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Apr 26, 2010
A Merlot Kiddush Hashem
The Hararei Kedem winery from Yitzhar just won 3 medals in the premier competition in Israel for wineries.
The categories in which Hararei Kedem won its medals were the Merlot, the Cabernet Sauvignon, and the Blended Cabernet.
I am an am haaretz when it comes to wines, but this sounds impressive.
Hararei Kedem is a unique winery in the sense that it is one of the few that both the vineyard and the winery are completely organic. As well, it is unique in the sense that it uses only Jewish labor.
Ariel Ben-Shitreet, upon receiving his awards as owner of the winery,said in his speech that his success is in the merit of the fact that the grapes used in the wine were grown in the portion of Yosef HaTzadik in Samaria, and because his vineyard "kept shmitta" completely.
In 2007, the 6th year of the shmitta cycle, Ben-Shitreet announced he would keep shmitta without looking for ways out. He was warned by experts that if he does not take care of his vines, the grapes would be ruined.
Instead, the result was the opposite. The amount of crop that grew that year was 3 times as much as usual, as Ben-Shitreet says, a clear manifestation of the words of the Torah that when shmitta is kept, crops in the 6th year will grow in abundance and be enough for 3 years - the 6th and subsequently the 7th and 8th, along with being a very high quality crop. (source: TOG)
A person who keeps a difficult mitzva like this with such simplicity and faith, and sees the words of the Torah manifest themselves before his eyes, is a true kiddush hashem.
The categories in which Hararei Kedem won its medals were the Merlot, the Cabernet Sauvignon, and the Blended Cabernet.
I am an am haaretz when it comes to wines, but this sounds impressive.
Hararei Kedem is a unique winery in the sense that it is one of the few that both the vineyard and the winery are completely organic. As well, it is unique in the sense that it uses only Jewish labor.
Ariel Ben-Shitreet, upon receiving his awards as owner of the winery,said in his speech that his success is in the merit of the fact that the grapes used in the wine were grown in the portion of Yosef HaTzadik in Samaria, and because his vineyard "kept shmitta" completely.
In 2007, the 6th year of the shmitta cycle, Ben-Shitreet announced he would keep shmitta without looking for ways out. He was warned by experts that if he does not take care of his vines, the grapes would be ruined.
Instead, the result was the opposite. The amount of crop that grew that year was 3 times as much as usual, as Ben-Shitreet says, a clear manifestation of the words of the Torah that when shmitta is kept, crops in the 6th year will grow in abundance and be enough for 3 years - the 6th and subsequently the 7th and 8th, along with being a very high quality crop. (source: TOG)
A person who keeps a difficult mitzva like this with such simplicity and faith, and sees the words of the Torah manifest themselves before his eyes, is a true kiddush hashem.
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kiddush Hashem,
shmitta
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The amount of crop that grew that year was 3 times as much as usual, as Ben-Shitreet says, a clear manifestation of the words of the Torah that when shmitta is kept, crops in the 6th year will grow in abundance and be enough for 3 years - the 6th and subsequently the 7th and 8th, along with being a very high quality crop.
ReplyDeleteI thought that only applied when shmittah is d'oraita. Are more than 50% of Jews currently living in Israel?
Machlokes in the Yerushalmi. (I plan on writing about it this week for my weekly "d'var Torah" blog.)
ReplyDeleteAlso machlokes whether 3 years means 3 full years or parts of three years (second half of 6th, all of 7th, and first half of 8th, until produce grown in 8th is harvested). I'm looking into this as well.
If you have any thoughts about this, email me at RabbiDMK@yahoo.com.