Customs
Posted by Shulamit on September 24, 2009 | Tags: Sukkot, Life Reflections, Humor
Written in loving memory of my father, Rabbi Benjamin H. Englander
In 1961, I was returning from my first trip to Israel. At JFK at that time, there was a balcony, with a glass wall, from which people could watch arriving passengers go through customs. My father z”l, the traditional conservative rabbi, watched as I went through the required interrogation.
I was carrying to him a present from his father and his brother, a product of the Pardes (orchard) we had inherited from Yehoshua Stampfer, founder of Petach Tikvah (my father’s grandfather). It was an especially valued etrog because it was rare: it was grown without a pitom (the stem-like protrusion on the other end from the stem). So for many reasons, it was precious cargo.
I could see my father laugh as the customs inspector unwrapped and held up the etrog that had been carefully packed in my suitcase. I knew there was a legal prohibition against bringing fruit into the U.S., and hoped it wouldn’t be a problem.
“This etrog has no pitom,” the inspector said, and my mouth fell open. Who was this man to know enough to make that statement? I never found out.
“It’s OK. It grew that way,” I said. And that satisfied the inspector and I was able to give my father the precious gift from the Holy Land.
We never know who we're talking to, I learned. And we never know who will enable us to perform an important mitzvah. In the coming year, let all our actions lead to good deeds.
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ShulamitJoined: October 3, 2007 Shulamit E. Kustanowitz gained an intimacy with Jewish tradition as the daughter of a Conservative rabbi and as a Modern Orthodox adult. She authored A First Haggadah in 1979 and Henrietta Szold, Israel's Helping Hand in 1990. In 2006 her first novel, Murder at the Minyan, was published. Her... Divrei Torah (2) |
