Palm branches for succah roofs stolen from forests

TEL AVIV — JNF forest rangers have discovered dozens of palm and date trees illegally stripped of their branches along the banks of the Harod Stream (Nahal Harod).

Palm branches are in high demand in Israel because of their use as roofing for succahs.

The vandalism occurred in forests that had been nurtured and rehabilitated over the years by KKL-JNF.

KKL-JNF regional director Gil Atzmon said: “The trees were decimated in a wild and barbaric manner. The branches were cut to expose the palm branches to the sunlight so that they would receive a nice green color just before the holiday when these criminals would return and cut the remaining branches”.

In many areas including the Kinneret, the Jordan and Beit Shean valleys, the area has been stripped of these type of trees that were once a significant part of the regional landscape.

In previous years Israel’s chief rabbis have issued proclamations decrying this practice and reminding Jews that a succah constructed with stolen palm branches was not kosher.

The KKL-JNF is planning to reinforce its supervision of its forests close to the Succoth holiday and distribute roofing materials for succahs at various sites throughout the country in order to combat the problem.

The distributed branches are the remains of the trimming routinely conducted in the forests to protect the life of the trees.

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