Our greatest leader and teacher, Moshe Rabbeinu, beseeched Hashem no fewer than 515 times to be able to enter Eretz Yisrael. Tragically, the response to each of these requests was negative. The Midrash and other commentaries propose that the reason for these supplications was that Moshe Rabbeinu wished to fulfill those mitzvot which can only be performed in the land.

According to the results of calculations regarding the 613 mitzvot, today we are only able to perform 274 of the positive and negative mitzvot of the Torah and over 12 percent of the mitzvot can only be performed in the land, on the land. Throughout our years in galut, there were individuals who tried to overcome this limitation. Among them was the Ben Ish Chai who desperately yearned to fulfill the Mitzvot Ha’Teluyot Ba’aretz, those mitzvot that relied on being in the land. Therefore, he hired Rabbi Eliyahu Mani, who lived in Eretz Yisrael, to purchase land for him and to act as his envoy in performing the land of Israel mitzvot.

In 2012, this concept of appointing an envoy or agent to perform the “mitzvahs contingent on the land of Israel” was seen as a rare opportunity and tremendous merit by Rabbi Yinon Raviv, rosh yeshiva of Kollel Panama in Har Nof, Yerushalayim. Through his nonprofit organization Bircat Ha’Aretz, Rav Raviv is affording an opportunity to Jews, so far mainly in Panama where he served as rosh yeshiva for 10 years, to buy land in Eretz Yisrael upon which the Shivat Ha’Minim, the seven species, have been planted.

Bircat Ha’Aretz is a special project founded to enable Diaspora Jews to observe all of the agricultural commandments in the Torah by purchasing 250 square meter plots in the land of Israel where all seven species are grown. Farmers and professionals cultivate the seven species and fulfill all the agricultural commandments required. Members of Bircat Ha’Aretz will receive the agricultural products when they are ready for consumption after the requisite three years. After 70 percent of the products are distributed to the poor and needy, 20 percent will be shipped to the owners in the form of wine for kiddush, matzot for Pesach, pomegranates for Rosh Hashanah and oil for chanukiot. What greater satisfaction can there be than partaking of your own products in fulfilling the mitzvot!

The wine that will be produced through Bircat Ha’Aretz comes from the Carma Winery, a boutique winery located in Moshav Tirosh in Nachalat Yehuda near the Chevel Lachish region.

The winery was founded in 2012 by members of the Bircat Ha’Aretz Association, who recognized the hidden potential in the land of Nachalat Yehuda as an area to grow and produce wine grapes of the highest quality. Carma Winery is considered a boutique estate winery, which allows its producers to maintain the highest standards of quality starting from the grape growing stage, to thinning grape clusters, to producing premium crops for creating high quality, precise wine.

In addition to the actual cultivating, planting, maintaining and harvesting the products, a beit midrash has been set up of rabbis who focus on the mitzvot contingent upon the land and provide halachic consulting on any issues that may arise. Also, an individualized liaison system keeps share owners appraised of all the halachic considerations throughout the year.

In bringing Bircat Ha’Aretz to the American public, Rabbi Raviv reached out to Englewood resident Jorge Sion Dabah. Sion grew up in Panama and made acquaintance with Rabbi Raviv at age 11. Through family connections, Sion remained in touch with Rabbi Raviv even after coming to the U.S. where he attended school at Hillel in North Miami and then completed a degree in finance and management at Yeshiva University. Sion has been serving as a Sr. Customer Success Manager at CIAL Dun & Bradstreet for over three years.

Sion’s family in Panama and the U.S. are part of the Bircat Ha’Aretz project, which they joined when it was first introduced. They are thrilled to share the products of their plot with children and grandchildren. Sion shared that to date the organization has 10 acres on which they have planted 2,200 plants including olives, figs, vines and palms and separate fields with wheat and barley.

Sion shared, “We welcome any family or individual that would like to benefit from the 35 mitzvot you can fulfill by owning a plot of land in Israel. In addition you will enjoy wine, oil, matzot and pomegranates from your own land during high holidays.” If you would like to become a partner in the current process of redeeming Israel for eternity, if you have decided to become a part of the abundant blessing Eretz Yisrael provides, you are invited to join the Bircat Ha’Aretz Association and earn the merit of fulfilling the mitzvahs that are contingent on the Land of Israel.”

The cost per 250 square meter plot is $26,000 with a yearly maintenance fee of $1,000.

By Pearl Markovitz

 To learn more about Bircat Ha’Aretz and how to become a part of the project, email Sion Dabah at [email protected] or call (786) 281-2807.