Beyond the blue box: Israel’s ‘My Tree’ bond
When I was growing up in Long Island decades ago, a common bar or bat mitzvah gift was a certificate stating that a tree had been planted in the youngster’s honor. It was often accompanied by a tongue-in-cheek card which might have said, “Mazel Tov! Your day to water your tree is Monday.”
In Israel today, it’s now possible to visit “your” tree as part of a new project called “My Tree in Israel,” a way for participants to feel that they are partners in an Israeli business.
The largest program in “My Tree” is the olive grove on Moshav Hayogev in the Jezreel Valley in northern Israel, featuring 2,200 trees of Barnea olives, which produce a particularly smooth olive oil.
Participants pay $250 a year, and in exchange get six bottles of extra-virgin olive oil made at the neighboring high-tech olive oil press, the largest in the Middle East, and shipped to homes all over the world. Participants can design their own labels and many use the olive oil as holiday gifts to friends and family.
“The idea is to support Israel, and to strengthen connections with individual Israeli farmers,” Kobi Assaf, the founder and CEO, told JNS.
Synagogues and churches can adopt a group of trees, he said. Individuals can also adopt a tree and place a wooden plaque in honor or in memory of someone special.
There are trees adopted in honor of President Donald Trump and US Ambassador to Israel Mike Huckabee. A tree in memory of the Bibas family and the two little red-headed boys, Kfir and Ariel, will be inaugurated soon.
There are also trees adopted in memory of fallen Israeli soldiers, including a 20-year-old special forces soldier named Reef Harush, who was killed fighting in Gaza in April 2024. Harush had been in the army just eight months and was supposed to still be in training for the elite Egoz unit, but was rushed to Gaza because of the war.
On a recent scorching day, his father, Avi, came to see the tree for the first time.
If you’re into a different type of liquid refreshment, you can “adopt” a grapevine at the Jezreel Valley Winery, which produces 80,000 bottles a year. Participants receive 6 bottles of wine shipped to them for a yearly fee of $360. There are several options available for different wines and in the service of readers, I tasted two of them: a slightly off-dry Gewurztraminer and a red Megiddo blend of Shiraz and Cabernet Sauvignon.
The Jezreel Valley Winery, founded in 2012, produces 80,000 bottles a year, and its product is even served in several Michelin-star restaurants in Europe.
“We decided to use local grapes like shiraz, Carignan and argaman,” said Tal Raviv, one of the winemakers. “Our vision is to make wine with grapes that are growing here in this area but most of all wine should be fun and tasty.”
As with the olive oil, you can personalize the label and share your gift with friends and family.
If you’re not into olive oil or wine but like whisky, My Tree has yet another option— an investment in part of a whisky cask at the Golan Heights Distillery, founded by Canadian immigrants David and Alona Zibell, which makes Israel’s first 100 percent locally crafted whisky.
For an investment of $450, you receive six bottles of Golani Black Lifestyle Whisky, a single-grain whisky aged in charred barrels. As with the olive trees or grapevines, you are welcome to visit your whisky barrel (and do some tasting while you’re there).
Kobi Assaf of My Tree in Israel said that about half of their participants are Jews, including synagogues and JCCs, while the other half are Evangelical Christians.
My Tree in Israel is also helping the Avivim Winery, a few hundred yards from the border with Lebanon, which was destroyed by a missile fired from Hezbollah.
At the winery, you can still see the charred winery equipment and glass crunches underfoot. Yisrael Biton, who runs the winery, says they managed to save 30,000 of the 300,000 bottles that were in the winery as well as several casks of wine. My Tree in Israel is helping to sell the wine and a new winery is already under construction.
