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| SUN LAKES LIFESTYLES | OCTOBER 2024 |43 THE YIDDISH CULTURE CLUB WELCOMES ALL RESIDENTS OF ANY DENOMINATION Wine Club Did you know that money does grow on trees? (This is not the Lifestyles monthly joke.) The richest man in Portugal, until his death in 2017, had a fortune estimated at $4.8 billion! He was the grandson of a man who started the family business of producing cork for bottling wine. Americo Amorim worked for over six decades in the industry. Natural cork stoppers have been used for bottling wine since the 1600s. The cork comes from the bark of an oak tree that grows best, due to climate and soil conditions, in the Algarve region of Portugal. Cork oak trees are native to parts of SW Europe and NW Africa; the majority is produced in Portugal followed by Spain. Trees are harvested between May and August when the trees are at their most active growth phase. The harvesting is done by hand; there is no machine that can harvest cork without damaging the tree. Cork harvesting is a time-honored tradition and is an important skill often passed down from generation to generation. It's an extremely difficult operation made to look easy by the expertise of skilled cork harvesters. A cork tree needs to be at least 25 years old before it can be harvested and at times as old as 33 years. Harvesting cork from the tree actually helps the trees grow faster and live longer. The oldest cork tree, and the most producing tree in Portugal is 234 years old. Trees are harvested approximately every nine years, the time it takes for the bark to grow back to the desired thickness. The USA imports approximately 1.2 billion corks per year from Portugal. One tree harvests between 3,000 - 5,000 corks so it takes an average of 300,000 trees to produce cork for the USA. Since the trees are harvested every nine years that means that Portugal has over 2,700,000 oak trees just to produce cork for the USA! Half of Portugal's cork production is shipped to the USA. Did you ever think that cork could be this interesting? Aside from enjoying tasty wines and the company of others, members of the Sun Lakes Wine Club also learn a bit from time to time. Our next event will be a plated dinner Nov. 16 in the Main Clubhouse Ballroom; more info to follow. If interested in joining the wine club, applications are in the Main Clubhouse foyer or feel free to phone Steve Von Rajcs at (951) 217-7225. Cheers! THE YCC CELEBRATES THREE OCTOBER HOLIDAYS WITH A FABULOUS DINNER AND LECTURE! Nu, what could they be talking about? Rosh Hashanah, Yom Kippur, and Succot all fall in October this year. To observe these High Holidays, YCC will offer a full holiday dinner on Wed., Oct. 23, at 6 pm in the North Clubhouse. The catered dinner consists of a round challah on each table, matzo ball soup, Caesar salad, filet of sole in a light lemon sauce, roasted chicken, garlic mashed potatoes, grilled vegetables, with yummy cheesecake for dessert. Two bottles of wine and coffee will be included at no extra charge. Tickets are only $23 for members and $28 for non-members. Our special guest of the evening will be Jerry Rishe, a retired immigration attorney who worked for the Dept. of Homeland Security. His presentation will be about the Johnson-Reed Act of 1924 and its impact on Jewish Immigration. This was the law that placed quotas on immigration based on country of origin and later prevented many Jews from leaving Nazi-controlled parts of Europe to come to America. He is an award-winning public speaker and will present information about past hostilities to Jewish Immigration in the State Department and U.S. Congress. Please deliver your checks made out to YCC to the home of Ellie Fixman, 5081 Rio Bravo Drive, no later than Oct. 16. Please turn in checks for all your tablemates along with the forms which are available in the Main Clubhouse Lobby. Can't wait to see you there. Yiddish Culture Club

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