A Conversation with Myself, From My Personal Perspective...

Welcome to The Kosher Teruah. I'm Simon Jacob, your host for this episode from Jerusalem. The following is a conversation with myself. Kind of just my personal perspective from Jerusalem in the midst of all that's going on. If you're asking what's going on, or you've been hiding under a rock somewhere and missed current events, let me bring you up to speed. Hamas fired thousands of missiles from Gaza into and across Israel. Hamas in Gaza attacked across the border into southern Israel, killing, decapitating babies and children, raping women, butchering men, and exterminating entire families. all while filming their gruesome actions and releasing those images to the world. Some 1,400+ civilians were killed. Some 200+ civilians were taken hostage back to Gaza. Among the hostages were included a number of citizens of the US, UK, France, Germany, Canada, and many other countries, most of which were attending a desert music peace festival and ended up among the victims of the Hamas attack. Most of the governments included, as well as the governments of the free world, condemned Hamas. Israel declared war on Hamas and activated their military reserves, calling up over 300,000 soldiers. The UN General Secretary made a statement in which he basically tried to condone Hamas's attack, blaming Israel and cautioning Israel not to retaliate. The Red Cross, outspoken in their defense and the protection of hostages throughout the world, remain surprisingly missing from the scene, even though they are present on the ground in Gaza and outspoken on Israel's military actions to hunt out and destroy Hamas. Many international centers of knowledge and higher education have all stood quietly by, and in some cases even supported protest marches praising and supporting Hamas and its brutality and outwardly calling for harm and even death to Jews. The missiles continue falling on Israel, though with less intensity from the beginning of the war. Israel's IDF military force is currently engaged on the ground in Gaza, hunting and killing Hamas terrorists. Hezbollah has tried on numerous occasions to penetrate the northern border of Israel. Israel has placed a significant force in the north in case that front opens up. Though there are Hamas calls for a ceasefire, there have been no actual movements on freeing the hostages. Well, in the midst of this entire situation, I am trying my best to produce a podcast about kosher wine. I constantly question myself, why am I doing this? Why now? Wine at this time? Why something so trivial and even decadent? Do I lack sensitivity for the country's situation? Am I being callous to families of lost and injured soldiers? Actually, I believe this is precisely the time to speak out about wine. There are many industries in Israel that are really hurting, hurting right now. Hospitality, hotels, restaurants, retail stores, and even high-tech. After surviving COVID, they're all again being challenged by outside pressures. There are no tourists, and they're not even workers, as most of the best and brightest are on the front line. The offices that are opened are running with skeleton staffs. The people who are around are under constant missile attack and don't want to leave their children, so they're working from home. Hotels are full, but not with tourists. Full of displaced persons, citizens from the southern cities near Gaza and citizens from the northern cities bordering near Lebanon and the Hezbollah terrorists. So why, again, speak out about wine? Because the wine industry supports so many, many people and their families here in Israel. Though it's a big business here in Israel, it's a business that rests on the shoulders of farmers and old-time Zionist winemakers. Let me describe just a few. My friend Tomer Pinini, lives on his farm out in the Shomron Mountains, raising sheep and goats with his family. He has a small but very high-quality winery called Tom, surrounded by his vineyards. He has for years dealt with Arab poachers stealing sheep and lighting bushfires to burn down his vineyards. Much of his success up to now has been due to technology—high-powered night vision cameras and monitoring software. But these attacks in the south have empowered and emboldened the thieves and the terrorists around his enclave near Itamar. Now they must all be on constant guard. Tomer and many wine growers and wine makers are on the front lines. Israel, unlike the depiction in the press, is not an apartheid state. Jews and Arabs live in close proximity, and in most instances, right next door to each other. Tomer, his wife, kids, and neighbors must all be on constant guard with guns at the ready. These are some of the broad shoulders our country, Israel, rests on. Amichai Luria lives across the valley from the city of Shiloh, where his large boutique winery gets its name. To say Amichai is a control freak is a total understatement. Actually, most good winemakers are strong and controlling people. The profession requires it. I've always wondered if kosher requirements of winemakers not to shomer Shabbat not being able to touch their wines, is accentuated due to a great winemaker's hyper-need to control everything. At one of the most critical times in a winery's yearly cycle, Amichai is operating with almost no staff. All the younger workers were called up to the military. Amichai's sleepless and bloodshot eyes testify to the stress and strain he's under. But even while focusing on the winery and the wines in their individual fermenters percolating away, he called me a week ago about a project he's organizing to provide special Shabbat packages to families of a unit called back into service. Amihai and many of the larger winery owners are some of the broadest shoulders that our country rests on. All winemakers are under pressure from this war. I have watched so many of them posting on social media and reposting pictures of infants taken and families butchered, as if they have time to discuss, to share, or to even grieve. But they don't. The wine business follows an agricultural cycle. Vines push growth around Passover, blooming and developing foliage, and grapes during Shavuot and the summer months. The grapes are harvested around the Hagim, from August through early October. The grapes are squeezed and fermented, and then, at the chosen time, the fermentation is shut down. And the wine is either stored in barrels for aging or bottled and then eventually distributed to customers. October is a critical time in this cycle. All grapes have come inbound. The farmers in the vineyards need to be paid. All the new barrels and tanks that were ordered for the harvest this year are in and need to be paid for. All the work that's being done for this year's wines that won't be in the market for at least a month, some a year, and some even more, need to be supported by sales of last year's wines and the newest rosés. The main channel partner for local wine sales in Israel are restaurants, which are unfortunately closed for the most part. Even the ones that are opened are empty due to the war and the lack of tourism. As I mentioned earlier, hotels are fulfilling the difficult role of housing displaced families. So there's obviously no wine sales happening in those hotels. So, I'm discussing wine, an important industry that supports Israel, an industry that needs help, your help, by buying wine from your local retailers and moving wine inventory now. You can have your wine, and as they almost proverbially say, drink it too. Increasing your wine purchases now has a direct and rapid impact on this key Israeli industry and on the individual Zionists and their families here in Israel. Thank you for listening and thank you for your support. And finally, I ask I ask you all, wherever in the world you are, to please pray for our soldiers' safety and for the speedy release of all our hostages back to their families. Thank you for listening to this abridged episode of The Kosher Teruah. Please subscribe via your podcast provider to be informed of our new episodes as they are released. If you're new to The Kosher Terroir, please check out our many past episodes. Also, starting November 2nd, The Kosher Terroir will be available on the NSN Network and on the NSN app Thursday evenings, 6:30 PM New York time, just before Mark Zomick's Erev Shabbat show. And thank you for listening to The Kosher Terroir.