on television of the forgery, The Protocols of the Elders of Zion, which asserts that Jews control the world. Nobody should even think of buying a lulav grown in Egypt.
More “esrog moichrim” ripping off the general public. $1-3 cost, $52 avg sale= 1,733% – 5,200% avg profit margins. (ok they pay a couple of shekel transportation, import, tax, and displaying on tables, but im speaking in a general sense) Im all for making some $ but its gotten way out of hand the last few years.
I won’t buy a lulav this year. If gedolim in europe bought one lulav for the shulin the 1930’s it good enough for me and my three children to borrow.
Its all a conspiracy between the rabonim and the sochrim just tell them one year that we don’t need them you will how there won’t be any shortages anymore
One more reason we’d all be better off if we went back to doing things like we did ‘back home’. Every shul should buy a few sets and pass them as a matanah al manas lehachzir to every man in the shul.
Several years ago, just prior to Succos, there was also a report of a “shortage” of Lulavs. In fact, there was no shortage. The authorities found that an Israeli businessman, and an Egyptian businessman became partners in crime, and conspired to cause the artificial shortage, in an effort to drive prices up. I don’t remember if the Israeli authorities ever indicted those responsible on the Israeli side. Even though we may have political differences, I guess that business is business.
it might be only $1-$3 but the damage may be more due to the lower date crop
I buy my expensive artifacts in BP….near shom. shab….where the prices cannot be beat….just because i am well to do…doesnt mean I must spend it on…
Palm trees grow in Israel and the US; why is it that we have to import them from Egypt? Is it that the farmers in Israel and the US demand a fair price?
The whole idea of paying over fifty dollars for a
“mehudor lulav” and hundreds of dollars for an esrog is mamash apikorsus. There are many ways to be yotzeh the mitzvah of lulav and esrog without throwing away so mucm money especially to oyevi yisroel like the Egyptians. With thouands of yidden unable to afford a small piece of meat for yom tov, this is mindless and another case of yidden gone wild without any moderation from the rabbonim, some of whom make big dollars in giving their endorsement to these mehudor lulavim and esrogim.
Buy more lulavim from Arizona. Our farm workers need the work. Keep the dollars in the US why give it to people who would like to see us dead.
This whole business with mehudar / not mehudar is a ridiculous thing created by in Europe by men looking to make more money off the backs of their yiddishe brothers. In the time of the Gemarah it was common for a man to inherit a lulav & esrog from his grandfather (see Mas. Sukkah). Can you imagine someone today showing up in shul with a 40 year old esrog?
Where else do they com from? How bout the Caribbean or Florida? They have palm trees. Do they have to be from date palms?
there are plenty of lulavim in the americas, argentina has beautiful lulavim, mexico,
arizona as well here in the states,