A True Miraculous Story: Planting a Vineyard in the Land of Israel

When my parents arrived in Erit, Israel, they settled near Beinyamina. This was about 75 years ago. It was a very difficult time in Erits, Israel. It was just after the war. My father was wounded in the war fighting for the British army. And it was the time of the tenna. There was almost nothing to eat. My father bought a donkey and a plow. And he hired himself out as a plowman. Him and the donkey. Faroh after farrow. It was very hard work. My mother learned to sew and worked as a seamstress, and that's how they made a living. It wasn't a great standard of life, but they survived. And as the years passed by, slowly they saved some money and decided to plant a vineyard. The soil around Vinyamina is very heavy and ideal for growing grapes. My father went to one of his army friends and bought some seedlings from him. He constructed a rudimentary frame with wires from one pole to the next. He planted his own vineyard. Now, of course, according to Halak, you've got to wait 3 years before you can enjoy the fruits of the vine. As the grapes developed, he threaded them. He draped them over the trelluses and suspended the little young clusters separately so each one would have its own space to grow. Lovingly, he cultivated the grapes. The vines grew thick, covering the wires and even the poles. And they waited. In the fourth year, the grapes looked really luscious. They couldn't wait to harvest them. One morning, they woke up to see that all the grapes had fallen off the vines and were lying on the ground. My father was heartbroken. But my mother said, "Don't worry. The vines were probably too young and they weren't strong enough. We've waited 4 years. We can wait five." The next year came and exactly the same thing happened. My father said, "Ema, Ima, this isn't working. Let's move." She said, "No, it must be that the vines are not strong enough yet. We'll wait another year." "Don't worry," she said, pointing to heaven. "It's going to be fine." The following year, the harvest season was approaching, and my father went out to the vineyard again. All the grapes had fallen from the vine. My father said to my mother, "Eimma, what now? what are we going to do? She said, "Go and speak to an agricultural expert and see what he says." My father brought in a specialist. He walked around the vineyard looking at everything. He took away some samples. About a week later, he came back and said to my father, "You're going to have to pull up the entire vineyard." "But why?" said my father. The aronomist explained that these were an unusual type of vine which was not hemophitic. Most grape vines contain both male and female parts within the same flower. But these vines didn't have any female parts, and just before they ripen, they fall from the trees. It's not really a vineyard at all, he said. My father went to my mother and told her the news. Uproot the vineyard. Seven years we've waited for this vineyard. Seven years. It's not possible that a kadesh boru would do such a thing to us. What will we do? We'll wait. We believe in him. We will wait. The area in which they lived had many springs. And not more than half a year later, it was announced that Makorat, the Israeli water authority, was going to channel all these springs into a large reservoir near Padesh Khana. They were going to build a large overland aqueduct through this area. Now, of course, all the local farmers wanted the aqueduct to pass through their land because they'd be generously compensated. And my father also wanted to go and put in a claim for his land. But my mother said, "You're not built for that." She pointed her finger to heaven. Let's wait and see. Makorot took many parts of our neighbors property. When it when it came to my parents, they wanted the whole thing. Every single square inch. They gave them an enormous sum of money and with that my father bought a tractor and 40 dunham of land. That's about the size of five city blocks. That's the power of faith. That's the power of trusting in Hashem.