CANADA (VINnews) — A massive crisis has been averted that could have impacted the ability of hundreds of thousands of Canadian Jews to fulfill the mitzvah of Lulav.
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Thanks to Jewish activists and specifically Jewish MP Rachel Ben-Dayan, Canada’s Food Inspection Agency has reversed course and allowed the commercial import of daled minim into the country.
Earlier on Tuesday, word quickly spread that the country was banning import of lulavim, hadasim and aravos.
Dovid Leib Silverstein, owner of Rodal’s Judaica in Montreal, sent an urgent message asking for anyone who could intervene.
He said that the CFIA, the Canadian government agency that regulates the import of plants, banned all commercial and even personal imports of the products. As a result, the only way for Canadian Jews to fulfill the mitzvah would be to travel into the US and bring in their own personal lulav, and only within three days of Succos. That would have been virtually impossible for the vast majority of Jews.
Later on Tuesday, Mr Silverstein sent a second message saying that the issue was amazingly resolved, B’Chasdei Hashem.
He personally thanked the askanim who became involved in the effort, and particularly Parliament Member Rachel Ben-Dayan, who invested enormous effort to resolve the problem and avert a huge crisis.
Although the details are sketchy, it appears there may have been a mistake or misunderstanding, and the askamin were able to clarify and resolve the matter.
The Canadian government is not antisemitic.
The Canadian government provides a generous social safety net that benefits hundreds of frum families.
The MP should be identified as Liberal MP Rachel Ben-Dayan. She is a member of the Liberal Party of Canada. Give credit where credit is due.
What do these so-called dealers charge for an arba minim set?
Just this year’s excuse for the merchants to fleece the poor chareidim.
Be dan lkaf zechus that it was an honest mistake .
The “issue” is that this is galus, and Hashem is sending me (in Brooklyn) message after message after message that it’s time to go.
Some B’haima in the leftist govt had to show some power.
The Canadian government is notoriously anti-simetic. Now the Jewish community “owes a favor”. This was definitely intentional