Lunch with a Lulav
Maimonides teaches that when the Temple was destroyed, the Sages ordained that the lulav be taken everywhere for the entire seven days of the festival, as a remembrance of the Temple. Nowadays, any Jewish person may recite a blessing and shake the arba minim, anywhere.
With this in mind, one day during Chol HaMoed at the lunch hour, I went to United Bakers, a Toronto restaurant that is really an institution in the Jewish community. UB as it is lovingly called, is as much known for their pea soup and Greek salad as they are for their Israel support amidst and the warmth of the Ladovsky family, the proprietors.
Armed with a lulav and etrog, and a poster with the blessing and illustrations on how to shake, I was invited to stop at tables to ask people if they would like to shake the lulav. I was amazed how many people told me they had already shaken the lulav earlier in the morning. More than one person told me they purchased a lulav and etrog this year for the first time, to perpetuate Jewish joy.
More and more patrons started calling me over to them. Once they recited the initial blessing, I asked them if this was their first time shaking the lulav and etrog this year. For some it was, and for others it wasn’t. For those that it was their first time, they also recited the shehecheyanu, the prayer we say for doing something for the first time, or the first time in the year.
Something I was unprepared for happened. There were a number of women who asked me to come to their table who have never taken a lulav and etrog together and shaken them in their entire lives. Many of these women were older, in their eighties. They said when they went to school, girls weren’t given the opportunity to participate in much ritual at all. Their excitement and sense of accomplishment and pleasure was seen on their faces.
The shehecheyanu they recited meant much more. In addition for doing a mitzvah for the first time, they were doing it in the public square, without fear of harassment or any negative comments.
There is a feeling for some Jews in Toronto that antisemitism is going to win. Today’s experience taught me the opposite. Jews are prouder than ever and leaning into their Judaism like never before.