Lulav & etrog

Celebrating Sukkot involves another ritual item besides the sukkah itself, which is the lulav and etrog. An etrog is a citron, sort of like a lemon but not, and a lulav is a braided wand of three branches; you hold them together in a certain way and wave them in the four directions plus up and down, ideally in your sukkah. I thought I’d be able to grab a lulav and etrog at temple this week, but it turns out it’s not so simple; they order them from Israel in advance, and they don’t order any extras. They sent me to the judaica store in the neighborhood. They didn’t have any extras either, and they suggested that I try at Chabad. These are the orthodox Hasids, and I admit to feeling a little bit shy about interacting with them because I don’t know the rules. (Do they expect/require long sleeves, covered hair, a skirt, certain forms of address?) But in my favor, they have a mission: to hasten the arrival of the messianic age by helping non-orthodox jews fulfill the commandments. In other words, they’re all about providing last-minute ritual items to hapless reform jews like me.

Unfortunately, they don’t always answer their phones. So I went to the Chabad house in the U-district, which is right there on frat row, and at least from the outside, blends right in. Two smoking teenage guys, looking like anyone else who lives on that street, were out front and asked if they could help me. I said what I was there for and … they didn’t know what I was talking about. “Is that that shaker thing?” the one guy said. He called inside on his cell phone, said something like “Sobel? We got any of those, you know, lolly eggroll, whatever that is? There’s a lady here looking for one,” and whoever he was talking to said no, they didn’t have any, try Hillel. Hillel is a Jewish university organization, also in the neighborhood. Their building is on the street full of churches and is much more official and snazzy looking. They were busily building their sukkah – this is 2pm on Friday, only a couple hours to go. They were very nice, and they invited me to use their lulav and etrog when I came to visit, but they did not have any for me to take home. They suggested that I try Rabbi Levitin, and looked up his number.

Rabbi Levitin is one of the rabbis for the really orthodox synagogue we see across from the natural foods store in our neighborhood, where the people walk to shul in black suits and wide-brimmed hats, and the prospect of going there made me realize that I really don’t know what’s what with these folks. I assume they have day jobs? Could one of them be my barista and I wouldn’t know? I am so ignorant. I went up to the door of the place and thought, should I even go in? Women don’t enter the sanctuary, if I remember correctly. I tentatively cracked the door and saw that there was not a reception area, just the door to the sanctuary and the stairs going up, which I think is where the ladies go. No one around. No one in the sukkah, all ready to go in the parking lot. I went back to my car and called again. This time, someone answered the phone, and said yes! They do have a lulav and etrog available! And for that I should call Rabbi Kavka directly, at his home, here is the number.
Once again with the answering machine, although the gruff Brooklyn accent almost made it worth it. And what do you know, a little while later Rabbi Kavka called me back! He was very nice and said I should come to his house, which of course is also in my neighborhood (it’s close to the synagogue). We live in the “Jewishly Happening” North End, as my temple likes to say. I go there and there’s other people going in and out buying just what I want. It’s a nice ordinary house. He’s at the dining room table with a selection of citrons and so on for me to choose from. He explains to me which one goes on the left and which on the right, reminds me to hold the etrog with the stem up. (Why? Mindfulness, is my answer.) There are ladies in black busy in the kitchen. He even takes Visa.

So just a couple hours before Sukkot begins, I had my lulav and etrog, and am ready to shake!