Kidmat Tzvi

Kidmat Tzvi is an agricultural settlement north of Katzrin, at an elevation of approximately 480 meters, near the abandoned Syrian village of Ein Sumsum.[2] A 2009 profile placed it about a five-minute drive from Katzrin and a 50-minute drive from Tiberias.[2]

The community combines agricultural production with small wineries and visitor-oriented enterprises.[2] Local winemakers identified the area's basalt soil and climate as reasons to grow wine grapes, while several families developed wineries alongside their vineyards and other farming activities.[2] Rainfall figures published on March 21, 2015, recorded 460 millimeters during that winter, against a multi-annual average of 471 millimeters; these figures describe that particular season rather than a current measurement.[3]

Sources differ on Kidmat Tzvi's founding year. A settlement register gives 1985, classifies it as a moshav, and lists its affiliation as Hitahadut ha-Ikkarim.[1] A 2009 profile, however, states that the settlement was founded in 1981.[2] The register places it in the Golan Regional Council and beyond Israel's pre-1967 borders.[1]

Local winemaking developed through initiatives by residents, including Rami Iluk, Sinai Shapira, and Babi Cavallo.[2] Inspired by Golan Heights Winery and the perceived suitability of local growing conditions, the three pursued winemaking and received instruction through a course taught by winemaker Barry Saslov.[2] Their first year's production amounted to approximately 1,300 bottles of Cabernet Sauvignon, divided equally among them for family consumption and gifts to friends.[2] By 2001, the group was producing 1,500 bottles of Cabernet Sauvignon and Merlot from its own vineyards.[2]

The area's Jewish historical associations are reflected in the name of the local Ein Nashut winery, which commemorates a Jewish settlement in the Golan dating to the Talmudic period.[2] The wine enterprise is also associated with a visitor farm that presents older agricultural techniques and equipment.[2]

Kidmat Tzvi lies in the Golan Heights, which Israel captured from Syria in 1967 and annexed in 1981.[4] The territory's sovereignty remains disputed: the United Nations and most of the international community do not recognize the annexation and regard the territory as occupied Syrian land.[4] The United States recognized Israeli sovereignty over the Golan in 2019.[4] Colombia did so in 2026.[5]

Kidmat Tzvi had 341 inhabitants on December 31, 2004; this is a historical population figure, not a current count.[1] A separate 2009 profile counted 80 families and reported an average resident age of 35.[2] That profile characterized community life as combining household privacy with communal partnership.[2]

One resident, Maayan, participated in the Jewish Agency's summer-camp emissary program after initially feeling unable to apply because of dyslexia and limited English skills.[6] She first learned about the program at 18, became interested in pursuing it after her brother's experience as an emissary, and moved to the United States at 23 to learn English.[6] Her first camp assignment followed at 25; at the time of her profile, she was 27 and serving her third summer as an emissary in Northern Virginia.[6]

Maayan was serving as an IDF reserve Command Post Officer in the Southern Command on October 7 and continued serving for six months afterward.[6] She said that friends had been killed at the Nova Festival and that her subsequent emissary work had acquired a stronger personal meaning.[6]

Six wineries operated in Kidmat Tzvi in 2009, alongside farming households producing grapes and fruit.[2] Local wine production ranged from small family projects to enterprises making tens of thousands of bottles, with some growers selling a substantial share of their grapes to other wineries.[2]

Basalt HaGolan was described in 2009 as the settlement's oldest and largest winery, with production of approximately 30,000 bottles.[2] Its two wine lines included one aged for about six months in oak barrels and another aged for 14 months.[2] In 2006, its owners were Yoav Levy, Gabi Magnezi, and Yossi Ben Yishai, and its production focused on Cabernet Sauvignon and Cabernet Sauvignon Reserve.[7]

The winery began producing kosher wine in 2006 and dispatched its first shipment to the United States that year: 5,000 bottles of kosher Cabernet Sauvignon 2004, sent to New Jersey through Herzog.[7] It owned vineyards in Kidmat Tzvi and had completed renovations costing NIS 1.5 million.[7] The owners then expected to increase annual production from approximately 30,000 to 50,000 bottles the following year.[7]

Assaf Kedem established his family winery in 2004 after leaving his partnership at Basalt HaGolan.[2] Before becoming independent, he had grown grapes for other wineries, studied chemistry and food engineering at Tel Hai College, undertaken further training at the Technion and with professional winemakers, and worked at wineries in South Africa.[8] He also mentored other local wineries.[2]

The family's vineyards covered 40 dunams in 2009 and included Cabernet Sauvignon, Cabernet Franc, Sauvignon Blanc, Zinfandel, and Pinotage.[2] Kedem's approach emphasized vineyard conditions, elevation, and the Golan's basalt soil.[2] Two 2009 profiles gave different production figures: one reported 12,000 bottles, while another put output at close to 40,000.[2][8] A later account identified Chenin Blanc and Pinotage among the winery's specialties, linking these varieties to his experience in South Africa.[9]

Babi Cavallo served as grower and winemaker at Ein Nashut, whose family vineyards covered 15 dunams.[2] In 2009, the winery produced approximately 3,000 bottles annually, using Cabernet Sauvignon, Shiraz, and Merlot, while more than 80 percent of the family's grapes were sold to other wineries.[2] Its wine cellar occupied an abandoned underground Syrian bunker, which helped maintain the wine's temperature.[2]

Rami Iluk combined fruit growing with wine-grape cultivation and produced approximately 3,000 bottles at his Ram winery.[2] After making wine with Cavallo through the 2005 vintage, he began professional winemaking studies at Tel Hai College in 2006.[2] The Zohar family held 30 dunams of vineyards, allocated much of its crop to Golan Heights Winery, and began experimenting with its own wine in 2002.[2] Its 2008 production totaled 750 bottles, including Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot, and Petit Verdot.[2]

Another local winery, Salukia, belonged to Hagai Shalom, who began making wine with his neighbor Babi.[2] Its initial production focused on Cabernet Sauvignon, with plans to add Shiraz.[2] The enterprise was associated with a reconstructed village setting containing a winepress, clay oven, olive press, and wells.[2]

Kidmat Tzvi also hosted Hargol Foodtech's grasshopper-breeding farm, documented in August 2020.[10] Thousands of locusts were kept in climate-controlled mesh cages inside a former chicken coop and fed wheatgrass over a three-month life cycle.[10] The company aimed to develop commercial-scale grasshopper farming as a sustainable source of protein.[10]

Founder and chief executive Dror Tamir said he had established the company about six and a half years before the August 2020 account.[10] His interest drew on childhood stories about locusts destroying his kibbutz's fields in the 1950s, while the food itself had a precedent in generations of locust consumption among Yemenite and North African Jews.[10] In 2020, kosher certification remained unresolved: Tamir said the Chief Rabbinate had postponed a final decision, while a rabbi interviewed about the product suggested that approval might be available from a local Golan rabbi.[10]

Bell Ofri Tourist Farm was created and operated by Tami and Babi, who built its restaurant from recycled materials.[11] Its ecology tours demonstrate restored agricultural techniques and equipment, including a threshing floor, olive press, winepress, and wood-fired clay oven.[11] The couple also rehabilitates injured animals, produces Noam cheeses from their goats' milk, and makes Ein Nashut wines named after an ancient village on the site.[11]

Assaf Winery developed around Assaf Kedem's vision of a family-run wine village, bringing wine production together with cabins and homemade food.[9] The winery is owned by the Kedem family, while another local wine destination, Bazelet Hagolan, is owned by Yoav Levy.[9]