The Honey on Methusala

As an educator and a guide I often think of the line in Yehuda Amichai’s poem, The Tourist

“I said to myself: redemption will come only if their guide tells them, ‘You see that arch from the Roman period? It’s not important: but next to it, left and down a bit, there sits a man who’s bought fruit and vegetables for his family.’”

I like this line because as much as I love to share the history, the archaeology, and sights of this land, I believe it is the stories and how they illuminate her history, our heritage and our lives today that make her so unique. We can walk the paths of Israel and garner a better understanding of our biblical, rabbinic and modern history by understanding their context. And I freely admit, I sometimes get a bit geeky when I find something that fascinates me.
For this geeky moment we have the date palm to thank, specifically Methusala the Judean Date Palm, now celebrating his 11th year. If you have toured with me you might remember his name or photo from one of the storerooms at Massada. If not, welcome to the Methusala date palm fan club! Methusala was germinated from the oldest mature seed ever found which has naturally grown into a tree (other, older seeds have been grown but only with the help of scientists). This seed was found with several others in an ancient jar during the excavations of Massada in 1963. After 40 years of storage, on Tu B’Shvat 2005 (the new year of the trees) Elaine Solowey, director of the Arava Institute for Environmental Studies at Kibbutz Ketura planted three seeds, one of which sprouted. In 2007 she reported that Methuselah (the longest living person in the Tanakh) was a boy (dates are one of those few trees that are either male or female) and in 2015 she announced that his pollen is fertile after pollinating a wild female tree. He still remains the only living Judean Date Palm, a tree extinct for more than 1800 years.

Dayenu (enough say the rabbis) right? The date palm, or tamar in Torah (by Rabbinic times the tree is called dekel דֶּקֶל and tamar refers only to the fruit), is not just a ancient tree, but a tree which is woven into our own history and culture. Cultivated in Israel at least since the Neolithic Age (6000-4000bce), the palm is mentioned dozens of times in our biblical and rabbinic tradition. The first mention is after the exodus from Egypt in Shmot/Exodus 15:27 “They arrived at Elim, where there were 12 springs of water and 70 date palms; they camped there by the water”. The righteous are compared to its’ straight trunk and evergreen fronds (Psalms 92:13), it provides shade for the Prophetess Devorah (Judges 4:5), daughters are named after it, and it becomes integral in our traditions like Sukkot (Leviticus 23:40) both for the lulav as well as the covering for the sukkah. The Temple and other buildings are adorned with carvings of the date palm, the Hasmoneans will place it on their coins as a symbol of victory (I Macc 13:37) and later the Romans will engrave it as a symbol of our defeat (indicating its’ centrality to us).

The Rabbis of the Mishna and Talmud will spend time discussing the growing, pollination and harvesting of several varieties of date. Midrash (Gen R 41:1) reminds us of its’ many uses “no part of the palm has any waste, the dates are eaten, the branches used for Hallel, the leaves for covering [sukkot], the fibers for ropes, the leaves for brooms, and the planed boards for ceilings, so too are none worthless in Israel….” Did you catch that last phrase? Not only do the rabbis talk about the physical uses of the palm but of the palm as a symbol for the people of Israel. Berochot 57a even says “dreaming of a lulav [palm branch] indicates that one is serving God wholeheartedly”.

Dayenu right? The specific examples could go on for pages, and the discussions…. Well we are Jews right? Days worth of discussions! But I want to zoom out. Torah calls Israel the land of milk and honey, where the seven species flourished. Not only is the date one of the seven species but rabbinic tradition, as well as Josephus Flavias (our major written source from the 1st Century ce), relate that the date is the source of honey in ‘land of milk and honey’. Although we have a bit of evidence of bee farming in ancient Judea, and though the debate goes on, most believe that the honey of the Bible to be silan (date honey).

It seems that the date palms of old ceased to exist in the land sometime between 6th-11th centuries. Already in 1924, during Sukkot, there was an attempt to reintroduce the date to the Yishuv (pre-state government). Members of Kfutzat Kinneret and later Degania would begin planting trees imported from Egypt trying to reestablish this crop of our heritage. These trees though did not produce particularly well and in the 1930s the Yishuv would again undertake the mission to return the date palm.

The best known and earliest to return this heritage was Benzion Yisraeli who saw in the date palm the reemergence of a Jewish homeland. He dreamed of a horizon of dates and believed the date palm would awaken the desert from her slumber. Benzion spent most of his life trying to make this dream come to life, learning and talking with anyone who would listen.

In 1933 Benzion answered the call of the Yishuv leaders and headed out alone to Iraq with 17 lirot (pocket change) in his pocket in search of appropriate date palm saplings. That first of seven dangerous and often secret trips would find him returning from Southern Iraq with four saplings on his back (at 20 kilos each!) until he reached the border of Iran where the local Jews supplied an additional 700 saplings and four trucks for the return trip. One of the trucks did not survive the trip but the saplings from the remaining three would be planted next to Kibbutz Degania in the Garden of Rachel (the poetess). These trees would become the nursery for future plantings.

Subsequent trips to Kurdistan, Iraq, Iran, Morocco and Egypt would see him, with the help of others like Yehuda Griniker and Yanni Avidav bring some 75,000 saplings. In 1949 the famous ‘Medjool’ date would arrive from California. They came by trucks, boats and camels. Sometimes they were purchased and other times “borrowed” when countries did not want to sell because of economic concerns for their own crops. Not only did Benzion and the others make the desert bloom but along the way they met with many Jewish communities introducing to them the rebirth of the Land of Israel and in some cases establishing contacts for later rescue missions to bring them to Israel.

A memorial date grove dedicated to the man who returned the date palm to the Land of Israel is located in Eilot (just north of Eilat) and on the back of his grave stone in the Kinneret Cemetery, a date palm is carved.

Today, the cultivated area in Israel stretches along the Syrian-African rift valley from the gulf of Aqaba to the Sea of Galilee. The plantations consist of about 200,000 date palms (female), about half of them young palms. Israel’s 2012 date orchards encompassed about 4,500 hectares (11,000 acres roughly) of land, also generating about 31,000 tons of dates that year – 21,000 tons of these alone, of the Medjool variety. The marketing target is to export about half of the total crop. Research and guidance are focused on increasing the crop and the profit of growers. This same Israeli research is being used by date growers across the United States as well, particularly in California.

As a kid in California we used to do a fair amount of camping and would often pass by Hadley’s dried fruit stand on the way out of Southern California. My parents always wanted to stop for date shakes, and I must admit, I was not a fan (at all!). Now, well…. thanks mom and dad for the introduction… it is, in my humble opinion, a super-star fruit. The date is a favorite among nutritionists and super-food fanatics for its’ potassium, iron, magnesium, fiber and B6. A healthy taste of sweet when the sweet craving hits, a burst of energy when out on the trail and the next meal is not in sight, a replacement for refined sugar in a multitude of dishes, and yes, date shakes (with goat yogurt of course) are one of my favorites! Try some at home – goat yogurt, granola and date honey for a snack and for dinner… throw a chicken, vegetables and date honey into a baking bag and stick it in the oven… quick easy and delicious. Pick up a box of medjool dates (my personal favorite) for a healthy snack or make then fancy by stuffing them with your favorite cheese and a walnut.

What more could you want? A tasty part of our heritage and a bit of history all in one! On your upcoming visit to Israel (like that assumption?!?) we can stop by Tamar B’Kfar on the shores of the Kinneret for a taste of a variety of dates and of course date honey as well.

  • Thanks to Levi Rothkoff for his research assistance.
By Israel