“With the help of the Cuomo administration we’ve been able to exploit concerns over COVID to demonize the Jews , and now the public will more easily tolerate edicts that target them.”
Credit: Daniel Ventura via Wikimedia Commons
New York, September 23 – A spate of incidents in which carelessness resulted in minor stab wounds from the pointy ends of a palm frond has prompted Mayor Bill de Blasio’s administration to prohibit the use of that object, even as Jews throughout the city continue to handle and wave them as part of a Sukkot festival ritual.
Board of Health Commissioner Anne Tisemitt announced Wednesday that possession of a date palm frond in a form not strictly decorative will incur fines, after seven people sought medical treatment Tuesday and Wednesday as a result of getting poked by the objects while they or others in the vicinity performed an annual religious observance that involves the holding and waving of the frond with three other species.
“The frond, commonly called a ‘lulav,’ is henceforth prohibited to carry about, wave, or otherwise move around,” Tisemitt stated at a press conference. “For too long, the unregulated proliferation of these hazardous objects has plagued our city, especially in certain houses of worship. The city has now put its foot down, and will restrict the palm frond to botanical settings only.”
Jews fulfill a Biblical commandment by taking the “four species” – the lulav, two willow bush twigs, and three myrtle twigs in one hand, a citron in the other – on the first day of Sukkot, which this year occurred this past Tuesday. An ancient Rabbinic extension of the commandment made it applicable to the other seven days of the holiday, excluding Saturday, the Jewish Sabbath. Preparation, waving, and other handling of the lulav has long featured the minor annoyance of getting poked by the pointy tips of the leaves, but only this year did the de Blasio administration decide to take action.
“We commend the Board on its decision,” read an announcement from the mayor’s office. “Years of work have gone into this move, which in the past has proved a politically untenable one. Now, however, with the help of the [former Governor Andrew] Cuomo administration in Albany, we’ve been able to exploit concerns over COVID to scapegoat and demonize the Jews of New York over the last year and a half, and now the public will more easily tolerate edicts that target Jews, especially the visibly-observant ones. Eww.”
Commissioner Tisemitt expressed anticipation for the Board’s next series of moves she hopes to have in place by the spring Passover festival, such as a ban on the use of blood to produce matza.
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