Good Grape Wine Company

December 4 2007

It Wouldn’t Be Kosher to Not Wish a Happy Hanukkah

There are a couple of things to stay away from in polite company—politics, college football allegiances, old world palate versus a new world palate and religion. 

Most days the best you can get from me is the fact that I’m a centrist and an independent in politics and I say “Happy Holidays” instead of Merry Christmas—my Notre Dame fandom and California palate notwithstanding.  Basically, unless I have a defensible opinion, I’ve learned to stay away from ideological issues.  I became more astute around a couple of these items when I married into a family with a father-in-law who is an arch conservative and staunchly Jewish, as is his daughter, my wife (the Jewish part that is, not the Ann Coulter loving, Bill O’Reilly watching part, which would have been a relationship dealbreaker).  Coming out of 12 years of Catholic school, the Hebrew tradition has been a pleasant education:  eye-opening and even mind expanding.  It’s kind of like a California wine drinker getting turned on to an austere French wine.  The styles are different, but you can really appreciate the history, perspective and differences if you take the time to climb through the learning curve.

With sundown today marking the start of Hanukkah, I wanted to take just a brief second to highlight a very nice article from Winebusiness.com published last week.

The article, found here, says in part:

Since Biblical times, the use of wine to celebrate life has been an important part of Jewish traditions. Jews, too, have been a vital link in America, from the “discovery” of the New World in 1492, to America’s War for Independence, and into the present age. It is no surprise, then, that Jews have also become an important link to the development of America’s best known wine region, the Napa Valley.

The article continues …

“How much of my choices in life have to do with my religion, is a difficult question,” said Daniel Baron, winemaker at Silver Oak. “In my case, Silver Oak is owned by a Catholic family with the same integral concerns about making great wine that I have. The same ethical values that are present in Jewish culture we’ve always had at Silver Oak. Wine is an ecumenical collaboration. It has a true unifying effect.”

Weir added: “We have a principle in Judaism that we hope to adhere to and follow. We call it Tikkun Olam. That’s the translation from the Hebrew. In English it would be translated as “Repairing the World.” That pretty much says why you find jews in the forefront of charitable and volunteer organization. Like many other groups, we have this mandate and calling, to not just sit on your butt, but to help others.”

An “ecumenical collaboration,” I like that.  During this holiday season, when everybody’s thought is on family and giving back to those less fortunate, let’s make sure we reach out for an ecumenical collaboration for people of all stripes and belief systems.  It seems apropos given the world climate we live in and doing so from a religious perspective seems to be at the heart of a lot of world conflict.  And, if you take a glancing look you’ll find that wine is at the heart of most cultures, a common denominator that we can all appreciate.  The winebusiness.com article has a lengthy list of Napa wineries with Judaic roots—that’s a good place to start.

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