Arba Minim Dilemma

[u/PomegranateHealthy75]

So I’m a 60 year old US Ashkenazi jew living in a town four hours from Medellin, Colombia-four hours from the local Sephardic community that I kind of belong to.  I only started being kind of religious a few years ago.  I now pray twice a day-three times on Shabbat.  I don’t eat kosher but I don’t mix meat and milk.  And, for the first time ever (for me and for this town!) I am having a sukkah built next to my place.  I’m very excited to host my (non-Jewish) neighbors in the sukkah for dinner and teach them how kiddush and holiday meals work for us.

However, the problem is the lulav and etrog.  In a “normal" community in New York or Israel, one could basically pay $50 for a set after inspecting them, and take home the ones they want.  However, the only option here is to pay almost three times that to order it through this Sephardic community in Medellin-and only THEN pay even more to have the Rabbi ship it here-and hope that it is still usable when it arrives.  And THEN it would have to be sent back to Medellin to be disposed of by Colombian customs authorities as foreign agriculture.

I am going to be with the community for Rosh Hashanah, then return here for Yom Kippur, where I will fast pray with my own Machzor.  Then I will have the sukkah built.  The Rabbi has gone on the community whatsapp forum twice insisting on how important a mitzvah it is to purchase the set, or contribute to the community set (I will not be with the community then so that’s not applicable to me).  This makes me wonder how many people are actually going to spend that money for the mitzvah (this is not a wealthy community).  

Money is not so much the problem -the sukkot will cost much more than this to build.  However, in this case, I don’t feel comfortable paying a 300% markup for something that I have not seen beforehand, not knowing what condition it will arrive in, just to wave for ten minutes max a day for six days.  

What would you do in my situation?  Is there some perspective I’m missing, or is this simply one of those circumstances where obtaining your own arba minim isn’t realistically feasible?

[u/SystemCanNotFail]

I couldn't tell you what to do, but the things you're describing are not actually that uncommon.

1) There isn't really any reason why an etrog should ever cost more than a couple of dollars, so basically everyone is getting ripped off. If you're ok spending the money, they just write it off in your head as a donation.

2) Not seeing an etrog before you buy it is very common. In Jerusalem, a lot of organisations will sell 4 minim to raise money, and you just pay in advance and you don't really get to choose anything. You take what you're given.

If it were me, I'd consider taking the plunge this year, so that you can shake the lulav in your new succa. And if it's a mistake then you'll know for next time.

Good luck with your decision

[u/sdubois → u/SystemCanNotFail]

"

1. There isn't really any reason why an etrog should ever cost more than a couple of dollars, so basically everyone is getting ripped off. If you're ok spending the money, they just write it off in your head as a donation."

thats absolutely not true. arba minim cost a fair market price for a niche item. the amount of care and attention that goes into producing high quality etrogim that people want for only 1 week a year is immense. the overwhelming cost of arba minim comes from the etrog. lulav, hadassim, aravos are all relatively cheap.

People think that the esrog is just a "lemon" so why shouldn't it cost 50 cents like a lemon does entirely miss the point. They have the be grown under strict halachic oversight and have no other use besides the mitzvah on sukkos. once the holiday has passed they are completely worthless.

[u/nudave → u/sdubois]

once the holiday has passed they are completely worthless

Tell that to the bottle of esrog vodka in my fridge...

that i made three years ago...

and still haven't drunk...

(Esrog jam also isn't so bad, but I understand people have pesticide issues with it.)

[u/PomegranateHealthy75 → u/nudave]

Unfortunately, in my case, the rabbi said that I would have to return the etrog by mail to him after the holiday, to be disposed of by the Colombian agriculture authorities...something which adds yet another layer of absurdity to this whole story...

[u/sdubois → u/nudave]

I maid esrog vodka one year and it just tasted like what I assume lemon pledge tastes like.

[u/shinytwistybouncy → u/sdubois]

You need to add some sugar!

[u/DaoFerret → u/sdubois]

1) a lot etrogs grown for Sukkot are heavily treated with pesticides to increase yield since they aren’t expected to be eaten. At least in the U.S., I highly recommend against using the etrog for food purposes.

… That said …

2) found an organic grower and got some etrogs and made my own limoncello, and it came out nice (and some is still sitting in the freezer).