For Sukkot, etrogim purveyors find a lively, lucrative market in Brooklyn
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(RNS) — Thousands of etrogim, or Balady citrons, change hands in the Brooklyn, New York, neighborhood of Williamsburg, just in time to be used for prayer on the holiday of Sukkot.
Prayers during the weeklong Jewish fall harvest festival, which ends Friday night, Oct. 2., require the etrog (or esrog in Yiddish). Together with branches of myrtle, willow and date palm, the etrog is shaken in six directions (east, south, west, north, upward and downward) to symbolize God’s divine presence everywhere. This ancient religious commandment spawned an entire industry of etrogim.
David Bouskila, 32, a Jewish Moroccan American etrog vendor, set up his seasonal shop in a Williamsburg synagogue.
“Here in Williamsburg, they sell in the shuls — in the synagogues,” Bouskila said. “They don’t usually rent out the synagogue for business purposes. Only because this is a mitzvah. It’s one of the commandments in the Torah. That’s why it’s something that would be appropriate to rent out.”
Bouskila is not from Williamsburg, nor is he Hasidic. He came here because his family has been selling Moroccan-grown…
