Four Species Arrive Just in Time for Sukkot in Iraq

Army SPC and Pfc. Gavin Ellman, expecting a delivery of a lulav and etrog just before Sukkot, found herself Tuesday without a set of the biblically-mandated Four Species waved at specific points during the holiday's prayer services. From Forward Operating Base Kalsu in Iraq, Ellman then quickly e-mailed Capt. Shlomo Shulman, a chaplain stationed at Camp Striker in Baghdad, to see if he could rush a delivery by helicopter.

Lucky for the servicewoman, Shulman had an extra set, delivered earlier by the Chabad-Lubavitch Aleph Institute.

Shulman, who as the only Jewish chaplain in Iraq spends much of his time assisting Jewish soldiers across the country, found a helicopter destined to Kalsu Tuesday night and put the Aleph package on it.

Based in Bal Harbor, Fla., The Aleph Institute provides soldiers with Jewish educational materials and assistance with holiday celebrations. This year, the organization sent a Four Species set – a lulav, or palm tree branch; myrtle twigs; willow branches; and an etrog – to every base that had Jewish soldiers. It also distributed easy-to-use pop-up sukkahs to those who requested them.