Israeli Producers Behind Every Gift Box — Meet the Makers

Behind every Hibuk Otef box are real people: the Israeli producers — small farmers, wineries, apiaries, chocolatiers, food-artisans and artists from Israel's southern and northern frontier. More than 30 of them are named on this page, by region and by craft. Knowing exactly who makes your gift is the honest answer to the first question every thoughtful buyer asks: where does my money actually go? If you are new to Israeli gift boxes, start with our complete guide to sending gifts to Israel.

Hibuk Otef — The Story Behind Every Gift

Hibuk Otef ("Enveloping Embrace") is a unique boutique gift initiative that brings together products from the communities of the Gaza Envelope and Israel's southern and northern frontier, alongside works of art that commemorate the beauty of the region. The project was founded to support local producers, farmers and entrepreneurs who were affected. 60% of revenues go directly to producers from the affected communities.

Why named producers matter

A named producer is the difference between a vague donation and a real relationship. Most "support Israel" gift services work with anonymous pools — the largest subscription service advertises a network of more than 300 producers, which means your specific purchase cannot be traced to a specific family. Hibuk Otef takes the opposite approach: it is a boutique, one-off gift service, every box lists the exact makers whose products are inside, and the roster is deliberately small — just over 30 workshops, all of them on the confrontation line. 60% of revenue goes directly to those producers; the rest covers the product itself, packaging, the art card and delivery. There is no subscription and no commitment — you can order any quantity, from a single box to hundreds. Boxes range from ₪52 to ₪330 (VAT included) and are delivered across Israel in about 7 business days. For the full breakdown of the model, see where your money goes.

The makers of the south (the Otef)

The Gaza Envelope is not a symbol — it is Israel's vegetable garden. About 80% of Israel's potatoes grow in the Envelope, and research by the MIGAL Galilee Research Institute recorded roughly 70% damage to production and income in Envelope farming communities after October 7. Israel's Tekuma Authority has allocated some $24 million to restore the region's agriculture — but the most direct form of rebuilding is simply buying what these farms produce. Thirteen southern workshops supply our boxes:

Nahal Gerar Winery — Ein HaBesor. Owner Zvi Vito Weizmann makes preservative-free, French-style reds, whites and rosés on Gaza-border farmland, in the heart of the area targeted on October 7 — one of the standout boutique wineries of Israel's south.

Erez Apiary — Kibbutz Erez. Founded in 1950, one of the oldest apiaries in Israel — practicing sustainable, disease-free beekeeping decades before the term existed. Its raw Negev-blossom honey anchors many of our boxes.

Francesca's Market — Gilat. Founder Efrat Monstersky makes small-batch date spread, fig jam and honey mustard, a business "born," she says, "of a longing for the flavors we dreamed of." She turned the war into a push to grow — her jars now sell across Israel.

Beitan HaBad — Karmei Negev. Shmuel Beitan has cold-pressed award-winning extra-virgin olive oil at Moshav Yoshivia since 2004. In the 2023 harvest, his team kept picking olives while rockets fell — they refused to stop production.

Halleluya — Otef olive groves. Cold-pressed extra-virgin oil from groves inside the Gaza Envelope itself, bottled in 250 ml. It is the oil that shows up most often in our mid-range boxes.

Shikma Winery — the western Negev. A small winery named for the Shikma stream that runs through the region, making boutique reds a short drive from the border communities.

Rimonim Winery — the Otef. A small maker of boutique liqueurs whose handmade lemon liqueur and pomegranate liqueur brighten several of our festive boxes.

Meshek Haviv — the Negev. A family olive farm producing cold-pressed oil in the northern Negev, one of several growers who kept harvesting through the war.

Meshek 61 — the south. A very small operation making preservative-free jams and olive oil in tiny batches — the kind of maker a 300-producer network would never reach.

Ramat Negev Winery — the Negev highlands. Desert-grown vines, irrigated with brackish water, producing wines with a distinctly mineral character.

Isis Brewery — the Otef. A craft brewery on the border, whose bottles appear in our Independence Day and celebration boxes.

Kafe Shokolad — the Otef. A small chocolate workshop in the Envelope making handmade bars and pralines.

Be'eri Printers — Kibbutz Be'eri. Established in 1950, the press employs roughly 40% of the kibbutz's workforce and generates about 90% of its revenue. It was printing again less than ten days after October 7 — the first thing on Be'eri to restart. It prints the greeting cards and art cards that go inside our boxes.

The makers of the north (Galilee & Golan)

The north is the frontier most "support Israel" shops overlook. Some 60,000 residents of northern Israel were evacuated during the war along the Lebanese border, and Galilee and Golan producers lost their local customers overnight. Hibuk Otef deliberately extended the project to the entire confrontation line — north and south — so a single gift supports both frontiers. Read more in gifts that support Israeli farmers. Eleven northern workshops supply our boxes:

Har Odem Winery — Golan Heights. Vines on the basalt slopes of Mount Odem produce full-bodied reds and fresh, floral whites — one of the most dramatic winery locations in the Israeli landscape, near the northern border. Its Cabernet blend and its Viognier are the two bottles in our flagship box.

Ayelet HaShachar Apiary — Hula Valley. A veteran kibbutz apiary whose honey is considered among the finest of the north, drawn from Golan and Hula Valley blossoms. The kibbutz stood on the front line in earlier wars — and keeps producing with a deep understanding of what a border means.

Moshav Manot Honey — Western Galilee. A small apiary whose bees feed on Galilee wildflowers — anemone, sage and lavender — yielding a dark, aromatic honey that tastes of the northern hills.

Peki'in Chocolate — Upper Galilee. Boutique chocolate from a local maker in Peki'in, an Arab-Druze village famous for its olive oil for centuries. Including Peki'in in our boxes expresses the project's core value: all the good of Israel, different communities under one roof.

De Karina — Ein Zivan, Golan Heights. Founded in 2006 by Karina Chaplinski, a third-generation Argentinian chocolatier whose family has made chocolate by hand for around a hundred years. Ein Zivan sits a few kilometres from the Syrian border.

Shulman — Kibbutz Dafna, Upper Galilee. Handmade pralines and chocolate bars from a kibbutz in the Hula Valley that was inside the evacuation zone during the war.

Betzet Dried Fruits — Western Galilee. Israeli-grown apple, mango, banana, nectarine and persimmon, dried without added sugar. The 100 g mix in our Galilee box comes from here.

Bnei Yehuda — Golan Heights. Savory spreads — sun-dried tomato, roasted pepper, artichoke — made in a Golan moshav founded on the eastern slopes above the Kinneret.

Reut Coffee — Kfar Tavor, Lower Galilee. A small roastery at the foot of Mount Tabor supplying the coffee in our gift sets.

Efrat Alfasi — the Galilee. A ceramicist working in the north; her hand-thrown pieces turn a food box into something that stays on the shelf.

Fruits and preserves of the Upper Galilee. Several one-person confiture makers in the Galilee hills supply the preservative-free jams — apple and cinnamon, forest fruits, strawberry, pomegranate — that appear in almost every box on this page.

The artists and artisans behind the art card

Every Hibuk Otef box can carry art as well as food — and the art is what remains after the honey is gone. Eight named artists and craft workshops sit behind that side of the project, and the entry point costs ₪52. Founder Neta Lin Cohen is herself a Bezalel-trained architect, and she curates the art line personally.

Zikaron Otef — Bezalel Academy of Arts and Design, Jerusalem. A project of Bezalel's Visual Communication department: art prints of the Otef landscape, double-sided, on 300 g wood-free paper. These are the prints in our framed art product and in several of the larger boxes.

Tali Meter — the Otef. An illustrator from the Envelope whose work appears on our cards and prints.

Tali Taisia Melter — the Otef. A second Envelope artist — a separate person, often confused with the above — with her own illustration line in the project.

Naama Caspi — the Otef. A photographer whose images of the Envelope became the postcard collections we ship as standalone gifts.

Studio Dugma — the Otef. A design studio in the Envelope that develops the artwork and packaging design for several of the festive boxes.

Rani Tachan, of blessed memory — Rosh Pina. A farmer from Rosh Pina and a father of four, who served twenty years in the reserves. Exempt from further reserve duty, he insisted on rejoining his battalion and fell in battle in northern Gaza on 18 November 2023, aged 40, alongside Yakir Biton z"l. The hand-thrown cup sets made in his memory by ceramicist Efrat Alfasi are part of the project's ceramics line, and his name stays on it.

Youth of Light (Naarei HaOr) — Rishpon. The aromatic candles in our smaller boxes are poured by at-risk teenagers in a candle, soap and pottery workshop that teaches them a trade. The farm around it has since become one of Israel's larger centres for trauma recovery, treating people affected by October 7.

The Sderot fabric workshop. The reusable natural-cotton totes that come with several boxes are sewn in Sderot, the Otef town that has lived under rocket fire longer than any other.

Choose a box that features these makers

Every box below is in stock, priced with VAT included, and can be ordered in any quantity — from ₪52 to ₪330, arranged cheapest first. The connection to the makers: each one names the workshops whose work is inside it.

1. Pdaya Framed Art Print — ₪52

The cheapest way into the project: a framed Zikaron Otef print from Bezalel, 13×18 cm in a 16×21 cm white or light-blue frame, double-sided on 300 g paper, ready to hang or stand. View this print.

2. Liraz Attention Box — ₪71

A small attention-gift: 250 g of Upper Galilee honey, a preservative-free fruit confiture (240 g — pomegranate, apple-cinnamon or forest fruits) and two packs of date-and-nut snacks with no added sugar. View this box.

3. Shai Box — ₪89

Built for a modest budget: Upper Galilee honey (250 g) or a fruit confiture, plus either a reusable natural-cotton tote or a Youth of Light aromatic candle in a glass jar, with date-and-nut energy bars. View this box.

4. Dvir Box — ₪100

Four handmade Upper Galilee pralines, a preservative-free fruit confiture (240 g), 130 g of Upper Galilee honey and fruit-flavoured date-and-nut snacks with no added sugar. View this box.

5. Galilee Embrace — ₪148

The northern box: cold-pressed extra-virgin olive oil (250 ml), a 100 g Upper Galilee dried-fruit mix, an 80 g handmade Galilee chocolate bar, a fruit confiture and a savory spread — five northern workshops in one gift. View this box.

6. Aner Box — ₪330

The flagship, and the widest spread of our producers' work: two Har Odem boutique wines from the Golan — a Cabernet Franc, Cabernet Sauvignon and Syrah red, and a Viognier white, 750 ml each — with Israeli extra-virgin olive oil, an 80 g handmade chocolate bar, four handmade pralines, a savory vegetable spread or Upper Galilee honey, and a preservative-free fruit confiture. View this box.

When to order

For Rosh Hashanah 5787 the holiday begins at sundown on Friday 11.9.26 and runs to nightfall on 13.9.26 — with standard delivery across Israel taking about 7 business days, the practical window this year is the first week of September, and 9.9.26 is the last realistic delivery date. Hanukkah 5787 falls on 4–12.12.26, so December orders should be placed in the second half of November. For non-holiday gifts, any week works: the makers produce year-round, and every box ships from Shilat, at the entrance to Modi'in. Large orders for teams or events are welcome in any quantity — each box still names its makers. If you are sending from abroad, ordering from a sender inside Israel means the gift never crosses a border: see how to avoid customs entirely.

Frequently Asked Questions

How many producers are behind the boxes?

Just over 30 named workshops — 13 in the south and the Gaza Envelope, 11 in the Galilee and Golan, and 8 artists and craft workshops. Every one of them is listed by name on this page, with its region and its craft.

Why does it matter that the producers are named?

Because a named producer with a story is real support, not a vague "local" label. You can see exactly whose business your gift sustains — and 60% of revenue goes directly to those producers.

Were these producers affected by the war?

Yes — they come from communities in the south hit on October 7 and from northern communities affected by the war along the Lebanese border, where roughly 60,000 residents were evacuated.

Can I request a box featuring specific makers?

Yes. Tell us which producers or product types you would like and we will build the box around them, within your budget — in any quantity, with no minimum order.

Are the products kosher?

Yes — kosher under local rabbinate supervision, most Badatz.

How to Order

Want a gift made by these producers? Order on our website, message us on WhatsApp at 054-2207955, or email us.

Written by Neta Lin Cohen — founder of Hibuk Otef, architect and Bezalel graduate, with 30+ years of experience in culinary gifting.