Route 17:  The High Cost Of Holy Days

If there’s one thing Jews and Moslems can dialogue about…

Excuse me. I apologize for using a word like “dialogue.” No one uses that word but rabbis who talk like clergy, the kind of clergy who say “phylacteries” instead of tefillin, and “repast” instead of food. It’s a word for rabbis who like to be called “dynamic.” (Someone ought to figure out how it is that the more rabbis we have who think they’re dynamic, the more Jews we have who say they are bored with shul. Maybe they’re not so dynamic. Maybe they’re too dynamic.)

Why can’t these rabbis use a word like “conversation” instead of “dialogue”? Even rabbis who use the word “dialogue” don’t use  “dialogue” in private conversation. I can’t believe that a woman rabbinical student ever told a lousy boyfriend, “I think we ought to have a dialogue about our relationship.” (It’s usually not the guy who wants to have that kind of dialogue).

Anyway, if there’s one thing Jews and Moslems can have a conversation about it is the tendency of the Children of Abraham to rip each other off before holidays.

Jews know all about the high price of Jewish holidays, but Jews might be interested in knowing that Ramadan is an extortionist’s delight in the Arab world.

Last October (when Ramadan fell), the Gulf News reported out of Abu Dhabi, “the prices of sweets and baking ingredients have risen sharply, despite the Ministry of Economy penalizing 41 retailers last week for unjustified hike in prices during Ramadan.”

In September, according to the Associated Press,  “violent protests over the cost of bread prompted the Moroccan government to annul a 30 percent price increase that would have taken effect just before Ramadan.

“In Lebanon, prices of meat, chicken, vegetables and fruits rose sharply during Ramadan,” said Lebanese daily An-Nahar.

In Egypt, said the AP, the Al-Ahram newspaper reported that Ramadan consumers were “shocked" by the spikes in prices for groceries.

Agence France Presse quoted a school teacher in Jordan saying, “I have five children and had to borrow money to cope with a sudden jump in food prices during Ramadan… Greedy merchants have increased the prices without mercy. I love the holy month, but they have spoiled our joy."

The problem led Jordan’s King Abdullah to ask his government to crack down on the holiday price gouging. “We must protect the people,” said the king.

Hey, all you dynamic rabbis, who’s protecting the Jewish people?

During Sukkot, almost all shuls are part of the lulav/esrog cartel, artificially keeping prices in multiples of chai ($36, $72, $360), which is voodoo economics if ever there was. Why are those prices any less outrageous than gas at $4 a gallon?

Passover price hikes are modest compared to Sukkot, but mainly because the Department of Consumer Affairs got involved, and only because more Jews (who aren’t used to the year-round Jewish price gouging and are therefore capable of being shocked) observe Passover and not Sukkot.

Where do all the dynamic rabbis (with their lifetime contracts and synagogue-purchased  homes) go when it’s time to get dynamic over the high price of being Jewish?

What do we need to do to get their attention, ask for a dialogue?

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