The Lulav Guidance System

Every year, the suppliers find some reason to create a [probably] fictitious shortage in the supply of Lulavs and/or Esrogs, causing threats, that are sometimes resolved in advance to a certain extent, of high prices. Sometimes it is infestations in the crop, sometimes it is weather related, sometimes mafia related, sometimes bureaucracy, etc. Always a reason, and we hear annually in the news reports about expected high prices, unless....

Often the crisis is at least partially averted by the government being pressured to grant permits to bring in crops from other places that were not previously approved. Perhaps the goal of the suppliers in creating these crises is to get these alternate sources approved quickly.If not, and it really is a problem that gets resolved every year for real, perhaps the suppliers have to change their real source of the crops (because they are having problems every year) and get the new source approved in advance..

This year the announcement has been about a lulav shortage. We can expect high prices and fear of a cartel holding back supply, blah blah blah. Sure enough, the Defense Minsiter and Religious Affairs Minister have said they will permit importing lulavs from Gaza for the holiday to keep the prices low.

So, if you don't want to be supporting Hamas, you might want to be careful from where you buy your lulav....

An option I just thought of is to attach a lulav to each Kassam rocket being shot into israel. Cheap import method, avoiding any border guards collecting taxes, and it can even be used as a guidance system for the rocket to keep it straight (as long as the lulav is not curved).. being named the Lulav Guidance System (TM)... (image of prototype coming soon...)