Farewell to the Teacher Delegation - Time for Wine Tasting

Shabbat morning allowed me to take it easy with no obligations to be anywhere at any particular time. I had a leisurely breakfast and did some reading and writing.  A little after noon I rode over to Gezer to spend the afternoon with David Leichman and Rabbi Miri Gold. We talked and ate and of course had ice cream.  When I returned to Modi’in I had a few hours before I had to get ready for the evening's final get-together for the teachers and others. The host was Ya’el who lives in a new house in the village of Shalavim right outside of Modi’in.

            It was a lovely evening with a lot of food and good feelings and the bittersweet realization for the delegation knowing they were returning to the US tomorrow (Sunday). I got to chat and catch up some more with my counterpart David (Dudu) Sharbi. There was a surprise when an old friend from Rochester to many especially Jan, , Idit Shapira,  who moved to Modi’in because of the partnership and hearing about one of our matched schools, Yachad, came to the party.  When I returned to Modi’in  my brother Rob was there.  He arrived earlier so we could spend the next few days together.

            On Sunday morning we ate some breakfast and headed to the first of our winery visits. For years Rob wanted to visit Tulip winery. First, he liked the wine. Second, he knew that the owner hired special needs adults from Kfar Tikva (Village of Hope) which is next to the winery. The winery originally was not kosher and when they applied to be kosher they were denied approval for 4 years unless they fired the disabled works.  They finally had one rabbi who gave them a “heksher,” kashrut approval.

            When we arrived there was a tour group and we were told the group had reserved the tasting room for most of the day and hopefully we could come back later. We were unable to do this but took some recommendations from the young women for other wineries not too far away. We drove less than 30 minute to a place called Kerem Maharal where we found the Amphora Winery. 

It was not on the top of our list originally but the wines were lovely, with a couple being quite good.  The only drawback was that the tasting fee for 6 wines was 100NIS per person. We did get a little cheese.  There was no savings even after Rob bought a bottle but it was a pleasant visit and we enjoyed it. 
            It was time to grab a bite for lunch so we drove to the Arab town of Faradeis.  We parked and found a small hummus joint. We had one hummus with ful ( beans) and one with garinei hummus (the whole chick peas). The hummus came with felafel, tomatoes, onions and of course pita.  I was so full I did not finish my plate. Next we made and appointment to go to Somek, a small boutique winery behind a home in Zichron Yaakov, down the hill from the giant Carmel Winery which is the largest in Israel. Since we arrived in town 45 minutes before our scheduled appointment we went to the center of town and had coffee at the  NILI Wine Bar and Café. NILI was the name of the WWI spy group of the Aronsons whose house was just up the street.

            At Somek we met Barak the winemaker who is the 5^th generation of his family to grow grapes in Zichron.  He is the first, with his wife and family to produce wine.  Neither Rob nor I loved the wines but he told stories that were quite fascinating. The original inhabitants were from Romania during the First Aliyah in the early 1880’s. When they started to have failures and needed help first Baron Hirsch came and said he would assist them on one condition.  That condition was that they move to Argentina.  They refused and turned to Rothschild who had 2 conditions. (Can’t remember the first) The second condition was that they sign over all the land to him.  The community argued. Some were desperate and wanted to sign immediately.  Others wanted to hold on and not turn over the land. They finally gave in. When they were handed the contracts to sign they realized nothing was filled in and Rothschild’s representatives told them not to worry that they would fill it in later. For years they worked for Rothschild and when he decided to pull out they bought back the land that they had originally bought.  Barak described this as buying their land two times. (There are other ways to look at this.)

            The second story he told was how the community was divided at the time of the NILI spy ring because the Turks knew something was going on and tortured and imprisoned members of the community. Many did not think the Aronsons should continue and they were held in such low regard and not seen as heroes in the community. When the entire generation died out finally a new mayor had 2 streets named after  them, although ne was called Aaron and the other Sarah.

            While tasting the wine we also met a man who works for Israel Wines Direct, which imports a number of wines from boutique wineries such as Somek.  Rather than privately shipping from Israel, if you like these particular wines, you can purchase them on line in the States.

            For dinner we met Aviva and her husband Amos and went to an Italian restaurant by the sea in Rishon L’tziyon.