Embracing the Soil and Soul of Israel: A Heartwarming Tale from Tom Winery

S. Simon Jacob: 0:09

Welcome to The Kosher Terroir. I'm Simon Jacob, your host for this episode from Jerusalem. Before we get started, I ask that, wherever you are, please take a moment and pray for the safety of our soldiers and the safe return of all of our hostages. The following is a conversation with my friend, Ari Pollock. Ari is a partner with Tomer Panini in the Tom winery located up in the Shomron next to the town of Itamar. Tom is a small boutique winery that focuses on quality, doing almost everything in the winery by hand.

S. Simon Jacob: 0:49

My plan was to have both Ari and Tomer speak about the winery and their current vintage, but as we are recording this episode, Tomer, an officer in the IDF, is in the midst of battle in Gaza. I look forward to his safe return home and to us recording a subsequent podcast together in the future. If you are in the midst of your commute, focus on the road please. If you are relaxing at home, pour yourself a delicious glass of kosher Israeli wine. Sit back and enjoy. Ari, welcome to the Kosher Tehran. It's a pleasure to have you on the podcast.

Ari Pollack: 1:30

It's a pleasure to be here, Simon.

S. Simon Jacob: 1:34

I know that you work with Tomer. I don't know. Is there an official role that you have or are you partner with Tomer in the Tom winery?

Ari Pollack: 1:47

Official role. I'm a partner with him, a spiritual partner, a partner in the whole process, from when we planted until now. I'm a partner in the mission and.

S. Simon Jacob: 2:06

I work together with him. I wouldn't even call you a partner. You're more a brother in the mission because you're there all the time Not every moment, but you're there all the time. I know he views you as a brother. Partner is actually belittling the relationship. I think it's much more family than it is partner.

Ari Pollack: 2:34

My official role. Basically, tomer. He's on the farm with his wife, 10 kids, hundreds of sheep and the vineyards. He's not looking to do a show for anybody, he's not looking to show off, he's not looking to market himself and he's not looking for branding or anything like that. He's connecting to the land, connecting to the earth, doing what he thinks is the right thing to do. But if nobody knows about you, then it's not a sustainable system. So, tomer is there, being real and connecting to the land. I'd like everybody to know about this special, magical place. I try to connect him to the outside world without ruining him.

S. Simon Jacob: 3:41

He the first time I met him. He is the absolute image of a halutz from the 40s, from 1940, not 2040, but 1940. He's like unbelievable in that he and his wife and all the kids are just an incredible family and an incredible force. If you ever have doubts about Eretz Yisrael, you need to spend an afternoon with that family and you will be so pumped. It's just an incredible, incredible experience to be with him.

Ari Pollack: 4:21

Yeah, so for a while there was, you know, when I first started getting into the wine, the wine business and connections. So people wanted to do wine tasting and I said I refuse, I don't want you to taste the wine, I want you to come visit first. You can't really taste the wine without connecting and seeing where it was made. And there was this one wine rider where I was pushing off for a while and he ended up coming and he's like you're so right, it would have been such an injustice to drink this wine without you know, knowing what was behind it.

Ari Pollack: 5:04

Yeah, it's like drinking wine from a plastic cup, right, right, you need to honor it by tasting. So yeah, if any of our listeners are ever in the Holy Land, please come, please see. I mean, yeah, we're all dancers.

S. Simon Jacob: 5:24

Yeah, please reach out. We're going to leave numbers, but you could even reach out to me about that, because I'll make sure you're connected, because I absolutely love Tom Winery and the Tomor Panini's family and Ari very, very special. So we're actually, instead of being really quiet about it, we're going to taste some of some wine from Tom. Now, this is the cab.

Ari Pollack: 6:01

Yeah, this is. I just made a brotha and had a little sip. You know sneak peek beforehand, just to make sure that it's okay.

S. Simon Jacob: 6:13

This is great.

Ari Pollack: 6:15

And it's amazing. I love tasting this kind of these kinds of things because I don't drink it so often and you know we have limited supply. There's 2016, so maybe once a year, and every time it's like a different ballgame it's revisiting and it's new and it's old and it's you know. I think 2016 was our first year that we actually had electricity that we were using for the wine crush. Beforehand, I was doing it, winding it by hand, and so it was a big move forward. It was very hard to do it by hand at a mount, and we saw a lot of brotha from 2016,. Like real brotha was the year after Shemitah.

S. Simon Jacob: 7:12

So this is a Cabernet Sauvignon from 2016 and it's from the Shamron Keram-e-Rav. Yeah, it's Keram-e-Rav, which tell us a little bit about why the name Keram-e-Rav.

Ari Pollack: 7:31

So Keram-e-Rav amen Me and my wife. We were good friends with Tomer and Metal and we were together with them in the Golan Heights. We were neighbors, we worked together and Tomer went after his dream of starting a farm, went to plan and he said you know, you're the Arya, or Arya, you're the Arya, they call me in Hebrew. Yep, you know, you came from America. Maybe you have somebody that can give me a loan to start a vineyard to make wine. I want to start this farm.

Ari Pollack: 8:13

I was like 21, or 20, just after I got married. A year after I got married, I said, tomer, we can do this on our own. You know, I have some money from my wedding leftover. I asked my wife and she said yeah, that's for building the land of Israel. What else are we going to use our money for? What is it? I was like making I don't know $1,000 a month, $1,200 a month back then, and so every little bit of it, we were fine, like we're happy. We didn't feel like we're missing anything. So we give some money to start. Tomer also took from his wedding money and somehow we started this.

Ari Pollack: 9:03

He started this vineyard 15 dunams of Kavaneh Sevinyon, which is what we're drinking right now Kavaneh, frank, shiraz and Merlot mostly Kavaneh, sevinyon Basically in the same vineyard. You've been there. You've seen the different colors of the leaves slightly different colors, but you can see it when they're together. Two years after that, three years after that, my wife tragically was. She went on a hike and she fell on a morning walk and was killed. You know, a lot of times it's like a shame when you're thinking back on things like making a memorial about somebody you know.

Ari Pollack: 10:06

So I was thinking we started this vineyard together and it's something that's growing all the time and new life and every year you see it sprouting from new and growing. And I called Tomer and I was like you know what, don't pay me back, just take the money, let's call it Keramirav. And he was like I was thinking the same thing, like let's call it Keramirav. And so yeah, that's Keramirav. Merav helped, started and now it's in her memory. Since then I started getting much more involved. You know, I started helping fund more. Now it's more standing on its own, but in the beginning it takes a couple of years until right now vineyard becomes profitable or you see any profit from it. It's about after six years you start seeing some revenue.

S. Simon Jacob: 11:06

So you were the one who introduced me to Tomer. You're the one who pulled me into it, and the truth is that I couldn't be happier. I mean that I have never experienced anything as special and as meaningful and as deeply as our interactions at the winery and with Tomer's family and with yourself. I was crawling around the year you introduced me to him on my hands and knees planting, helping to plant a vineyard. I was I've harvested a number of times, been that harvest a number of times, which is pretty physical, but it was incredible to get up at way before dawn and to be up there before the sun rises and to be picking grapes and then have the sun come up. And I always have the same feeling. It's so incredibly meaningful to be working the land. It's just awesome. It's just an awesome experience. It's an awesome experience, Yep.

Ari Pollack: 12:36

Yeah, so that's exactly it. You know, I was thinking coming on a podcast about wine. I'm not one to talk about the different flavors and tannins and things, but I, so our connection is, starts from the plant planting it and feeling the earth and the thorns and the wind and all the forces that are against us and the forces that are with us and everything that makes the terroir around us. Is that's the first point. And the wine is that we're tasting.

Ari Pollack: 13:22

I don't want to, you know, I don't want to say about my own wine, but I really enjoy it. I think it's amazing and I'm drinking and it's taking brings you back to the land of Israel and what you know, what, what we've been through and where we're going and it's and it's just tasting it, and then one glass of wine, which is amazing, you know. So so that's for that's why I want to drink wine slowly. I don't need to have a lot of bottles, I just need to. You know, sit down, have a nice glass with people that I enjoy to be with, take my time to smell, to enjoy, to look, to appreciate, to taste yeah so and to appreciate everything that's gone into it, because we're not using big fancy machinery or anything like that right. Everything is being done by hand, by us.

S. Simon Jacob: 14:29

I know, yeah, because I've been. I carried a number of the crates and poured it into the, what you call it, into the crusher, and then took the buckets over and filled up the filled up the vat. So yeah, you know it's. It's funny. I think people would ask okay, so where's Tomer? I mean, we've got, we've got URE and myself here. And yeah no and Tomer is preoccupied. Where is he preoccupied? He's sitting at home drinking wine. No, unfortunately.

Ari Pollack: 15:09

We're all the good people are nowadays right.

S. Simon Jacob: 15:11

Right, well, unfortunately he couldn't even be on Via the phone, because he's in the middle of OZA at the moment. Right, he's got no phone with him.

S. Simon Jacob: 15:21

He's yeah he's got no phone and no wine and he's in the middle of OZA and to get a sense of the trials that that he goes through is that, as he's in the middle of OZA fighting and his eldest son is also in the Tzava, his wife is home Minding the Farm, the vineyard and the sheep and everything, and they're in the middle of the Chumran and they're undergoing attacks all the time as well. So we were actually talking about who they have for guard duty each of the nights this week and they're gonna be doing they have. They have people who are lined up to come in and help provide Guard duty on the farm While Tomer is down in OZA fighting for the country.

S. Simon Jacob: 16:34

Yeah so it's, it's it's really. I Know for many people outside of Israel it's becoming tiresome To watch their social media feeds. It's becoming tiresome, you know, having to worry about what's going on every day. I kind of feel like Wake up. Yeah the people here are living this every single day, we're not tired and and do it to the end of the day.

S. Simon Jacob: 17:11

So you know right and and it's like, come on, you know, uh, understand what's going on with this. This isn't some sort of a Game. This is life and it's very serious life. So when you're getting wine from a winery like Tom that's taking in the entire terroir around it, which is one of the most beautiful places you've ever seen, looking out over the Jordan River Valley High in the mountains, it's just Incredible, an incredible place. So I, being there, I know exactly what Tomer is fighting for.

Ari Pollack: 17:59

Yeah.

S. Simon Jacob: 17:59

I mean 100% what he's fighting for.

Ari Pollack: 18:03

I'm happy you're, uh, transitioning us into the place because, as I was coming over here, it's like you know what I can't speak about the winery without first going to the, without the first going to the farm. I need to breathe it in first. Yeah, I need to get into them coming from work. Now you know I'm in the different zone and so Thank you, simon, for bringing me here to to get into into the zone.

S. Simon Jacob: 18:29

I Don't want to be the one to say you don't want to be the one to say what that this wine is so incredibly delicious. It's just crazy delicious. It's really good, really really good.

Ari Pollack: 18:47

In a not only the list at all. Right, it's got to be a saying in English the the baker doesn't know talk about his, his dough, he's dough right, but this is Thank you for opening this. I don't open this thing on, just any day.

S. Simon Jacob: 19:06

This is just wonderful.

Ari Pollack: 19:09

It should be for lots left All the high a lean yes and all.

S. Simon Jacob: 19:17

And the return of all the hostages, return of all the hostages, please go and the safety of all the high a lean.

Ari Pollack: 19:23

Yeah, and destruction of our enemies.

S. Simon Jacob: 19:27

So did you have any dreams of Getting into making wine?

Ari Pollack: 19:35

When I was younger. Yeah, haven't really grew up drinking wine. I Grew up in New York. I went to Hafter high school. We used to go to a lot of parties when I was in high school, but I never really drank, I was just. I was made believe I was drinking because I was the one driving. Yeah, you know it's, it's a pretty. I was a troublemaker but a pretty good kid. I only got into drinking wine when I was in, when I was living in the Golan with Tomer and, together with us, was living on a community from gushka Tief.

Ari Pollack: 20:13

Wow that's a hazard me. They moved to Avnetan, to the Golan. I was right after the gilush in 2005. They moved to the Golan same time that we both moved there and we're taking. So every Shabbat, after fatiguing, we used to sit together around read Rashi, around the table, you know, and they wouldn't have it any other way. I had to drink. Pouring and forcing me to drink. Okay, you know how her mom. I'm forever grateful to that wine, you know. Excellent wine for the price, in my opinion, right, it's a very cheap wine, I'm hot and there was a good way.

S. Simon Jacob: 21:04

Drug, yeah, we call it inexpensive. Yeah, an expensive, expensive, but yeah it is. It is a gate, gateway for people to start enjoying wine and, and you know, move up into it right, I mean, the wine wasn't the it, the wine wasn't the focus there right so it's the people, the Torah.

Ari Pollack: 21:25

You know, it was the experience and it was. It was also a time, you know, looking back in retrospect, like what? What? Why? Why did they take those people out of you know, out of goose?

S. Simon Jacob: 21:41

cut. If what's going on, why? Why, what's what's? What's crazy is, recently One of the young guys who comes to one of the older guys who comes to show his grandson Took a picture In goose cut if, with a big goose cut if flag Mm-hmm, because he was born there. Wow, he was born there. And then they that year they pulled them all out. Right, so he's a young guy, but he's just exactly army age and he's back in goose cut if.

Ari Pollack: 22:21

It's like unbelievable where they said you know We'll never go when I get, we're never gonna have to have another soldier there right.

Ari Pollack: 22:31

So me, my wife, my blessed memory, was living in goose cut if for a couple months before Expulsion, together with my brother's family in the same house and another four. There were four families. My brother's family was in the living room in a tent. They lived in a bid to Calim for For two months, like that. That's how we got to know each other, and, by my, my wedding was a couple months after afterwards, in the beginning 2006, and when we said him as such, he was alive. You know, we have tradition of putting Ashes on your forehead, where you put your feeling on, and so I had ashes mixed with sand from the big kneset, and I'm with Calim that I put under my head when he said the image cahir shalim. And so May we know of no, no more destruction. I think we've had enough of ashes, we've had enough destruction, we've had enough pain and we should only, should only have good things, please, can, only planting and no uprooting, and only, you know, drinking and happiness and no misery.

Ari Pollack: 23:58

Yeah please God please, god is good. So one of the things I don't want to come across in this podcast and tell me would beat me if it did sound like that is that we're not coming. We don't come across as as a place where like where, miss Ken, where you know what's the word in English it's we. We feel like we're the luckiest people in the world.

Ari Pollack: 24:29

You know a hundred percent every time I step on the land, you know we have some, some of the people coming to pick the grapes. They're walking barefoot on the thorns. What they're coming, these teenage girls like the unbelievable.

Ari Pollack: 24:44

Amazing these people are really, you know, they don't even feel the thorns, they're so connected to the ground. Like them, the luckiest person in the world, you know, making planting and drinking wine and enjoying and living me where my ancestors lived, being able to, you know, to take in the art and to take in the people and to take in the, the spirituality.

S. Simon Jacob: 25:13

I remember, at the planting, we were at a planting and recently, and all of a sudden, all of these young people just started walking up the road towards us and you know, like just it was crazy, and then I realized they were walking barefoot and all of these kids came, you know, teenagers came to help plant and they were, just you know, all over the place.

Ari Pollack: 25:45

it was unbelievable World complaining if you get a thorn in my finger or whatever.

S. Simon Jacob: 25:49

And these guys are just walking in and they're doing whatever they need to do. Yeah, you know, tomer doesn't serve in Gaza from a feeling of being put upon or being stuck with this or what have you. It's totally a privilege and it's totally a responsibility that he is happy to take on his shoulders, as is everything.

Ari Pollack: 26:17

Jewish warrior. It's not always easy, right? Because after a whole day even not during wartime after a whole day of hurting the sheep and taking care of the wine and going from you know thing to thing, and then getting up at two o'clock in the morning for guard duty so that the Arab towns around don't try to come and steal the sheep, or even worse than that, Right, you know, it's his vineyard and farm is a truly magical place.

S. Simon Jacob: 26:55

I remember one of the first times I came, we were down by the peonies field and there were a couple of interesting things that Tomer told me. One was that when they planted the peonies, before they planted them, they just started watering. They, you know, put in a watering system to get the soil ready, and what have you? And when they started to water, out of the ground came like all sorts of stuff, grapes and all the grains just came out of the ground like they've been sitting there. This is totally barren. All of a sudden, out of the ground came all of these incredible things that were just waiting for a farmer to come and water the ground and to, you know, be ready for it. And it just incredible, it's like the land saying.

S. Simon Jacob: 28:05

I'm waiting for you.

Ari Pollack: 28:06

I've been waiting. You've come back. You know it's like talking out to you.

S. Simon Jacob: 28:13

Yeah, it definitely was talking, if not yelling. And it's like it's crazy. The other thing is, I remember being there and all of a sudden, in the distance I saw this cloud of smoke. I didn't know what it was, but it was coming closer and then I heard this beautiful angelic voices singing and I'm going. What?

Ari Pollack: 28:40

is that.

S. Simon Jacob: 28:41

And then I, as they came closer and closer, I realized it was the sheep coming in and it was Tomer's nieces from his sister's farm, which is just down in the, just down the valley a little bit from them, herding the sheep back and they were all in, dressed in like gowns that were like from the time of Avramavino and they're singing to Hilim and they're guiding the sheep up and it was like biblical. It was not, it was not a, it was incredible.

Ari Pollack: 29:33

It's a feeling like we're back. Yeah, I'm here, this is it. This is this is what we've been dreaming about.

S. Simon Jacob: 29:39

I feel like I stepped out of a time machine and it's like, wow, it's, it's an incredible experience, so it's a beautiful, beautiful place. I strongly suggestive, is it? I strongly suggest going there to see what it's like and he, he to have a barbecue with fresh lamb, it's like, and good wine. It's like crazy, crazy. Simon, what do you?

Ari Pollack: 30:12

what do you think about this wine over here? I mean, this is 2016, it's.

S. Simon Jacob: 30:16

I think my glass needs more yeah it's.

Ari Pollack: 30:19

The tannins are still strong. Yes, right.

S. Simon Jacob: 30:22

Yeah, no, it's, thank you. The color is deep, deep. It's a deep, rich color with not even a hint of bricking on the edges.

Ari Pollack: 30:39

It's young, it's pretty young.

S. Simon Jacob: 30:48

It's progressively getting better and better as we let it air, because we opened it just before we started the podcast.

Ari Pollack: 30:55

Wow.

S. Simon Jacob: 30:56

Wow, is right, wow wow.

Ari Pollack: 31:04

I wish everybody was here today.

S. Simon Jacob: 31:05

I know, I know, I know.

Ari Pollack: 31:07

Like I feel bad drinking all of this. It's so good, everybody needs to try this. Wow. So 2016, we actually was our first time sending wine to a wine competition.

Ari Pollack: 31:26

Coming out, you know, coming out a little bit of of the shadow of secrecy, we sent, like you know what, let's send the bottle to a competition. We didn't know how it works. You know, we don't know how these, how many bottles different wineries sent. We sent one bottle because it costs a couple thousand check or a thousand something check and a couple of bottles, and so we don't have a lot of bottles, right? We had one barrel of cavernet franc. You know what? Let's send the bottle of cavernet franc. A couple of bottles.

Ari Pollack: 32:10

They were tasting there's 30 30 judges that do blind tasting and we sent one bottle it's 400 something bottles there at the competition and we got one of the top prizes there, the second highest score of all the bottles. We got the best because of the bottle. We got double gold and we got the best boutique winery even though it's it's usually for wineries that make a little bit more than us and it was like that was a complete surprise. We thought we didn't win anything because that they only announced these prizes at the end of the competition and that was basically a stamp, that of something we knew already that we have something very special. One barrel, right, just one bottle. We sent over and we got. We didn't, you know, send over a couple of options over and hope for the best. So that was really amazing and, yeah, thank God we've we've had success since then. We've had some nice bottles coming out. This is one of them.

S. Simon Jacob: 33:29

Yeah, when do you find this for somebody who's Enthusiast, who's interested in tasting it? Where do they? I don't know the 16. I don't think you can find anywhere. No besides, here in my house I still have some bottles, but that said, if you're looking for wine from tone, where, where do you? Where in Israel Can you go to?

Ari Pollack: 33:54

So in Israel you have to reach out directly to us. Okay, okay, we have some wine in usual. I am by Thomas, father-in-law, you can pick up. It's a very small operation. My friends make fun of me like that. I don't even want to sell it, I want to keep it all for myself.

S. Simon Jacob: 34:14

Well, guess why?

Ari Pollack: 34:15

Yeah, delicious next yeah, but I also. We want to support the farm right and also we have About half of the wine is exported over to New York under To Lakewood, the seller to the seller, ben Webbers and Ari Luxbauer.

Ari Pollack: 34:37

Some Store called the seller and and they marketed under the name my my and, but it's written also Kermera van and Tom winery, made by Tom winery. Yeah, so you can get it by them. I think they deliver in the States, and he's got some older bottles as well. Ben is a perfectionist and he likes to keep them in his cellar before selling them off. So, yeah, he's got some older bottles, not 2016, but I think 1718. Here in Israel, we only have 2021 for sale, which is our latest, which is just starting to come out, because everything gets sold out very quickly. 2022 we didn't make wine right because of the, because of Schmita.

Ari Pollack: 35:35

Yeah, she's a.

S. Simon Jacob: 35:38

So I have some actual 2019's that I can get my hands on, because I I made a bottle called Rabay new Tom. I always like to play with the names and it's also crazy delicious.

Ari Pollack: 35:57

It's a blend.

S. Simon Jacob: 35:58

It's a blend of Cab cab, frank, I Think, and it's.

Ari Pollack: 36:07

I'm sorry it's got some of the London.

S. Simon Jacob: 36:10

Yeah, and a Shiraz, and it's Really, really delicious. I couldn't, I couldn't be happier with it.

Ari Pollack: 36:18

Yeah, we sat here in your house blending together right, we brought a little sample of each barrel and and we also did it.

S. Simon Jacob: 36:26

We did it in a couple of different places, but yeah, we did and it was. It came out spectacular amazing so it was really nice. It's one of the One of my Crazy adventures that just was Wonderful, just worked out great, so it's Tom Tom.

Ari Pollack: 36:46

Tom is the name of the winery, right? Yeah, on the honor. Our bottles are very Simple and clean. We don't, you know it's right that the wine has the taste of earth and minerals and different things. Like we don't write anything about what we taste in the wine, but we have the Pasuk of from Telem. It says Tom Viosher Yitziruni Kiki Vitticha. Right, tom is. You can say it's something simple, but it's not only symbol, tom, or even also means complete and whole and Pure, and I was gonna say pure yeah.

Ari Pollack: 37:33

so so it's, it's, it's a pursuit that we connect to a lot, tom Viosher and integrity, these are my, these are my traits, because I'm looking, kiki Vitticha, cause I'm, my eyes are towards you, gosh, that's something we we feel very close to in our lifestyle, in our wine.

S. Simon Jacob: 38:05

I want to ask you about one other thing the wine. The people who listen to this podcast have two basic dreams, many of them. One is to make a lia and the other one is to do something in wine, and it's kind of funny because each of the people I bring in it's kind of accomplished both of those. What was your motivation to make a lia? Did this is something that was in your mind all along, or or?

Ari Pollack: 38:38

what is this all along is? I made a lia right when I finished high school. I mean, everybody, everybody in school knew that I was talking about a lot about moving to Israel. They thought I was full of baloney. It was a big talker. I used to tell the teachers also they you know they should be real. And if it says in the Torah all about our to sell and everything's and we have the chance to do it, why are you not doing it? I don't know if it was a little bit of chutzpah, which is definitely what they thought. So the week after I finished high school, I was, I was out, I was, I was on a plane to our to sell. So what happened?

Ari Pollack: 39:29

when you arrived here, I had a brother that was living here carried our bow.

Ari Pollack: 39:36

And then I went to study Pre-army you Shiva up north in the Golan.

Ari Pollack: 39:47

I was, I was, I was very connected to the land of Israel, even before I came.

Ari Pollack: 39:54

Just from visiting here and and seeing the people and and going to these different places that we're now making wine on the eat, the more I came before I made aliyah, and that was jealous. You know, I was jealous of these people that are Are not only looking out for themselves, they're not following the path of going to school, maybe learning in your Shiva for a year, coming back, go to college, be a doctor or lawyer or whatever you know there's, which are all super important things, right, I Wish I could do all that, except for the part of going back to America. Right, everybody needs to Realize their full potential and I think the full potential of, of the Jewish people can only be seen in the land of Israel. And and I didn't want somebody else to Basically write down the path of where my life is going, because that's what everybody around me was doing I was looking for a life, of a meaningful life, and Even through my heart, you know, after my wife passed away, I Was left like was tough.

Ari Pollack: 41:23

Raising three kids on my own. Five year old the three are in the one year old my parents weren't living near me. People were saying you know parents, my family are saying Just come, you know. Yeah, it's a reality. You have a house by us, have connections, right. That's basically came to Israel and I started everything over again. I wasn't relying on anybody else, I was building myself on my own and Then I found myself by myself, without my partner in life. You know, come With a car that's in the garage Nobody's using. We have a house that's empty. Get your job can help you out.

Ari Pollack: 42:15

And but it means leaving all right it means leaving is, and so when is your Ideology really tested, if not when things are hard right, so you only do things that you believe in when it's easy. So these are some thoughts that we're going through my head also, but actually I couldn't imagine myself leaving, even though escaping the the chaos that I was in seemed like an easy and natural escape.

S. Simon Jacob: 43:01

Very enticing very enticing.

Ari Pollack: 43:03

Yeah, but you know my kids just I didn't. My kids grew up with me speaking Hebrew in the house, even though I didn't grow up speaking Hebrew at all. I Failed most of my Hebrew tests in high school. Thank God I have somebody smart sitting next to me in the Hebrew region, or else I wouldn't have passed. But my kids didn't grow up here hearing English at all. But they, thank God now they, you know. We went to visit my family and they stay. They speak English well, but If they speak to somebody in America or in Europe, they say you have an accent, where are you from? And they say I'm from the land of Israel. Right, which is amazing. That's their accent. Their accent is from the land of Israel and that's that's my kid like. I Success right there.

Ari Pollack: 44:01

If not anything else, I'm happy. My, my kids are back. My kids are back. You know, doesn't matter where they go in the world, they they have. They have that ingrained in them. There is rallies, there is rallies. Yeah, who? Dean yeah, judeans they live in. Judea live. We live in the Judean, on the edge of the Judean desert, next to near Betelechem. I live in Tekoa, you know, working David grew up playing around with his sheep, and so I think I'm living the dream.

S. Simon Jacob: 44:42

I am living. I think you're living the dream too.

Ari Pollack: 44:44

I'm living my own dream, you know it would be nicer if I had a partner yeah, a pretty wife next to me that was a partner in this journey, but that's all in all.

S. Simon Jacob: 44:57

It's pretty.

Ari Pollack: 44:58

You live life with the cards you dealt with and and you're you make. You know I think I've done the best with it. I think life is pretty amazing, so thank God L'chaim.

S. Simon Jacob: 45:10

L'chaim tovi mushella, l'chaim Taste this again. It's only getting better. Yeah it's getting Samir and it's getting. It's awesome, Absolutely awesome, Awesome wine. Question for you For Tom Winery is there anything? We've mentioned a couple of things, but is there anything that you can think of that listeners could do to help meet Tom's goals?

Ari Pollack: 45:42

So what are Tom's goals Right? It's first and foremost, to connect people to the land.

S. Simon Jacob: 45:50

Yep, so come and celebrate a. Simcha here.

Ari Pollack: 45:56

Yeah, come and celebrate, come over.

S. Simon Jacob: 45:58

We had a Bar Mitzvah there for my eldest grandson. We came to, we came up. It was a long ride getting up there. We made it and we had a barbecue.

Ari Pollack: 46:11

Was that your first time up? That was not the first time.

S. Simon Jacob: 46:14

It was one of my first times, but it wasn't my first and but it was the first for my m'khutan from Sacramento and and you know they're saying like what are you doing? Where are we going? And when they got there they said how did you find such an incredibly special place? It was just like breathtaking, the whole family being up there and we had an incredible barbecue with wonderful wines and it was just a bunch of us all kids, grandkids and just great.

Ari Pollack: 46:58

So it was like a lot of fun. I remember coming also later and I saw everybody was. It was so emotional. It's like your, your son's crying and you cry. It was like it was so emotional over there, right.

S. Simon Jacob: 47:11

It was an incredible experience to be there. So if you ever have an opportunity I know people have gone there for bar mitzvahs recently People go up there. If you ever were looking for a place to do a special event, this is. You know, this is down to earth. This is emotionally spectacular unbelievable view, unbelievable food, unbelievable wine but you might be sitting in the grass Right. That's what I was about to say.

Ari Pollack: 47:48

You know this isn't a place to go.

S. Simon Jacob: 47:50

Just to expectations.

Ari Pollack: 47:52

There's no fancy visitor center and there's no 3D light show or anything like that. It's a farm, it's connecting, you can hear the cows. You can hear the what you call it you can hear the sheep.

S. Simon Jacob: 48:07

You can hear everything going at the same time.

Ari Pollack: 48:10

Sometimes even smell them.

S. Simon Jacob: 48:11

Yes.

Ari Pollack: 48:12

That's true. That's true. Depends on which?

S. Simon Jacob: 48:14

way the wind is blowing. Yeah, but that said it. You can't come away from there without being uplifted. You just can't.

Ari Pollack: 48:28

Yeah.

S. Simon Jacob: 48:30

Yeah, they're incredible people and they let you bask in their light while you're there. It's an incredible experience, very, very special. So, please God, if you ever get an opportunity also through the seller, people in America can get Mayan wine the wine from Tom, which is really delicious. He only carries things that are really exceptionally delicious.

Ari Pollack: 49:10

Yeah. Ben has a knack for picking those things, so it's very special Going himself to each place and picking out, yeah, yeah, it's very hands-on.

S. Simon Jacob: 49:20

Yeah, and perfectionist in what he does.

Ari Pollack: 49:23

First of all, the best way, like I said, like I tell journalists and wine writers, is to come visit and drink with us and take home and take the experience with you and it's contagious, right. I feel you ran out of wine, dr Simon. I didn't run out, but I'm glad.

S. Simon Jacob: 49:49

Thank you.

Ari Pollack: 49:51

Great. So what else can people do? They can come and order wine, right.

S. Simon Jacob: 49:58

You have a website.

Ari Pollack: 49:59

We have a website, TomWinery. com

S. Simon Jacob: 50:01

I'm going to add it to the Podcast.

Ari Pollack: 50:03

We have a Facebook TomWinery Karan Mayrov. We have an Instagram. If you message us, you'll get an automatic message back that we're usually busy in the fields, herding sheep and things like that. But we'll get back to you in due time.

S. Simon Jacob: 50:24

And I can tell you that's true.

Ari Pollack: 50:26

Yeah. Yeah, that's true, so we're not. It could be. We don't expect quick responses or overnight delivery or things like that.

S. Simon Jacob: 50:36

Yeah, they're too busy delivering sheep and taking care of everything that's going on there, so yeah.

S. Simon Jacob: 50:45

Right, that's cool. You know, terroir, the kosher terroir is. People give me a lot of grief about using the word kosher terroir, the Israeli terroir or this terroir. That's where Terroir actually is, what imparts all of the flavors that are coming out of this wine. Yeah, and as you're drinking it, it's really exceptional, it's really beautiful, it's delicious. As you're, as we're drinking it, I can't help but see all of the surroundings around. You know it comes from all of the vegetation that is around you and all of the all of the minerals that are in the earth and it's all there as you drink this. So it's You're drinking like this imprint from that specific place on the mountain and it's incredible. So as I'm drinking it, I'm just thinking back to being there and missing it terribly, but thinking that what a great way to remember that experience. It's an incredible way to remember the experience. Ari, thank you very, very much for being on the kosher terroir, allowing me to taste this again and to relive some of the dream. Thank you, it's great. Thank you for Simon.

Ari Pollack: 52:36

Thank you, simon, for having me and thank you for opening this bottle. It's a real treat, as always, coming to use some nice treats.

S. Simon Jacob: 52:48

Please God, I look forward to speaking to Tomer and, yeah, and having him back here safe and sound and having all of the hostages, all of our hostages, freed safely, Please God.

Ari Pollack: 53:06

And all of our Jewish brothers and sisters overseas. Yes, we should hopefully see them here. That's another goal of ours. Tomer tells everybody you should be planting grapes here also, you should be making it. So if anybody ever needs help, we've been helping other smaller wineries and people with questions and during Shemitah a lot of people came and picked their own grapes and made their own wine and we helped them out with that. So you know all of our listeners hopefully you know the dream is real, it's happening.

S. Simon Jacob: 53:39

The true it's. Let me let me expand on that. If you're in Israel during any of the times of being able to plant or pick grapes, you have to do this. I mean it's, it really connects you directly into the land. There isn't, there isn't, an experience that's better. I can't tell you that your hands are not going to get poked and with thorns and thistles and stuff. They will, but afterwards you will. You'll be thankful for every one of those little pokes and veins because it'll remind you that you actually planted in Eretz, yisrael, which is like crazy, incredible. Thank you, thank you, son. Thank you, take care. Shalom U'Bracha.

S. Simon Jacob: 54:42

This is Simon Jacob, again your host of today's episode of The Kosher Terroir. I have a personal request no matter where you are or where you live, please take a moment to pray for our soldier's safety and the safe and rapid return of our hostages and, whenever possible, buy and share Israeli wine. I hope you have enjoyed this episode of the Kosher Tawah. It was exciting and informative for me as well. 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. The Kosher Terroir is also available on the Nachom Siegel Network at 6.30pm New York time Thursday evening and The World-Famous NSN app. Again, thank you for listening to The Kosher Terroir.