A Tree Grows in Isreal

From King Herod

In 1963 ancient date palm seeds were recovered from Masada, a fortress in present-day Israel where, two thousand years ago, Jewish zealots commited suicide to avoid capture by Roman attackers. Writings recorded at the time told not only of the mass suicide to escape Roman rule, but where to look for ancient food stores, including the date palm seeds. The fortress, or Mount Masada, was originally built on high ground above the Dead Sea for King Herod, which he used as a pleasure palace.

Ancient Medicinal Uses

The ancient seeds, which were stored for the past 40 years at the Dept of Botanical Archaelogy, Bar Ilan, were sprouted in 2005 and the date palm, named Methuselah, is reported to now stand 4-feet tall. It grows well protected at the Natural Medicine Research Center, under the watchful eye of Dr. Sarah Sallon of the Hadassah Medical Organization in Jerusalem. She hopes to restore the Judean date palm, prized for its fruit as well as its traditional medicinal purposes such as; intestinal problems, sore throat, fever, diarrhea, urinary ailments, toothache and alcohol intoxication.

"Part of our project is to preserve ancient knowledge of how plants were used," says Dr. Sallon. "To domesticate them so we have a ready source of raw material. Many species are endangered and becoming extinct. Raising the dead is very difficult, so it's better to preserve them before they become extinct."

Dr. Sallon's Middle Eastern Plant Project is working to conserve and reintroduce native plants to the region where they once lived.

The Mind-Body Approach to Ancient/Modern Medicine

Dr. Sallon's Natural Medicine Resource Center is devoted to the study of Complimentary, Alternative and Integrated Medicine. The NMRC's studies on Traditional Tibetan Medicine earned the praise and encouragement of the Dalai Lama during his visits to Israel. Mind-Body Medicine is an important part of their work, particularly the ways in which stress-reduction can be used as effective tools in promoting health and well-being amongst hospital staff and patients.

The NMRC also studies seaweeds, as a large, renewable, but still under-utilized worldwide resource. They're currently studying (in conjunction with other worldwide organizations such as; The Seaweed and Marine Organism Project, Oceans Ltd and the Oceanographic and Limnological Institute in Haifa) seaweed's potential for commercial uses, medicines, foods, nutritional supplements and cosmetics, as well as active ingredients for drug development.

Healing What Ails Us

The Natural Medicine Research Center and many other like-minded scientific and medical organizations throughout the world are heralding in a new age of Mind-Body science and medicine. This gives cause for hope.

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Special thanks to photographer Guy Eisner, in Isreal, for the original images of Methuselah. If you'd like to see more of Guy's work, visit his Flickr website.