Aley Chubeza 216 September 22nd-23rd – Shana Tova!

Preparing for the holidays…

Changes in delivery dates over the holidays, and a change in the Open Day date: • During the week of Rosh Hashanah:  The Wednesday delivery will be moved up to Tuesday, September 23rd.   (Monday deliveries as usual)

The ordering system for Wednesday delivery will close on Sunday, September 21st at 12:00

• The week between Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur: All deliveries as usual. • During the week that Sukkot begins: The Wednesday delivery will be moved up to Tuesday, October 7th.  (Monday deliveries as usual.)

The ordering system for Wednesday deliveries will close Sunday, October 5th, at 12:00

• During Chol HaMoed Sukkot, there will be no deliveries, thus you will not be receiving boxes on Monday and Wednesday, the 13th and 15th of October. If you wish to increase your vegetable boxes before the holidays, please advise as soon as possible.

Subscribing to our weekly newsletter: The best way to receive messages and updates is via our weekly newsletter, which is published on our website and, in most cases, arrives directly to your email inbox. Those who do not receive the newsletter and wish to do so, please advise.  If you prefer to receive a hard copy along with your box, please notify me.

 Open Day at Chubeza—Note the Change in Date! In keeping with our twice-yearly tradition, we invite you for a Chol HaMoed “pilgrimage” to Chubeza to celebrate our Open Day. The Sukkot Open Day will take place on Monday, October 13th, the 19th of Tishrei (fourth day of Chol HaMoed), between 12:00-17:00 (and not as previously announced). The Open Day gives us a chance to meet, tour the field, and nibble on vegetables and other delicacies. Children have their own tailor-made tours, designed for little feet and curious minds, plus special activities and a vast space to run around and loosen up.  (So can the adults…)

Driving instructions are on our website under “Contact Us.” Please make sure you check this before heading our way.

Wishing you a Chag Sameach and Shana Tova from all of us at Chubeza We look forward to seeing you all!

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Each year the grass grows green

The squills go white, the citrus gold

Every year the earth renews

The sun goes up, the rain falls cold

Each year so many new are born

To happiness and grief, to laughter and tear

And someone who wants only good to prevail

…this year.

 

–       Leah Goldberg

(translation: A. Raz)

These pre Rosh Hashanah days are festive for Chubeza. We try to plan the harvest so it includes as many symbolic vegetables as possible for your holiday tables: Kara (squash), Rubia (black-eyed peas), Karti (leek), pomegranate (from Helaf’s orchards). Unfortunately, this year the Silka (beet leaves, Swiss chard) did not reach the proper size for harvest in time for Rosh Hashanah.

I like the holiday symbols, not necessarily because of their blessings (I can definitely do without all the curses and abuse to our enemies. Not my idea of an optimistic holiday atmosphere…), but because of the seasonal variation that the holiday table offers, bringing together guests of all sorts: from the green leaves (Swiss chard), the legumes (black-eyed peas), the princess of onions (leek) and the gourds, the summer kings. Plus, of course, the pomegranate and dates, apples, honey and fish – all demonstrating the wealth of this season in its blessed nature.

The Talmudic sage Abaye, who was probably in charge of the holiday food column, is the one who invented the holiday symbols for the Talmudic table. In Tractate Krittut 6, 1: “Said Abaye: Now that you have mentioned that the siman has significance, every Rosh Hashanah, one should eat a pumpkin, black-eyed peas, leeks, beet greens and dates.” In a different place, someone on a major diet must have edited him, and decided he could only feast his eyes on the holiday table. In Tractate Horayot 12, 1: “Everyone should look at them.”

Of course, I don’t think looking at them is enough, but maybe we should stop for a minute and glance at the colorfulness and the amazing variety of long green pods, round orange (or green) peels, green leaves with a white stem, white onions, red juicy seeds and oval brown-golden fruit. What a field day for the senses, and what a collaboration of leaves, bulbs, roots, stems, fruit and pods. A true song of praise to the vegetable garden that brings together a vivid host of vegetables and fruit!

The simanim also reflect so much hope and truth regarding the upcoming year (and the one that is ending), wishes that contain a little of everything, in a mixture and variety: a little bit of this, a little bit of that… depth and shallowness, simplicity and complexity. May it be easy and hard, funny and sad, emotional, annoying, exciting, boring, depressing, elevating. May we experience success and failure, mistakes and correct choices, acceleration and deceleration, a treading then a sprint…This perfection of an imperfect, mixed salad, made of tiny slices of life.

In honor of the New Year, we are sending you a box of greetings comprised of Chubeza vegetables, varied and rich in colors and fragrance, despite the difficulties of the end of summer, in-between season we are now experiencing. This is our Rosh Hashanah seder, some of it an adaptation of traditional holiday symbols, and others our very own Chubeza blessings, part aimed towards growth in Chubeza, others – at our very own growth.

Sweet Potato: May we enjoy sweet surprises that grew and ripened far from the naked eye, and may they bring with them wholeness and happiness.

Thyme: May thyme be of the essence, so that the thyme of our life is now.

Chive: May we be alive! Jive! Strive to survive–and lend our own hint of bold flavor, as the chive.

Lettuce: Lettuce learn to accept the changes that even the known, accepted rituals undergo in hue, texture and flavor. Lettuce know to appreciate and not take for granted the loyalty of those who remain with us, now and forever.

New Zealand Spinach: May we acknowledge our strengths to survive and flourish in green freshness, even when the heat is on.

Pumpkin- May we persevere, as the pumpkin, to the end of the vine.

Corn: May we remember the responsibility we have as human beings to keep the seeds and plant them, for the continuation of the agriculture we developed, for the good of all earth’s beings.

Potato: May we learn from mistakes made in the past, of others and of our own. May we remember to vary our fields with many yields, and not only count on the simplest and most common (you can find an explanation right here)

Leek: May we have the patience to grow slowly and diligently, and the understanding that sometimes, in order to reach ripeness, one must grow very slowly. And spring no leeks.

Cucumber: When others are in a dither, may we develop the sensitivity and ability to be calm, levelheaded and cool, as the cucumber.

Coriander: May we rejoice in the difference in people’s flavors, in the differences between us, in the wonderful variety and vibrancy that create a symphony of opinions, varying faces and opposite choices.

Parsley: May we allow the good things to enter, fill and cleanse us from the poisonous and harmful. And may we live sparsely, as the parsley.

Eggplant: May we try and succeed to see the light, whiteness and faint but beautiful purple hue within the murky dark.

Pepper: May we be blessed with the skill to pepper our speech with just the right phrases, without overdoing it. And when life gets salty, may we stand beside it to add some spice.

Onion: May we be granted the wisdom to acknowledge the many and varied layers that life is comprised of, that people are made of, and that reality is created from. May we strive to gently, with consent, peel them off, rejoice in the many echelons, and arrive at the sweet heart.

Okra: May we gaze at the stars at least one night every so often to feel the lightness of our minuteness and the strength of being part of the vast cosmos. (slice the okra horizontally to see stars)

Tomato: May our experiences be homegrown, ripened on the vine, full of juice, color and sweetness.

Mint: May we learn to add fragrance, flavor, freshness and sweetness to our lives.

Pomegranate: May our hands be filled with bountiful earthly missions, as the seeds of the pomegranate:

Black-eyed Pea: May our shiners be only from this pea.

Mallow: This September, may we try to remember when life was sweet and oh, so mallow. Renew our days, as of old!

So here’s to the New Year, to great expectations and very wet showers — please, oh please, may they come in due time, in the proper measure and quantity. May they satiate the human salad of this country, and the animals crying out for drink, the dusty plants growing grey at the edges, the flying insects, the crawlers and jumpers, the rocks and clods of earth that so deserve the blessing of rain.

And, beyond the rain, we wish you all the fulfillment of your wishes and hopes, for good and for blessing, for happiness and growth. Shana Tova!

Alon, Bat Ami, Dror, Maya, the English translators, the entire Chubeza crew in the field, the packing house, the office and on the roads.

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AFTER WE’VE JUST REVEALED WHAT’S IN THIS WEEK’S ROSH HASHANAH BOXES, HERE’S THE OFFICIAL LIST:

Monday: Pomegranates, sweet potatoes, lettuce/New Zealand spinach, tomatoes, slice of pumpkin, leeks, coriander/chives, cucumber, corn, eggplant/ peppers, potatoes. 

Large box, in addition: Onions, okra/Thai beans/black-eyed peas, thyme/mint (nana)

Wednesday: thyme/mint/parsley, potatoes, cucumbers, slice of pumpkin, tomatoes, pomegranates, onions/okra/yard long beans/lubia ( fresh black eye peas), New Zealand spinach, leek, corn, sweet potatoes.

Large box, in addition: lettuce, eggplants/peppers, melon

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