Come with me to the rolling green fields of Kibbutz Gezer, where the air is hot in the summer and smells like eucalyptus in the winter.
Kibbutz Gezer was founded by folks from North America, and they even have a baseball field! (SIDE NOTE: One of the sons of Gezer is now a pitching coach for the Cincinnati Reds!)
Here on this kibbutz you’ll find the best ice cream in Israel — and I’d argue, the world. It’s made by a friend of mine, a Jewish educator and foodie named David Leichman.
He calls it Leichcream. David has always loved ice cream. “I think it’s in my blood,” he says.
When he was eight years old, David had the best birthday party ever: A surprise party at Jahn’s ice cream parlor — a real old fashioned ice-cream parlor that made banana splits. But ice cream wasn’t just for special occasions: as a kid, David had a paper route, and after he and his best friend delivered their papers, they would meet for ice cream. That’s how they would spend their earnings. Not on comic books. Not on baseball cards. On ice cream.
In junior high school, David’s mother would give him money to get sandwiches, and he always bought three sandwiches —ice cream sandwiches. “That was my lunch,” David says. “I was always the crazy ice cream person.”
“Even at my bar mitzvah, I was dressed up as an ice cream man, and we had ice cream cones that never melted. I don’t want to know what ingredients were in that ice cream, and today, when I make my ice cream, it’s the opposite. All fresh, all natural.”
David’s ice cream melts. It’s natural. It’s made without preservatives. He’s committed to using the freshest, purest ingredients — when possible, he uses ingredients that are locally grown in Israel. And sweet, melty ice cream is part of the whole sensual experience of eating Leichcream. It feels just right in your mouth.
David has been making ice cream for over 40 years — from New York, through Northern California, to a new kibbutz that he helped create next to an ancient archaeological site built by King Solomon — and he wants ice cream to be a sensual experience of intentional tasting.
“Feel the cold. What does it do to your mouth? What do you taste? Where do you feel it?” he’ll ask.
Part of what makes David so special is he loves people — people from all backgrounds and walks of life. His friends cross religious boundaries and span the generations. Language, culture, age, religion don’t matter so long as you’re a good person — and you like ice cream.
And David loves bringing people together to taste his ice cream. “Eating ice cream is fun,” he says. “You giggle. You smile. You’re happy.” And it’s true – you ARE happy when eating David’s ice cream because it tastes good.
David takes his ingredients seriously. And his love of the land and the cycle of the seasons, along with his background in culinary school, informs the choices he makes when he makes his ice cream. So, you might taste Madagascar vanilla. Or coffee imported from Kenya. Or Valrhona chocolate. Or mint grown in his garden. Or orange from his orchards on the kibbutz. Or mangos he buys fresh from the shuk in Ramle. Or tahina from his best friend’s restaurant.
“Leichcream is even made under rabbinic supervision!” he jokes, and points to his wife, Rabbi Miri Gold. “She watches me while I work, and she often gets the first taste of a new batch!”
“You’d think by now she would know what it tastes like,” I say and David explains that while his ice cream is an art, it is not an exact science. “Each batch of the same flavor is always a little bit different. But the quality never changes,” he says.
David is also a visionary, and he wants to create an ice cream revolution here in Israel. Because really, ice cream shouldn’t only be about eating something sweet and cold — it should be an experience of quality and complexity of ice cream that is balanced with texture, temperature, sugar and the nuance of flavors.
“It isn’t just chocolate ice cream,” David says. “It’s a quality chocolate ice cream with depth and intention.”
And since intentional ice cream tasting is part of experiencing ice cream to its fullest, he offers “ice cream seminars” on Kibbutz Gezer (with plenty to taste!) to show folks how to enjoy each flavor to the fullest. Wine tastings changed the way we experienced wine. Same with cheese, and bread, and even coffee. David wants to do the same with ice cream — where it isn’t something you eat because it’s there and you’re in the mood for a dessert, but rather because you want that transcendent moment that takes you out of the ordinary and into the extraordinary, where you experience a richness in flavor and texture, and share it with others.
This is not ice cream to eat while you watch “Seinfeld” reruns, David quips. “This is ice cream to eat for a full, mindful experience either alone or with people you really, really like.”
Getting there:
Contact David or Rabbi Miri ahead of time to schedule a visit: davidleichman@gmail.com and Rabbi Miri Gold: 0505711086
The Times of Israel Community.
