MK Aryeh Deri (Shas) today in his sukka mentioned that he paid $5000 cash for his esrog.
Deri was in the process of shaking several esrogim in rotation, as it seems his custom is, in order to increase his chances of shaking a definitely kosher esrog, as some do, with varieties of esrogim with varying provenance. In the process he mentioned his own cost $5000 cash.
Deri came under fire for spending that kind of money on an esrog. Additionally, paying that kind of money cash sounds like it was "off the books" (I dont know if it actually was or not).
His office later put out a notice that he "was joking" when he said that.
Personally, Deri is a multi-millionaire and can spend his money how he likes. It is more of a question to me how a career politician (who had first been an avreich) became a multi-millionaire than how or why he spends $5k (about 18knis) on an esrog. And I ask this question of other politicians as well.
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