"It has become a major attraction here." -David Lehrer
(Israel)—Methuselah
is considered to have been the oldest living man in the Hebrew Bible,
reaching the esteemed age of 969. It is only appropriate, then, that a
date palm that sprouted from a 2,000-year-old seed at southern Israel's
Arava Institute for Environmental Studies (AIES) carries the same name. (Photo credit: Courtesy JNF)
Dr.
Elaine Solowey, director of the Center for Sustainable Agriculture at
AIES and an expert in crops appropriate for arid lands, was very
skeptical about the possibility of taking ancient seeds and producing
something viable from them. With only six seeds, recovered by the Louis
L. Borick Natural Medicine Research Center of the Hadassah Medical
Organization from excavations at the Masada fortification in the 1960s,
she set out to cultivate a Judean date palm. While native to Israel and
the area surrounding it, the Judean date palm is a species that had not
been seen there for more than a millennium.
Seven years ago, a male date palm sprouted
from one of those ancient seeds, leaving many in awe of what was thought
to be a botanically impossible feat.
"It has become a major attraction here at
the institute," AIES Executive Director David Lehrer said regarding the
now-mature Methuselah at its home on Kibbutz Ketura. Lehrer explained
that AIES's dream is to reintroduce the Judean date palm to the State of
Israel as a valuable crop and for its unique medicinal properties.
This initiative and other AIES agricultural
projects are made possible by the institute's partnership with Jewish
National Fund (JNF). Together, JNF and AIES are turning the world's
attention to the knowledge and research coming out of the Negev desert,
with a focus on the fields of hyper-arid nature conservation and water
management.
Methuselah
is actually part of a larger project organized by Solowey, and with
this success she plans to create a center for the study of ancient,
extinct, and endangered seeds. "We want to make sure that endangered
plant species don't disappear from Israel's landscape," said Lehrer. (Photo via Holy Land Photos)
"We are looking for good uses for native plants which are under threat," he added, emphasizing the plants' medicinal qualities.
It is fitting to highlight Methuselah's
rebirth in light of the Jewish holiday of Tu B'Shvat, Israel's New Year
of the trees, which was celebrated Jan. 24. Beyond the fact that dates
are one of the "seven species" that are customarily consumed on this
holiday, the story of the modern-day Methuselah provides an opportunity
to reconnect with nature in a thoughtful and creative way.
"In some ways, nature is under threat,"
Lehrer said. "It's important that human beings remember that our role in
this world is to continue to nurture nature and to 'take care of the
garden.' The Bible tells us that if we ruin it, there won't be anyone to
come after us and fix it."
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Source: www.breakingchristiannews.com/