Israeli Wines for Passover 2015

                 It’s that time of year again – time for my suggestions of great Israeli wines for Passover.  Since I don’t have a synagogue bulletin to write for, I’m curious to see if anyone seeks out my advice via Facebook or my blog.

                It’s been a good year for wine and a busy year of tastings, despite the fact that I did not get to Israel in the last year.  Some of these wines have appeared on my lists before, but many of these are new this year.  First the whites.

               I’ll start by saying I’m no longer the consumer of white wines that I once was.  When the girls were home I likely drank more white wine.  Still, I have some favorites, and try to keep my tastings interesting by trying new releases as I find them.  For the budget conscious I highly recommend the Tishbi Winery’s whites:  Chenin Blanc, Emerald Riesling and Sauvignon Blanc – these wines drink easily and smoothly and can often be found under $15 in local retail outlets.  I recently found the Chenin Blanc online for less than $13.

               I remain a big fan of the Dalton Winery’s whites from the Upper Galilee – the Alma White blend, the Wild Yeast Viognier and the Unoaked Chardonnay.  The Viognier and the Chardonnay are often less than $20.  Each pairs nicely with fish, roasted poultry and vegetarian dishes.  In the tastings I conduct, the Chardonnay is a consistent favorite.  Rounding out the whites, I still like the Carmel Appellation Ridge White (the 2011 is a nice blend of Columbard, Sauvignon Blanc and Viognier - usually $15 or less) and the Teperberg Collage White, a nice blend of Chardonnay and Semillon.  The Teperberg has the added feature of being mevushal, if you are drinking somewhere where that matter.

               I don’t usually serve Rose wines, let alone at Seder, but this year I had a chance to try and buy the Castel Rose ($32) and as most of their wines are beyond my budget, I decided to try this one.  It is a nice, balanced Rose, with nice fruit, and should go well, with either the fish course or poultry.

               Among the reds new to me this year, long time winemaker Barry Saslove is now making kosher wines, and I really enjoy the Saslove Aviv Shiraz, 2010.  I met Barry more than a dozen years ago, and have always admired his wines.  He and his daughter Roni are making some beautiful wines in the central wine growing regions of Israel.

               I remain a raving fan of one of last year’s favorites, the Har (Mount) Odem Volcanic Shiraz, made in the far north of the Golan Heights by the Alfasi family (Abby and I spend a nice afternoon with Itay in 2013).  This is a beautiful Shiraz, pairing well with turkey or brisket and I've found it on sale for around $26 in the last couple of months.

               I've also been drinking a lot of wine from the Tulip Winery in Kfar Tikvah.  Tulip does well by doing good (tip of the hat to Tom Lehrer for the phrase), employing some of their neighbors, adults with developmental disabilities at the winery.  My favorites (under $30) are their Mostly Shiraz and the silky Just Merlot, though the Mostly Cabernet Franc is also a great wine.

               Galil Mountain who has now stratified their brand by using similar (and to me confusing) labels at 3 levels, but they continue to produce lovely and affordable wines.  The entry level is their Galil Mountain label, their mid-range is called Galil and their high end is Galil Elyon (which means Upper Galilee, kind of a play on words).  The Galil Elyon has three well known favorites, the Avivim white and the Meron and Yiron Blends – the Yiron 2009 is a Cabernet-Merlot, Petit Verdot, and I will likely have one open on my seder table.  The 2010 replaced the Petit Verdot with Syrah. It appears they have stopped making two of my favorites, the Shiraz and the Cab-Shiraz blend, but they have introduced some new blends, including the Ela which combines Barbera, Syrah, Petit Verdot, Cabernet Franc grapes.  Also, the Viognier, for a long time one of my favorite Israeli whites now contains a hint of oak, where once it was unoaked.  I served it just last week at a tasting and thought it was still very good and I will still enjoy drinking it.

Sometimes the big boys also get things right.  I remain supportive of the fine wines being affordably made by the Carmel winery, particularly their Appellation series, which features some great varietals like Cabernet Franc, Petite Sirah (their spelling, not mine) and Carignan.  These wines sell in the $18-23 range, are consistently delicious and represent the notion that even a large commercial winery can get it right when it tries.  Carmel does a lot to support and assist small wine makers in Israel, and so I’m happy to be supportive in return for the great experience and quality they bring to the Israeli wine market.  You probably also know that I am not a sweet wine drinker, but I probably serve more Moscato di Carmel as an example of Israeli dessert wines than any other wine.  Whatever experienced wine drinkers think about Moscato wines, this one goes head to head with the popular one in the blue bottle, it’s a crowd pleaser and a product of Israel and sells at a price about twenty percent less than that blue bottle.  Judge for yourself and let me know.

Whatever you drink, please relax and enjoy and have a Chag Kasher v’Sameach!

On Light, Fire, Being Commanded and Memory

This week’s Torah portion, T’tzaveh, Shmot (Exodus) 27:20-30:10 starts with a commandment from God for Moses to command the Children of Israel concerning the lighting of the Menorah (Candelabrum) of the Tabernacle in the wilderness of Sinai.  There is a lot to unpack in this opening, in only two verses of text – a ritual object, the symbols of light and fire, and first, trying to understand what it means to be commanded.

I’ve worked with a lot of students and teachers in the last 20 years, and one thing that seems increasingly difficult to understand and accept in the 21^st Century is the notion of being commanded.  It seems that for many people, a long list of electives and options are constantly available, and the notion of being commanded, that there is an authority that dictates prescribed behaviors, has become rather quaint or outdated.  We pick and choose our behaviors, positive and negative, we pick and choose our affiliations, and in the freedom that is present day America, we even have the opportunity to try on different belief systems (or at the very least, different paths within the same belief system).

This sense of personal autonomy and freedom from commandment, has led to a decrease in communal activities and shared experiences.  When I was a child, we all watched World of Disney and Ed Sullivan on Sunday nights, we heard the same songs played on the radio – we had shared cultural experiences as a community; now everyone has their own playlist, and everything is available on demand – and we have fewer shared cultural experiences.  It could be, that for those attending synagogue, the weekly Torah reading is one of few cultural experiences that the worldwide Jewish community still shares in real time (more or less) each week.

Moses is commanded (from the beginning of last week’s portion about the construction of the Tabernacle and the series of commands continues into this week’s; the name of Moses is not mentioned in this week’s portion) to command the Children of Israel to bring pure olive oil for the lighting of a Ner Tamid (most frequently translated as Eternal Light).  Of all of the commandments regarding the building and operation of the Tabernacle, this is actually the only one that is still kept today with the on-going tradition of having a Ner Tamid in our sanctuaries and chapels. 

In the artful D’rash (commentary) section of the Etz Hayim Torah Commentary (RA, USCJ, JPS 2000) edited by Rabbi Harold Kushner, we find on page 503 and insightful explanation of the symbolism of the Ner Tamid:

Why has light been such a favorite symbol of God?  Perhaps because light itself cannot be seen.  We become aware of its presence when it enables us to see other things.  Similarly, we cannot see God, but we become aware of God’s presence when we see the beauty of the world, when we experience love and the goodness of our fellow human beings.  Similarly, fire has been used to symbolize God’s presence.  Like light, fire is not an object.  It is the process of liberating the energy hidden in a log of wood or a lump of coal, even as God becomes real in our lives in the process of liberating the potential energy in each of us to be good, generous and self-controlled.  If light is a symbol of God, then fire – the product of human technology—represents human efforts to bring the reality of God into our world.

Looking at light symbolically, light in Judaism is also a metaphor for knowledge.  Light reveals.  We can see what is around us, light reveals obstacles that might lie before us.  Darkness - ignorance – conceals, keeping us from learning about even those things that might be closest to us.  We are able to learn with the assistance of light; things hidden by darkness remain mysterious.

The lesson of the Ner Tamid is that God wants to be known by us.  God always wants a light to be lit in the places we go to for seeking God out.  It is the task of humanity universally, and in particular the Jewish people, to keep the light lit, to bring the pure fuel for the fire, so that God’s light can shine and be seen by our world for all time.

Questions for discussion:

1.     Can you describe a time when lighting a light took some effort, but was worth it for helping you learn an important lesson?

2.     Why do you think the Ner Tamid (Eternal Light) is a symbol that has endured until modern times?  Does it provide more than symbolic meaning in our synagogue design?

3.     A synagogue has a Ner Tamid but is not required to have a mezuzah (reminder of God’s word on our doorpost).  A home is required to have a mezuzah but not a Ner Tamid.  Is there a connection between these two ritual objects that we are commanded to place in different places?  Are their purposes similar or different?