Palm fronds scarce for U.S. Jews' Sukkot

Jews scrambled to overcome a shortage of palm fronds from Egypt needed to celebrate the holiday of sukkot, beginning Monday at sunset.
      The fronds are one of four items used to launch the week-long celebration, also known as the Feast of Tabernacles. It is a harvest celebration and also commemorates the biblical 40-year period during which the Israelites wandered in the desert, dwelling in temporary huts.
      But recently, Egyptian agriculture officials announced they were limiting the cutting of palm fronds this year because the practice hurts the trees' ability to produce dates, an economically important crop in Egypt.
      Alarmed Jewish groups in the United States and Israel lobbied Egyptian officials to relent in time for this year's sukkot, and meanwhile develop a more environmentally friendly method of harvesting before next year, the Washington Post said.
      Rabbi Levi Shemtov, director of the Washington office of American Friends of Lubavitch, said as many as 1 million fronds are needed in the U.S. market alone, and the official efforts may be too little, too late.