Avoiding a Hijacking by Lulav Rod
Many a peeved passenger has arrived at Israel’s Ben Gurion Airport this week. Some Diaspora Jews pay big money for their lulav or palm branch, waved with an etrog and two other species in synagogue over Sukkot. But airport security staff around the world have apparently become convinced that the protective lulav bags used to carry them pose a security risk. They insisted on removing the plastic rods that keep the bag, and therefore the lulav, straight, and prevent knocks — if a lulav is even the tiniest bit misshaped it’s off-limits for ritual use. So many passengers arrived with unusable lulavs — but at least we averted the highly-conceivably possibility of a hijacking by lulav-rod.
This is a moment of great uncertainty. Here’s what you can do about it.
We hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, we’d like to ask you to please support the Forward’s independent Jewish news this Passover.
This is a moment of great uncertainty for the news media, for the Jewish people, and for our sacred democracy. It is a time of confusion and declining trust in public institutions. An era in which we need humans to report facts, conduct investigations that hold power to account, tell stories that matter and share honest discourse on all that divides us.
With no paywall or subscriptions, the Forward is entirely supported by readers like you. Every dollar you give this Passover is invested in the future of the Forward — and telling the American Jewish story fully and fairly.
The Forward doesn’t rely on funding from institutions like governments or your local Jewish federation. There are thousands of readers like you who give us $18 or $36 or $100 each month or year.
Support our mission to tell the Jewish story fully and fairly.
