The etrog constitutes the centerpiece of the biblically mandated four species to be blessed during the weeklong holiday of Succot. (Shutterstock)<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
Some of the merchants, like Dahan, also market to the haredi Orthodox community in Monsey, a town northwest of New York City.<\/p>\n
In the trailer, Berger slides his eyeglasses down near the tip of his nose, the better to inspect the etrog he\u2019s grasping. He takes a cotton swab from a box and dabs at the surface surrounding the pitom, as the stem is known, trying to discern if the pinhead-sized speck he spots is merely a wayward dirt particle or a blemish.<\/p>\n
Ten minutes into the inspection, Berger phones his rabbi, detailing his observations in Yiddish. He hangs up, calls again, then returns the etrog to a foam-lined box that he sets aside on a table.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m going to have a cup of coffee and think about it,\u201d Berger says.<\/p>\n
Ten minutes later, he returns, seizing another etrog and examining it.<\/p>\n
This one is smaller than many others displayed, and the pitom is\u00a0angled\u00a0slightly, but Berger is smitten.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s clean — perfectly clean. For me, that\u2019s the most important,\u201d Berger pronounces of the $200 etrog that he calls \u201ca bargain.\u201d<\/p>\n
He\u2019ll also take the one he\u2019d reserved earlier — and two more besides for his brothers. He leaves a $200 deposit for the four etrogim, which he takes away for his brothers to examine.<\/p>\n
Six blocks down Lee Street, Dahan sits in a vacant storefront, his other temporary outpost in Williamsburg. Two tables host four reading lamps to help customers scrutinize the merchandise. A man who inspects for 45 minutes leaves without purchasing.<\/p>\n
Dahan, a slightly built modern Orthodox man dressed in jeans, lights a cigarette and inhales.<\/p>\n
The business is \u201cvery hard,\u201d he tells a visitor in Hebrew. \u201c[The customers] are very hard — justifiably so because they\u2019re spending a lot of money.\u201d<\/p>\n
He reaches back to fetch a $275 etrog, nearly all green, unlike its yellow brethren.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou see that?\u201d he says, pointing to a white speck smaller than the period at the end of a sentence. It\u2019s the slightest of flaws, if that. But someone might scorn it.<\/p>\n
The entire enterprise yields an annual profit of less than $10,000, Dahan says.<\/p>\n
\u201cI don\u2019t do it for the money. I do it for the tradition,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n
His late grandfather, Yaakov Assayag, a tailor in Marrakesh, got into the business 70 years ago, and several of Assayag\u2019s sons followed suit. Lore holds, Dahan explains, that Morocco\u2019s Dumdir\u00a0has yielded the finest etrogim since the exile following the Second Temple\u2019s destruction.<\/p>\n
A customer enters. The first etrog proffered fails to impress in price ($275) or looks. The second ($300) falls short, too. Dahan hands over a third costing $350.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s a beauty,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n
The man asks whether Dahan\u2019s competitors offer his top quality. It\u2019s a softball that even a fatigued Dahan swats. It\u2019s nearing 8 p.m. and he\u2019ll be here until midnight.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou won\u2019t find better,\u201d Dahan states authoritatively, as if it were fact not opinion. \u201cDon\u2019t make a mistake. You\u2019ll wait for the last day, won\u2019t get what you want and you\u2019ll be going crazy.\u201d<\/p>\n
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