K A S H R U T . C O M_©

Prestigious Kosher Winery Spills 1,000 Gallons of Boutique Wines in Tithing Ceremony

January 19, 2020 - from Jewish Press:

"The Or Haganuz boutique winery on Sunday held a festive ceremony for tithing their annual product – winner of countless international tasting competitions – which involved spilling about 4,000 liters (1,056 gallons) of the winery’s fine wine. In the time of the Temple, this wine would have been sent to Jerusalem for the use of the Cohanim (priests), but since this cannot be done nowadays, the thithed amount is forbidden to use by its owner or any layman, Kikar Hashabbat reported."

"he ceremony was attended by the rabbis of the Badatz—the rabbinical court of the Haredi community in Jerusalem which also supervises the kashrut of the winery. "

"Or HaGanuz is a Haredi cooperative settlement near the grave-site of Rabbi Shimon Bar Yochai in the eastern Upper Galilee, in northern Israel, about 3.5 miles northwest of Tsfat. In 2018 it had a population of 548. The winery is managed by the community, which encourages a lifestyle of work alongside studying the internal light of the Torah. All the winery employees are residents of the community."