New Pilgrimage Develops To See ‘Aravah That Did Not Wither By 3rd Day Of Sukkot

Almost 24 hours longer than any previously-documented record.

Jerusalem, October 28 – Devout Jews began thronging this week to the home of a capital city resident after witnesses reported that one of the willow-bush branches associated with the Jewish festival of Sukkot – an item that requires heroic efforts to keep it from drying out halfway through the weeklong observance – remained turgid and robust into the festival’s fifth day.

Yoni Cohen’s diligent attention to his ‘aravot – a pair of sprigs that constitute one of the “four species” of plant specified in the book of Leviticus for wielding during Sukkot – resulted in what observers are calling the willow sprig’s miraculous survival beyond the first few days of the holiday, almost a full twenty-four hours longer than any previously-documented record.

“I don’t think I did anything different this year,” Cohen stated during an interview on Radio Kol Hai, a religiously-oriented radio station. “I can think of a few contributing factors, including the fact that Sukkot was later into the autumn this year, bringing slightly cooler weather that slowed the drying process. But I also selected a holder this year that’s much wider, allowing me to slide the ‘aravot out each morning after I wave the Four Species, without pulling off any of the leaves. Then I run it quickly under some water, put it back in the holder, and wrap the whole thing in a slightly damp towel, which I put in a plastic bag in the fridge.” The holder, woven from palm leaves, also contains a section for the mandated three myrtle branches and a space to insert an unopened date-palm leaf.

Those three species join with a citron to complete the quartet. Each day of Sukkot, observant Jews recite a benediction in advance of taking and waving the species one of several customary styles, though the core obligation involves simply holding them together. Since ancient times, the species are also held and waved at specific points during the Hallel and Hosha’not services, recited each morning of Sukkot.

Record-keepers voiced their amazement at the longevity of the ‘aravot. “The longest-lasting ones to date were into day four, when the upper leaves were already curled and dry,” gushed a Guinness representative. “This new one outlasted that by more than a day. It’s dried out now, of course, more than a week later, but we have the photographs and everything.”

Pilgrims started thronging to the Cohen residence by last Tuesday, day six of the Sukkot festival, as reports of the long-lasting sprigs spread through Israel. Women hoping to conceive a child, beat cancer, or seeking marriage, have come in droves to the location where a miracle occurred, in hopes of having some divine intervention come to their aid, as well.

In what some household members called an inevitability, a small enterprise has now sprung up around the impromptu shrine, selling drops of water from the same kitchen tap that sustained the willow sprig, among other incidentals.

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