What I Went Through To Get A Lulav This Year

The Four Species I got through R. Yoseph.

For the past few years I've moseyed into Aharon's Bookstore just days before Sukkot and picked up a set of the Four Species without any issues. Because of this experience, I've never orded a lulav in advance. I was spoiled, I guess. This year, however, when I walked in Aharon told me that he didn't have any extra. He told me to try Hillel. So I did. I walked in the building and down the long hall following the signs to the last room on the right. The two young men with peyot said they didn't have any extra to spare. They told me to try Aharon's. I said I'd been there, so they told me to try Chabad. So I did. But when I walked into the Chabad House, nobody was there. I looked around, used the restroom and left. As I was driving back to our side of town I said a silent prayer and remembered my friend R. Yoseph ben Gershon at Shorshay HaMashiach in Evergreen. I figured if anyone knew where to get the Four Species this late in the game, it would be R. Yoseph. So I called him up and after a short conversation catching up on recent events, I told him my situation. He said he'd have to check to see if he had any extra and call me back. While I waited for his call, I called Pastor Bill Berg at Roeh Israel, in Denver, to see if he could help. Pastor Berg recently published a Messianic Machzor that I've been waiting to get a copy of. Unfortunately his first shipment didn't come in until a couple of days before Yom Kippur. Oh well, I'll get a copy for next year. Anyway, after we talked for a while I told him my situation. He laughed and said that a couple in his community have supplied him with the Four Species for the past few years; but now they don't attend anymore. He hadn't ordered a lulav for Sukkot. He had dropped the ball too! He told me he went to Hillel and they turned him down; but when he went to Aharon's they had one last lulav to sell. I thought, "that was mine!" Then R. Yoseph called me back. He had an extra one that I could buy. He mentioned that R. Bristol from Standing Strong, in Denver, was driving out to pick up his order for his community. So I called up R. Bristol to see if he could pick mine up too. After talking for a bit, he said he'd help me out. He called me as he made his way down the hill and we met in a Walgreens parking lot. We talked for a bit, he gave me my lulav and the went on our ways.

This year getting a lulav was the most challenging time ever; but it gave me the opportunity to talk to some of the local Messianic leaders that I respect and look up to. It's good to know that there are folks out there that you can lean on from time to time; and it's interesting to see how the Festivals can bring together people with different expressions of faith.

Chag Sameach.



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