Fences of Cactus
Stories and scenes of Natural Israel from close to Gaza. Plus: Book your winter foraging walk today!
Last week I told you about our recent orange picking efforts not far from Gaza with the Lev Hatorah gap-year students.
Today I’ve got an interesting postscript for you, and then a short timely message.
As we were plucking away at the oranges, bag after bag, I noticed a row of apple cactuses (Cereus repandus, know in Israel as kubo) between the orchard and the road. (By the way, the tallest cactus in the world is a 110-foot apple cactus in India.)
The farmer told me they serve as a natural fence to keep out predators and thieves, and we’re welcome to take as many as we like.
So I filled up a special satchel of kubo for our Healthy Jews to snack on as they worked. Here’s a taste of the scene.
The guys loved the kubos:
By the way, this is what happened to his Gazan farm workers on October 7.
Finally, because we gathered together a large amount of kubo, Jewish law required us to separate tithes:
May we see peace and joy in all corners of the land.
Let’s Go Foraging!
By the way, did you know that the winter foraging season is beginning now in Israel?
Not so surprising, considering that Tu B'shvat (the quasi-holiday celebrating the first spring blossoms) is just around the corner.
So if you live in or are visiting Israel, now's a great time to book your unforgettable foraging walk in Natural Israel. I will show you how to identify and eat the plants whose ancestors were identified and eaten by your ancestors - right here in this valley, hill, or ancient site.
When the world is saying that Israel is the "Land that eats its inhabitants," we must proactively respond with Yehoshua (Joshua) and Calev (Caleb): "the Land is very, very good!".
For more details about foraging walks at The Healthy Jew, check out here:
To arrange your walk, contact me by replying to this email, the contact box in the foraging webpage, or writing directly to contact@healthyjew.org.
If enough people are interested, I’m happy to do a reduced-rate open walk near Ramat Bet Shemesh this week, either on Tu B’shvat (Thursday) afternoon, or on Friday morning. Let me know if you’d like to join.
Let's go foraging!
thank you very much, have a good journey
Hello, I am writing to you about the kubo fruit. I have been looking for contacts in Israel for several months, I have read the research of Yossef Mizrahi who is at the origin of the selection of the kubo. Would you agree to put me in contact with farmers who grow it. I am in the south of France and I would like to import some.
Kind regards Tristan Roche tristan_roche@hotmail.com