by Rebecca Panitch
Today we woke up and set out for a tour of the kosher winery of Barcelona. We got on the bus and was given a tour by the Chabad Rabbi in Barcelona. We were one of the first groups to ever get this tour and it was a fascinating tour. Firstly we entered the winery and saw the machine that crushed the grapes. All the excess grapes from the crushing were taken to the pressing machine. Then we moved on to see the pasteurization process of the wine. Afterwards we went to see the machines that bottled and capped the wine. We all went down to the wine cellars and saw all the bottles that were preserved. After each bottled is ready you have to put it into the machine that shakes the dust out of each bottle. We also learned the main difference between kosher wine and non-kosher wine. Non-Kosher white wine adds pig lard to make the wine whiter. Non-Kosher red wine includes enzymes from non-kosher animals like rabbit.
We all boarded the bus after our tour to the winery and started making our way to Gerona. On the way to Gerona we watched the movie about the debate between the Ramban and Pablo Christiani called The Disputation.
We got a tour of the Jewish quarter in Gerona. Some of the doors to houses had impressions where mezuzahs used to be. We all sat down on the steps in a square where our counselors Leora, Saphira, and Roni summarized a letter that the Ramban sent to his son in Gerona. The letter is called the Egeret Ha’Ramban. Afterwards we sat and wrote a letter to ourselves with goals we want to accomplish and ideas that will only make us better people.
We got back to the hotel and split up into groups. Three out of the four groups were shopping groups and the other one was a group to go to the Barcelona football (soccer) stadium. Generally people who went shopping such as myself came back with some items and enjoyed themselves. The soccer group walked along the sides of the stadium and took plenty of pictures.
Afterwards we went to the hotel and ate dinner brought to us by the Chabad rabbi. All the food was great except the chicken got to me. First I tried to take a piece of chicken and it jumped off my plate. Then I tried to take a leg and I ended up with the bone since the bone slid right out… finally I ended up with a boneless leg.
Afterwards we all went up to pack our bags to get ready for a flight to Sevilla. Some of us lucky people got around 4 hours of sleep.
P.S. If you are reading this Mom I am still on the look out to find you a chamsa.
Photo of the group at a winery which has a special area to produce kosher wine outside of Barcelona. Rabbi Libersohn from Barcelona joined us. The winery put up an Israeli flag in honor of us.