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Biblical Gardens
| Article
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20699 |
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Section : |
LIFE
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| Issue
Date : |
9 / 1992 |
2,059 Words |
| Author
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Varda Avinisan
Varda Avnisan writes travel stories and children's books.
Richard Nowitz' photographs appear frequently in National
Geographic World, Smithsonian Air & Space, and Mid-Atlantic
Country. |
King Solomon spoke of trees "from the cedar of Lebanon to the hyssop that grows in the rock." Delilah bound Samson with ropes made from the bark of the rope plant. The prophet Elijah slept under the white broom bush on his way to Mount Sinai.
Today, the names of these plants may not invoke images, but in biblical times, they had countless symbolic meanings used by the leaders, poets, and prophets of the day. These symbolic meanings were easily grasped by people whose daily lives, traditions, and festivals were deeply rooted in the land. It was a language the common man understood--unique but simple, the language of nature.
Inheriting A Dream
Tucked away in the folds of the Judean Hills, midway between Jerusalem and Tel Aviv, is the Neot Kedumin (Oasis of Antiquity), the Biblical Landscape Reserve. It was established to revive this language of nature by displaying the flora mentioned in the Bible and in related literature such as the Talmud.
The moving spirit behind Neot Kedumin is Nogah Hareuveni, a biblical scholar and botanist who is pursuing an idea first conceived by his botanist parents. "They realized the importance of understanding how nature is Israel is reflected in the Bible," says Hareuveni. Their research took them all over the country. They even went to remote Arab villages and Bedouin camps collecting folklore and seeds. "They took me everywhere," Hareuveni recalls. "It was not easy for a small boy to travel the rugged land in those days."
The boy, nonetheless, absorbed his parents' love for the Bible and for nature and assisted them in the work, collecting and classifying species of plants. In 1925, when Hebrew University opened on Mount Scopus, the Hareuvenis donated their collection and continued their research there in the Museum of Biblical and Talmudic Botany, which they established.
"All this is background to the work you see here," says Hareuveni. "They reached the conclusion that a biblical park where the species could be planted and grown had to be established." For many years they tried to get funding and land, but they died in the early 1950s without realizing this desire. "So I decided to continue their work and fulfill their dream," reflects Hareuveni.
Hareuveni immersed himself in finding land. His
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