In Parshat Miketz, Yaakov is upset when his sons tell him that they must send Binyamin down to Egypt as well. In Breisheet 43:11, Yaakov tells his sons "If so (if you must return to Egypt with Binyamin), this is what you must do: Take .mezimrat haaaretz. of the best of the land in your vessels and take a mincha, an offering to the man. A little tzori, balsam, a little devash, honey, necho.ot, spices or gum, valot, labdanum (a plant resin used in flavorings or perfumes), botnim, nuts and shkedim, almonds."

Yaakov wanted to send unique gifts from the land of Israel to the leader of Egypt (not knowing that he was actually his son Yoseph) in order to please him.

How do we know that many of these gifts were unique to the land of Israel and not available in other countries including Egypt?

Last week.s Parsha, Parshat Vayeshev, described the sale of Yoseph. In Breisheet 37:25-26 we read: "They took him (Yoseph) and threw him into the pit. The pit was empty, there was no water in it. They sat down to eat bread. They raised their eyes and saw, behold a Yishmaelite caravan was coming from Gilad, their camels were carrying necho.ot, u.tzori valot, bringing them down to Egypt." Many of the same products of Israel that Yaakov later sent were imported into Egypt by Yishmaelite merchants.

In Breisheet Raba 91:11, Rabbi Yehoshua of Sachnin said in the name of Rabbi Levy: The things that Yaakov sent "mezimrat haaretz" were some of the best things in the world. Rabbi Yehudah Bar Rebi.s point of view is that the honey was not regular honey, but rather special expensive honey. Yaakov would not have sent plain nuts. Rather, he probably sent expensive nut oils or almond milk which were much more expensive than the nuts themselves.

Today, many of these products are exported from Israel to other countries (especially the US). On Israeliproducts.com, you can find gum, many varieties of hard to find honey, spices, almond-milk body wash, balsam conditioner, perfume candles etc. and literally have the best in the land delivered right to your doorstep.