Rothenberg Restaurant in the Jordan Valley to Close After Yizhar Sahar’s Death

About a year and a half after chef Yizhar Sahar died of cancer, Hila Ronen announced that the unique Rothenberg restaurant she founded with him in the Beit Shean Valley will stop operating in its current form at the end of this year. In a post on the restaurant’s Instagram account, she wrote, “A legend that was,” and said the project began when a young couple with two daughters left the city, moved to the Jordan Valley, and spent about a decade building something unusual on the edge of the country.

Ronen said the restaurant grew from their shared work in the garden, foraging, local culinary history, ancient preservation methods, and study of wine and alcohol. She said that after Sahar’s death the place became a source of comfort, with chef Chen and the staff continuing to create excellent food, Manor working in the garden, and Tal developing the wine and alcohol program. Even so, she said she decided to end the current operation because “Rothenberg” had been the dialogue between her and Yizhar, and she wants to create a new dialogue that is not buried under loss, longing, and pain.

Ronen promised that “the Rothenberg legend will remain,” but said it is time for a new story at the site. In their last interview with N12 about a month before Sahar died, the couple said they had not been prepared for the shock of learning he had a brain tumor. Sahar said he stopped working two years into the illness, and the pair said family, friends, the restaurant and the garden mattered more to them than treatment.