My family has been buying from Ezra for about 20 years now. He’s got a red van and sets up on the corner of Canal and Essex. This evening for the first time I went alone to buy my lulav and etrog.

One of the boys set up the lulav for me. As he was tying it together, he commented that I had picked a lovely set. I remarked that all the produce was beautiful this year, and that we’d been coming to them for the past 20 years or so for our arba minim. He looked at me closely…

“Were you here one night, a long time ago… it was a Saturday night and it was raining…”
I smiled. “And we gave someone a ride home… his name was Yossi.”
“Right! Right! Yossi’s my brother! Hey, Yossi! This is one of the girls of the family that gave you a ride home that time!”
Yossi came over. “Oh, you and your family have my eternal gratitude for that ride!”
Ezra, the father, came over and Yossi told him enthusiastically who I was.
“So,” says Ezra, “why doesn’t your family buy from us anymore?”
“We do!” I said.
“Where are they?”
“My sister was here yesterday with my dad.”
“Yeah dad,” said Elie, the one who wrapped my lulav, “remember, you were standing next to them, and the sister looked just like her, dressed in a suit and with glasses…”

Man, that ride was, like, 15 years ago. I was about 9 years old. That just cracks me up.

Anyway, I got a nice set for $25. Might have been able to get cheaper at another table, but I don’t think I could buy from anyone but Ezra.