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Wednesday, August 14, 2024

“Again you will plant vineyards on the hills of Samaria” - A tour of Tura Winery (Forest Rain)

By Forest Rain

“Again you will plant vineyards on the hills of Samaria”

Many of the hills of Samaria are barren and empty – except for those touched by Jews who came back and are renewing the love story with our ancestral homeland.

When Vered and Erez Ben Saadon got married in 1997, they chose to live in the village of Bracha, located on Mount Gerizim in Samaria, where the biblical blessing was given to the tribes of Israel.

Vered and Erez had a dream to farm the land. The newlyweds invested the money they received as a wedding gift to buy the first 20 square kilometers of land where they planted vineyards. Today the Ben Saadon family owns 560 square kilometers of vineyards.

For 2000 years the land lay empty. Now it looks like this. The green is just part of their vineyards.



“You shall yet plant vineyards on the mountains of Samaria.
Those who plant them, they will enjoy the fruit” (Jeremiah 31:5).

At first, the couple sold their grapes to other wineries. When they fully understood how special their grapes are, they decided to open their own winery  - Tura, a world-class, award-winning estate winery that has become a place of pilgrimage for Israeli and foreign wine connoisseurs.

It took courage and vision to open Tura Winery in Rechalim, a small community located just 15 minutes drive from Ariel University, 40 minutes from Rosh Haayin. Rechelim was another Zionist vision realized – named after two Jewish women named Rachel murdered by Arab terrorists and our ancient matriarch, Rachel. For life taken, in honor of the life given, a new community established. The first pioneering family to live in Rechalim lived in a tent for nearly eight months, but soon after, multiple families joined them, permanent homes were built, and Rechalim grew into a community in the full sense of the word.

Some of the original tents were incorporated into the structure of Tura Winery. 



The Ben Saadon’s unique personalities are woven into the success of Tura. Erez oversees the wine-making process at all stages, from growing the grapes to marketing. Vered hosts visitors to the winery where shares her extraordinary story and knowledge about Samaria. She has become an unofficial “spokesperson for Samaria” which is why on Israel’s 75th Independence Day Vered was chosen to represent the farmers, the residents of Samaria, and Israeli Wine and light a torch at the torch lighting ceremony on Mount Herzl in their honor.

Vered was born in Holland and as a young girl immigrated to Israel with her parents and sister. Vered’s father was Jewish but her mother was not. Having relatives who survived the Holocaust as well as relatives who aided the perpetrators of the Holocaust led Vered’s mother to decide that she wanted to stand firmly on the side of the Jews. Israel’s chief rabbi Shlomo Goren conducted their conversion ceremony.

Vered says that the Jew hate we see in Europe today is the same hate that created the horror of the Holocaust. It was never really gone. For years she has been warning visiting Europeans that the hate will destroy them. In the past, they showed little understanding of what she was saying. Perhaps now, they will see what she meant. She worries about Israel too but sees more hope for us. We have our soldiers and, if we choose wisely, we may merit miracles. We will need both.     

The slogan of Tura Winery is “Patience & Inspiration”. It reflects the art and love infused in the process of making their wines. It’s appropriate for the story of Israel too.

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The Tura Winery Visitors Center can accommodate up to 55 people.
There is an entrance fee and it is by appointment only. To arrange a visit, please call: 02-650-8882

For more information about Tura Wine please visit:
https://www.turawinery.com/

 



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