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 an interesting conversation regarding a wine tasting we recently had. It's not our usual format, but I hope you will enjoy it nonetheless. If you're driving in your car, please focus on the road ahead. If you're comfortably home, select a wonderful bottle of kosher wine, sit back and enjoy this playful discussion exploring both aged and new kosher wines. I'd like to welcome everybody back to our first podcast of the new year Rosh Hashanah. After Rosh Hashanah. After Rosh Hashanah 5785. And welcome to The Kosher Terroir.

S. Simon Jacob: 1:13

I have a guest with me who is unexpectedly here. It's my son Ovadiah. He's actually my number two son, but he's my son, Ovadiah. He's actually my number two son, but he's my keeper of whatever wines I have left in New Jersey, which aren't that many, and also any wines that I end up getting delivered to New Jersey. So I'd like to welcome him onto the podcast. He's always been there in the background. I'd like to welcome him onto the podcast. He's always been there in the background, so it's a. It's a pleasure recording a podcast with one of my children children who has who himself has eight of his own children and and a fellow wine lover. So welcome.

Ovadiah N. Jacob: 2:03

Thank you so much. I would say long time listener, firsttime caller, but I think I've snuck into one or two in the past, so pleasure to be here.

S. Simon Jacob: 2:11

Excellent. So we're going to go over some crazy incredible wines we had the pleasure to experience just over a week ago at my daughter's wedding, and the wines were so exceptional that it's worth making a podcast specifically to discuss them and to discuss some of the kosher wines we've tasted while Ovadiah has been here in Jerusalem. It was also my birthday, so that was another reason to pull out some special bottles of wine, and I think as we go through this, you'll get a feel for those bottles. Okay, so we started with some whites, the first of which was Yaakov Oryah's Emek Hasadim.

S. Simon Jacob: 3:08

It's a Semillon. It was in a 750 milliliter bottle and it was a 2009 Semillon. This bottle is absolutely historic, I don't think. Besides, within the kosher world at least, this bottle is just absolutely exceptional. Opening up in 2024, the end of 2024, a 2009 Semillon that is just so crisp and fresh and showing all the signs of incredible youth, it would have kept going. It's a pity to have opened it, except that when you've got a group of people together who are just really exceptional and you know, maybe we'll discuss some of the people who were there because they're really awesome wine people, but that was a truly exceptional bottle, including Ya'acov Oryah, who happened to be there, by the way.

Ovadiah N. Jacob: 4:17

Well, one funny observation for me is that, you know, sort of as we were looking for wines for the wedding, I came across a 2017 bottle of that wine and I bought it for my father and I thought it would be very nice to be able to share it in that context, and he kind of turned to me and said gosh, this one can sit for another 10 years. Maybe we'll take out the 2009 instead. Again, in the context of whites, that's definitely not something that comes up in conversation that often. Yeah, but what did you think of it? It was delicious. It tasted like it was meant to be drunk at exactly that moment and it certainly had more time to go, but it was spectacular.

Ovadiah N. Jacob: 4:55

If I could, two wines that we didn't drink at the wedding but that we did get for the Shabbat Kala were two other Ya'akov Oryah whites.. One was Malkat HaLevavot, the Queen of Hearts, which, again in the context of a Shabbat Kala, you know , fit erfectly p he second one was Ezer Kanegdo, same construct, you know, soulmate, which, if you're thinking about Shabbat Kalas,, felt really appropriate. I was, sadly, because it was a Shabbat Kala, unable to taste them myself, so I think we got some bottles to taste later, but we didn't get a chance to drink them yet Okay Kala Okay.

S. Simon Jacob: 5:33

Yeah, but those are exceptional wines. The Azucanegdo is a fairly new release of the Azucanegdo, though they've been exceptional since the very first release. I really love that wine.

S. Simon Jacob: 5:50

And along with the Acavoria's whites, are just really fun and interesting and exciting. All of those wines worked well even without food, which was which is actually his wines. Some of them, the orange wines especially need to have food to really be enjoyed to their fullest, but those were all exceptional wines really. Also, not to belittle the other whites, we had the other white wine we had, which was Carmel Cumi Vineyard Riesling from 2017. I believe it's the last, the most up-to-date version of the Riesling. The most up-to-date version of the Riesling it was. Also, we had two bottles, two 750-milliliter bottles. That went pretty quick. None of these wines could we tell you how they aged over time, because the people just really enjoyed them all within the— Moments.

S. Simon Jacob: 7:03

Yeah, not moments, moments, but within an hour certainly, um, and they didn't degrade over that hour at all. Uh, the thing about the the kiyomi riesling is that it's probably one of the most germanic rieslings released in israel. It has all of the petrol undertones and it's just lovely, fresh and crisp and just a wonderful oily Riesling. It was just really exceptional. It's one of the best Rieslings ever released in Israel from an, an israeli winery, and it was just really appreciated and fun I couldn't agree more.

Ovadiah N. Jacob: 7:52

I thought it was spectacular. The only other white that we had and it wasn't at the wedding, but over the course of the past almost four weeks, now that we've been here um repeatedly was the flam camellia, which is that's such a.

S. Simon Jacob: 8:06

It's again an israeli white, um, from flam winery. Uh, it's named after their mom and uh, who's the kind of the ceo of the winery? To be quite honest, um, she's the accountant accounting, so she's the one who controls everything. But that wine is so it's a Chardonnay-based wine. It's so full in your mouth, the mouth taste is so broad and the finish is so long. It's just a a great. It's also a wonderfully great wine. It's probably one of the best chardonnays made in, uh, in israel. Just beautiful, beautiful wine. Okay, so there are some more whites, but we'll get to them later because they were on the dessert side.

S. Simon Jacob: 9:03

But let's talk a little bit about the Reds, and kind of the highlight of the Reds for the evening were a flight of Castel Grand Vin magnums from 2003, 2008, and 2010. And I was a little scared about the 2003, even in the Magnum form. I was a little scared of it. But none of these bottles, none of the bottles that we drank and it wasn't just my feeling how good they were. It was generally accepted across most of the people who tasted or all of the people who tasted that the 2003, though it was not a youngster anymore by any means it was still delicious, with nothing really wrong with it at all. With nothing really wrong with it at all. There are people who said it was already past peak, but it certainly wasn't unfriendly or unapproachable. It was just wonderful, wonderful. The 2003 was just spectacular, the 2008 was well, go ahead.

Ovadiah N. Jacob: 10:25

Ovadia, give me a feel Before we jump to 2008,. On that 2003, I thought it actually really had aged incredibly elegantly. We did the vertical but I also thought as a horizontal test. You had an incredible French wine from a 2000 vintage, so maybe a little bit older, but you know, equally, 20 plus years between the two of them, um, and it had the same. You know incredible, you know dynamic where it had that. It had that elegance in the aging, it had still phenomenal character and flavors, um, playing through, and it was just an absolute delight to be able to taste it. You could see the smiles on the bartenders as they were pouring and maybe, maybe, tasting a little bit of it. Just an incredible, incredible wine.

S. Simon Jacob: 11:16

The French wine that I think that you're talking about, is the Smith Hortlefite, which was a 2000 as well, and not as well it was a 2000 as opposed to 2003. But it's an exceptional, also an exceptional bottle, and it was just wonderful, crazy wonderful, to taste it with all the other wines that we were tasting and it was just also 100% on Go ahead.

Ovadiah N. Jacob: 11:45

No, sorry if I took us out of order.

S. Simon Jacob: 11:46

No, no, it's fine.

Ovadiah N. Jacob: 11:47

I just think that that compare contrast is incredibly powerful because, you know, you have the old world delicious old world French wines which are still, you know, phenomenal franchises in their own right. The fact that you have a 2003 Castel that is presenting as robustly as phenomenally as it did portends incredible things for the future of the Israeli wine industry, because there aren't that many Israeli wines that go that far back, but there are. You know, given the volume and breadth of the wines and creativity of the wines that are being, you know, generated now, you know, I just think that the future is incredibly bright.

S. Simon Jacob: 12:26

These were Castel Grand Vins and they're just really exceptional. That 2003 was actually the earliest vintage kosher vintage by fully kosher vintage by Castel. They actually had a 2002 and a half. Half of the 2002s were also kosher, but the 2003,. I don't even know if they released a 2002 kosher in a magnum, but the 2003 was just crazy good. The 2008 was a Shemitah year, but it was a good year in Israel. It was actually a wonderful year in Israel for cabs, cabernets, and the 2008 was also. It also was extremely elegant, Um, it, it. It also was extremely elegant. It hadn't aged, Um. It didn't feel like it had aged anywhere near as long as the 2003. It was fresher, Um, but it was really also a lovely one as far as I was concerned.

Ovadiah N. Jacob: 13:40

Full force, right. I again always a preference for non-trimetal wines when we can get them, um, but that was one that I just had to taste and it was fantastic, spectacular and um, yeah, it absolutely tasted as if it was in the prime of its life. There's no question that that's a sort of, uh, very powerful and phenomenal um, you know, between the two, the 2008 and 2010, which we had, you know, sort of shortly thereafter, I mean, they were both incredibly delicious. I don't know that I would, you, I would give one the nod over the other, but the eight was.

S. Simon Jacob: 14:13

I think the 2010 was actually tasting young and I think it could have gone. It could have gone a lot longer, but they really tasted as if they were in the proper order of their ages. The 2010 was quite a number of people's favorite wine of the evening. It was really really good. Again, we're using all sorts of crazy adjectives for these, but they really were really special. Another wine we had as well was the Flam Cabernet Sauvignon Reserve 2010 in the small bottle format the 750 regular wine bottle format that I have had in the past, and it has not performed anywhere near as well as this bottle did. This was just, you know, magic. It was just great. There was absolutely nothing about that bottle that you could say anything negative about. It was just great. It was great, at least my perspective. It was an absolutely exceptional. It was a great, at least my perspective. It was an absolutely exceptional, great bottle of wine, and that's also, I believe, that 2010 was the first kosher Flamme Cabernet Sauvignon Reserve.

Ovadiah N. Jacob: 15:42

So this is a mark to the breadth of the family, but I think we had that wine at one of my sister's weddings and it was incredible then, although maybe you didn't love it as much as I did, uh, but it was still.

S. Simon Jacob: 15:55

it was very robust and delicious, um, you know, in the context of not just your birthday but this family celebration, it was a wonderful celebration with quite a number of people who are tasting and I think everybody was kind of blown away by how well the 2010 performed, because there have been some instances in the past. So thank God, it seemed to have been stored well and it was really good, really great. We also then had a Gvaot Masada 2013 Magnum a Gvaot Masada 2013 Magnum. That was also Masada. It's one of their top wines out of Gvaot.

Ovadiah N. Jacob: 16:47

And we actually had. We had good representation from Gvaot, from.

S. Simon Jacob: 16:49

Gvaot, there they were the actual. The whole team.

Ovadiah N. Jacob: 16:52

I think, well, the CEO was there. From.

S. Simon Jacob: 16:52

Gvaot. Good representation from there. They were the actual, the whole team, I think. Well, the ceo was there from gavotte and he was, uh, um, and he was anxious to see how it, how it turned out, and it was just great, it was just a wonderful, um, it was just great. Great bottle of wine as well. Exceptional. It was different, uh, it was different than the others, but it was really really beautiful, beautiful bottle of wine.

Ovadiah N. Jacob: 17:21

For me just, you know, in terms of what it brought for me was also, just, you know, this year I think this past year was the first time we had a chance to take the family to visit the winery and the visitor center, and it was a wonderful memory. An incredible visitor center, definitely something that if you haven't done yet it's worth doing. That the food that they have is delicious and it's wonderful to go alongside with that wine, but, um, but, you know, when we were there, we were tasting the, the current vintages of the, you know, 2000, 2000 to 2020s, and the 2021s and 22s, and so this was really spectacular because you kind of got a chance to see something that they put forth and had really had a chance to mature. I don't know, I don't know that it needed to go longer. I think it was, I think it was, it was.

S. Simon Jacob: 18:10

It was definitely within its tasting window and it performed admirably. It was wonderful. We, you know there's a number of wines coming out of Kavod now that are just really special. They're doing some of the early early well. We got to taste some of the early shots at the new not new but really old varietals that they brought back to life, that Shivi Drori has brought back to life under a program that he's been running with Ariel University of trying to collect old varietals from Israel and reestablish them, which means that you've got to take them and you've got to clean them genetically, get rid of all of the infectious parts of them, all of the diseased parts of them, all of the diseased parts, and produce a strain that is representative of that original varietal. And he's done that with quite a number.

S. Simon Jacob: 19:25

Especially wonderful was the bettuni, which was as Pinot Noir as anything I've ever tasted, and it's not even fully developed and growing properly yet, but it was just. It's such an Israeli, fresh, bright Pinot Noir, it's just great, great, great bottle of wine. And their visitor center has wonderful pizzas and all sorts of breads and cheeses and everything else you could imagine. So if you've got a family and you want to take them someplace to do a wine tasting. You could keep the kids busy with the pizza while you're tasting some of the wonderful wines. They have a new wine, roz maybe, I think.

Ovadiah N. Jacob: 20:19

The Roz.

S. Simon Jacob: 20:20

The Roz. It was also delicious, but it was way too young to drink that bottle.

Ovadiah N. Jacob: 20:24

It needed time. That wasn't the one I was thinking of, though. The one I was thinking of was they made a white and it might have been a 2021 or 2022 white, made a white and it might have been a 2021 or 2022 white. It was, I want to say, maybe a cab white or something like that. It or maybe had a little bit of cab in it. That was just. You know, that sounds unconventional. It was incredibly delicious, right, so we have to fact check that, um, but I believe that they they brought out a um, a bottle that wasn't really released yet.

S. Simon Jacob: 20:56

That ended up. I think it ends up becoming a Givaot white, maybe under the Masada label. I'm not sure, but it's a very high-end white from their perspective and it was a blend and it did have a cab component in it. I don't remember exactly. The Raz is one that they have um brought out. I insisted on tasting it and they said you know, you're, you're actually sacrificing this bottle. But um, we did taste it and it was. It was very good, very unapproachable. But as it stayed open longer, it got more and more approachable and better and I have at least one, maybe two bottles put away in the cellar that I'm hoping to taste in in you know, in in a while they're reds and they're just.

S. Simon Jacob: 22:09

They're the top of their production right now. So that was great. That was a lot of fun. And then we also had a wine by Kobi Arbiv of Reconati fame. He's the winemaker for Reconati, but he also has his own wine production under the label Mia Luce, and we tasted a whole cluster Marzolan 2018 Magnum. That was just also it could definitely have gone longer. It wasn't anywhere near suffering age when we tasted it, but it was also really accessible, in that Marcellin is just the whole cluster of Marcellin is just also crazy delicious.

S. Simon Jacob: 23:09

It hung in there with all the rest of the wines that we went through. So it was just, it was really really beautiful to go through it. Any thoughts on that one.

Ovadiah N. Jacob: 23:21

I don't think I got a chance to taste it, Um, but the the Mia Luce's that I had in the past were were spectacular, so yeah, I still have some more.

S. Simon Jacob: 23:29

I still have some more of the 2018. Yeah, I still have some more. I still have some more bottle to drink with Ralph Medeb. Dr Medeb, um, but I couldn't help myself. So, dr Ralph, please forgive me. Um, and we'll, we'll taste. Uh, we'll taste more in the future, with God's help. More in the future, with God's help.

S. Simon Jacob: 24:13

Domaine we had a Domaine Roses Camille, which is a Pomerol from France, the 2011,. And also a standard bottle format. That was also a wine that I've tasted. The five, which I it took forever to become approachable. The six, which appeared to be more approachable earlier but then went to sleep and became totally unapproachable for a long, long time. But when I tasted the six, I think the last time I tasted it was with speaking of Dr Medeb, dr Medeb, and it was, uh, wonderful it, it was just wonderful. It was accessible and delicious and wonderful. The 2011 I was really scared of because I never thought it would be approachable, but it actually was wonderful. And well, uh, it was young. It was definitely young, but it was within the drinking window and it was really nice, really lovely, wonderful, wonderful wine, just wonderful.

Ovadiah N. Jacob: 25:29

Yeah, all of the pain had burnt off and so it was probably early in the drinking window, but very, very drinkable, delicious. I seem to recall that's one of your favorite French wines. Now, drc it is yeah.

S. Simon Jacob: 25:45

Well, people within the kosher world they call it DRC, even though it's not really the DRC that everybody talks about in the non-kosher world. But it's fine. I don't think we're going to get to the non-kosher DRC anytime soon as a kosher version, so it's okay. But it was lovely. It was wonderful the 2011. It was just great.

S. Simon Jacob: 26:12

We've also tasted some crazy kosher wines that are from kind of boutique winemakers. We didn't taste them at the wedding, but we've tasted them since Ovadia's been here and I really want to mention them because they are really exceptional. If you can get a chance to taste any of them, they're worth it. They're well worth it. First of all was a special kosher run by Zev Dunya, who created a special run of seahorse called K-Cira I guess kosher Syrah. It was 2019. I guess kosher Syrah, it was 2019. And if you ever get a chance to taste one of those bottles, absolutely it was made by Eyal, who was the winemaker at Seahorse. Now he's the winemaker back at Agour making kosher wine, but that wine is a Syrah. That is just wow, just wonderful. If you get a chance to talk to Eviatar Cohen at Kosher Barakah, I think he might still have a few bottles left of that, but not many, and that's a really, really wonderful wine to taste if you get a chance to.

Ovadiah N. Jacob: 28:09

I was reading through a book that you had of old wineries in Israel. I think the book was maybe from the early 2000s and that was one of the wineries it mentioned and I was like, okay, but if it's not kosher I'm never going to get a chance to taste it. It was delightful and it was nice to be able to have access to that in a kosher format that you could really enjoy, and I think we've had 19. Have we had anything earlier than 19?

Ovadiah N. Jacob: 28:36

Or 19 is the only one we've had 19 is the only one, because it's the only one ever produced. Fine, that was just delicious. The only one ever produced that was kosher. Yeah, um, but on the subject, right, we you know the rest of that menu of agour wines that we've tasted together, and that was another winery I had a chance to visit with you, I think it was over the summer.

S. Simon Jacob: 28:55

Um, just incredible, incredible stuff ayal is absolutely a creative genius. Um, you can. You can tell by walking into a barrel room and seeing barrels covered, literally covered, with chalk of. Um, you know chalk marks of this is this and this is this blend and this is the. You know. This is why we're keeping this aside and this is what we're blending. It's a small boutique winery that is just making exceptional wines Magical magical wines, yeah. Just delicious.

Ovadiah N. Jacob: 29:31

Aptly named with that Kesem.

S. Simon Jacob: 29:34

Yeah, Kesem is their the highest end wine that they make at the moment, though I'm sure that's going to be surpassed shortly, Because I know they're working on some crazy combinations of wines.

Ovadiah N. Jacob: 29:49

So go ahead. The other winery I just wanted to mention and again, we didn't have it at the wedding, but we have tasted bottles from them since at the wedding, but we have tasted bottles from them since I'll just say that my favorite bottle of Israeli wine I think I've ever tasted was the 2020 Haselek Cab. Yeah, they only make a Cab Right and well, in 2020, maybe they have a Rosé since then but that 2020 Cab was just so delicious and, again, very, very, very young for what it was, but so so delicious, um, and I figured you know one hit wonder. It was an incredible wine. But you know, these guys are early on in the game and if this is the first one they made, maybe they'll have another one that you know comes up to it at some point in the future, but but likely not soon and with all the war that's happening around us, you know, I was fairly convicted in that judgment.

S. Simon Jacob: 30:39

And then, um, we had a chance over the course of the summer to taste the 2022 that we retasted this past which, which we bought, yeah, um, but it didn't taste anywhere near as delicious as the 2020 um, but we bought it because it's a brand new, tiny little winery um out by arugot farm. And it because it's a brand new tiny little winery out by Arugot Farm and it's run by two exceptional people and their wives.

Ovadiah N. Jacob: 31:09

The wives and their exceptional husbands these days.

S. Simon Jacob: 31:11

yeah, yeah, the wives are the exceptional ones, and their husbands who are battling on the front, but the wives actually made this wine the 2022. It tasted okay to begin with. It was very young. Hard to get over that, but as we've let it sit, it has just become more and more and more delicious. So the 2020 is definitely the best of their wines and I don't know if you can get any more of that, but you can only get it at the winery. It's a tiny, tiny little winery that's just working very hard to produce exceptional stuff and they're just wonderful. We've gone through a whole bunch of really lovely whites. We enjoyed last night a Yarden Chardonnay. Actually, that was really great. We also tasted a Chenin Blanc from… Nana Winery in the desert. It was a wonderful, really crisp, very fresh and very citrusy shenan it was just really great. White by Itay Lahat as well that was also just surprisingly delicious yeah.

S. Simon Jacob: 32:47

And you know these are fairly new wines and they but they're whites and they're really really good. Okay, well, to mention the last two whites that we actually had at the wedding that were we had. By the way, the wedding was at Pesagot and we had a whole bunch of their wines as well, which were lovely, and it started out with their bubbly and that was really great from the very beginning of the wedding, and their wines by Sam Soroka were just great. So that was also wonderful and I highly recommend Psa Got as a place to visit and also if you ever want to do a wedding or an event.

Ovadiah N. Jacob: 33:42

What an exceptionally beautiful place to do it.

S. Simon Jacob: 33:43

It was just yeah, it was just off, the deep end, beautiful, the temperature was perfect, it was just outside and it was just great. Now it's covered by a tent, but it's, it was just really great. The last two bottles uh well, the bottle, we had two bottles so people could share and taste. It were two bottles of Yakov Oria's Old Musketeer, which is a Chardonnay. It's 2008 as well, but it was aged. This was the variety that was aged in barrels for eight years, and this dessert wine. I'm sure there's no way to get any more of this, but this dessert wine can only be described as waffles with maple syrup, as waffles with maple syrup, and that's hard to believe that you could have a Chardonnay aged in such a way that it tastes like waffles and maple syrup and is so exceptionally delicious. But it is and it's just wonderful, and even non-wine drinkers who I went up to and said you got to taste this, at least taste it.

S. Simon Jacob: 35:02

Um, just their eyes lit up and they said where in the world did you find anything like that? So the Alcavoria is also, um, an incredible winemaker and he was just, uh, he's just great, great, super great, and that those bottles of Old Musketeer are just awesome, absolutely awesome. They don't, they can't, they can't oxidize anymore. They're oxidized, but they can evaporate, so you want to cork them. You don't want to leave them out because you don't, they can't evaporate, so you want to cork them. You don't want to leave them out because you don't want, you don't want them to evaporate, but that was, um, really quite a lot of fun.

Ovadiah N. Jacob: 35:50

Yeah, should we mention any of the other things that we tasted over the course of the past couple days? Just because, yeah, sure whatever else. We had a delicious, delicious beer. Oh, that was an Ella Valley, ella Valley.

S. Simon Jacob: 36:03

Belgium Triple. Wow man, I've been missing New Belgium Brewery in Colorado and I think they've got one on the East Coast now, but in Colorado for a long time. I don't miss it anymore. East coast now, but in colorado for a long time, I don't miss it anymore. This, that ella valley, uh, belgium triple was just over the top.

Ovadiah N. Jacob: 36:27

Israel has definitely arrived on the beer scene. Yeah, no question.

S. Simon Jacob: 36:30

Well, I knew that from before from some of the previous podcasts.

Ovadiah N. Jacob: 36:34

But that specific podcast, that specific beer hit all my um sweet spots, all the, all the parts that I'd look for in a beer and then, uh, and I guess we probably should mention the scotch just because in in celebration of your birthday yeah right, we had, we had a few scotches. We have two 35 year old spring banks that we tasted. Yes.

S. Simon Jacob: 37:00

Okay, those were the 35-year-old ones, but we also had a, the Strathisla. I think it was Strathisla. Yeah Was the 1954. It was a 1954 bottle that was bottled in 1996. And that was over the top as well. I mean, I'm passionate about scotches as well as wine, but those are bottles that I picked up many years ago thinking, okay, it's for my birthday. These are exceptional bottles. Maybe in the future I'll open them on a birthday, and it was the time.

Ovadiah N. Jacob: 37:42

I mean. My takeaway from this, you know, so far, from this trip that doesn't ever seem to end, is If LL gets on a flight eventually Is that, from a wine standpoint, israel is definitely there producing incredible, incredible wines that can contend with anywhere else in the world, and we actually had evidence of that at the course, you know, at the wedding with some of the best winemakers, and it was just incredible to see and taste and be part of that, I think, with the experiences around the beer that we tasted over the course of this past few weeks there as well. And my hope is that you know, sort of to celebrate your 83rd birthday, we get to try and see whether israeli whiskey you know sort of scene has caught up to the rest of the world in that respect, or maybe we'll have to wait till a later birthday to to enjoy that. But, um, I'm happy to, I'm happy to keep waiting. That's fine. What's?

S. Simon Jacob: 38:33

also exceptional is the whole. The whole kosher restaurant scene here in Israel has just gone crazy and I never in my wildest dreams thought I would ever thank the French for something. But, to be quite honest, they have raised the level of cheese and food and even wine in Israel and it's just great. It's just absolutely a pleasure, so over the top. So we've been enjoying what all of B'nai Israel coming back to Israel provides and it's just great.

S. Simon Jacob: 39:24

So I know this is not a normal or ordinary podcast for me, but I just because it's the first one after the new year. It's actually the third year of podcasts, though we're just a little over a year old, but it's gone over a couple of Rosh Hashanahs. So I just want to wish you all a Shana Tovah Um Tukah. I want to wish you all a Shana Tova Um Tukah. Please, god, we need, at least at this point in time, to have in mind our soldiers and also all of our hostages. Please, if you've got an opportunity, pray to Hashem, to God, to release the hostages and also to allow the soldiers to come home to their families, you know, in health and well, and end this war as quickly as possible, because it's a very difficult war, especially in Israel.

Ovadiah N. Jacob: 40:44

I would just add to that. You know there are still many people who aren't able to go home, right, and you know, in addition to releasing the hostages or restoring the hostages from captivity, which is a constant prayer on our part, I also pray that those Jews who aren't yet returned home should be able to return home in safety and comfort speedily.

S. Simon Jacob: 41:12

Please God, please God. Okay, thank you, Shana Tova. Be well, terroir. I have a personal request. No matter where you are or where you live, please take a moment to pray for our soldiers' safety and the safe and rapid return of our hostages. Please subscribe via your podcast provider to be informed of our new episodes as they are released. If you're new to the Kosher Terrowa, please check out our many past episodes.