!Hot Shavu’ot? Water

Are you hot? I'm hot too. Just this week I remembered that last year May was declared the hottest month… for a long time. 

May this year broke the record of May 2019, and most of us probably feel it ourselves. Although we are hot (and it is most certainly hot… our customers who live near the Dead Sea –we sympathize with you), we can find a spot with some shade and maybe even air conditioning.

Our vegetables cannot do this, and they feel hot, very hot. Those who suffer the most are the delicate, thin leafy greens and the roots. You would be doing them a great courtesy if you dry them and put in a plastic bag in the fridge after a cool rinse. If some of your vegetables look really hot, you can refresh them with a short, refreshing ice bath, and witness how they come back to life all beautiful and happy again.

This weekend is the Shavuot holiday. It is an agricultural holiday, like the other two pilgrimage festivals,which revolve around the agricultural calendar. Shavuot is the peak of the year's cycle – after we have planted, tended, watered, weeded (and weeded and weeded some more… a long time ago, all the agriculture was organic, and organic means weeding, lots of weeding) – it is finally time to harvest.

Shavuot is of course also the water holiday – because every farmer knowsjust how important the role of water is in the growing process of his produce.

Water is an amazing material to me. We take it for granted, every time it comes out when you open the faucet, and you can have as much as you want. You can wash your face at any time, prepare a glass of ice water to drink, even fill a small pool for the kids outside, and the shrieks of joy and happiness (as well as the splashing) keep everyone happy.

And it is great that it's the way it is, but there are vast areas around the world where people (especially women) wander with a water vessel on their shoulder or head to the nearest well, or stream, or river to draw water to take home. Places in which the faucet is not left open while brushing teeth and the shower does not run until the hot water runs out, nor are the dishwasher and laundry machines casually turned on, simply because it is such an important resource (and of course there are no machines…).

Babies tend to marvel at this wonder appropriately – they sit in front of a trickle of water and dip their hand in it, turning it back and forth, trying to catch the stream and let go, then try to catch it again. Look Mom, water!

Water keeps me humble, as a farmer should be – I can make a huge effort, fertilize and culture, try to determine the best time to plant and to pick, hear that I “did it” even though I planted at the end of the season – but in the end, so much is not up to me: the weather, that may change drastically,and the amount of water we receive from the sky.

In Shavuot some celebrate with dairy products. Although Shavuot is more of a water holiday than a dairy holiday (milk is not a staple in the Mediterranean menu… but is present in it), we would like to invite you to taste the so-delicious goat's milk products we have in the store: chilled and fine goat yogurt – in a bottle for drinking or in a bucket, for those who like it with granola.

There are cheeses such as Camembert, Brie and Sainte-Maure(especially delicious alongside wine, if you like wine, and also fruits, especially watermelon and melon). There are also some vegan cheeses, for those who prefer their holiday dairy free with a delicious cheese. There's even a delicate labane and a goat's cheese spread. If you're planning a picnic.

Have a cool and pleasant Shavuot,