Why the date palm?
Significance of the tree: Whenever we read in the Bible about palm trees or palm branches, it means date palms. This is one of the most important trees in Israel, one of the seven major crops mentioned in Deuteronomy 8:8. But if you look for “date palm” in this text, you won’t find it! The list of seven is: wheat, barley, grapevines, figs, pomegranates, olives, and-honey. Here, honey has nothing to do with bees, but refers to a delicious syrup made from ripe dates that was a popular sweetener in ancient Israel (and which you can taste next to a date palm at Neot Kedumim!). The natural habitat of the date palm is the desert-and not just the desert, but places where there is water in the desert: oases. Jericho, which is actually a desert oasis, was famous for its date palms (“Jericho city of date palms,” Deut. 34:3). So if you happen to be wandering in the desert, whether you’re a Beduin today or an ancient Israelite, you always head for the date palms. In fact, almost anything you need
