Gardens
LINDA WILLIAMS
Bedford Co. Correspondent
PITTSBURGH (Allegheny
Co.) Elderhostels have been
making a large hit around the
world for American citizens over
the age of 55 who wish to contin
ue learning in all phases of life.
In conjunction with this, the
city of Pittsburgh offers a pilot
one-day Elderhostel program
featuring subjects that range
from the Heinz Chapel to the
Rodef Shalom Biblical Botanical
Garden.
Co-founder and director of the
gardens and responsible for the
Elderhostel event is Irene Jacob,
who is also the author of “Gar
dens of North American and Ha
waii, A Traveler’s Guide."
Complete in biblical detail, the
garden features a waterfall, a
miniature Sea of Galilee, the
River Jordan, and the Dead Sea.
While it does not occupy a
large area, the grounds are lush
and rich with a wide variety of
Jewish researched Biblical
plants.
Some of the plants used in
modern day gardens can readily
be traced to biblical times. A list
at Rodet Shalom includes al
mond, apricot, bay laurel, Cedar
of Lebanon, fig, ivy, narcissus,
olive, quince, sycamore, tulip
walnut, and watercress. Acacia,
box bramble, castor oil tree, globe
thistle, mulberry, and Russian
olive.
Near the miniature Dead Sea,
cotton, date palm, flax, henna
madder, maritime squill, myrtle,
pomegranate, and sea daffodil
grow in abundance.
Barley, grape millet saffron,
sorghum, sugar, and wheat line
the banks of the River Jordan.
Who would have thought tu
lips would be old enough to be
grown in a Biblical Garden and
what gardener is not familiar
with Star of Bethlehem, poppy,
narcissus, crowfoot, chamomile,
anemone, and crown daisy?
The huge onion plants so pop
ular in many of today’s gardens
have Biblical roots as does giant
grass, juniper, and willow.
Lemon grass, which grows in
almost all herb gardens, had an
ancient beginning. So did beans,
black cumin, chickpeas, coriand
er, muskmelon, dandelion, en
dive. garlic, leek, lentil, lettuce,
majorum, sage, thyme, water
melon, and wormwood.
As might be expected poison
hemlock can be traced to the
Bible.
And, of course, cattails, and
papyrus where Baby Moses was
laid so lovingly by his Mother
traces back to the Bible as do
Flowering Rush, Lotus, Rush,
and waterlilies.
One of the most frequently
mentioned sources of food in the
Bible is the grapevine. It appears
more than 300 times in every
book of the Old Testament ex
cept Jonah and Ruth. Grapes
were cultivated in all lands bor
dering the Mediterranean.
Barley has been grown since
5000 B.C. in Egypt and was the
cheapest cultivated food obtaina
ble. It is able to survive heat and
drought better than any other ce
real and ripen in shorter sum
mers than wheat. King Solomon
grew a large tonnage of barley to
feed his 40,000 horses and un
known number of dromedaries.
Sorghum or great millet is also
of Rodef Shalom
An Elderhostel group tours the Rodef Shalom Biblical
Botanical Garden. Complete in biblical detail, the garden
features a waterfall, a miniature Sea of Galilee, the River
Jordan, and the Dead Sea.
Some of the plants used in modern day gardens can be
traced to biblical times.
called “Jerusalem corn” and
may have been the “parched
corn” which Boaz gave to Ruth.
It has been cultivated since 2000
B.C.E. It is a nonirrigated sum
mer crop in Israel.
The saffron used in today’s
recipes was used by the Greeks
to sprinkle on theater benches.
The yellow star which Hitler
forced the Jews to wear has roots
with Saffron. The yellow color of
the plant has always been used to
mock Jews. The Greeks forced
them to wear yellow hats. Per
fume and nail polish were also
made from Saffron.
Ezekiel 4:9 reads: “Take thou
unto thee wheat and barley, and
beans.” The beans of the Bible
grow to five feet. The small,
white sweet-pea flowers are
marked with a purple spot, fol
lowed by large green pods.
Beans in ancient times were
mixed with*wheat for flour, eaten
fresh, boiled, dried or roasted.
The stems were used for camel
fodder.
Exodus 16:31: “And the house
of Israel called the name thereof
Manna;” which is believed to be
like Coriander seed.
If eaten in excess, coriander is
a narcotic. It is now and was
used as a flavoring for food and
beverages including gin and ver
mouth, perfumes, soaps, and had
some medicinal uses.
Also in Exodus: “And ye shall
take a bunch of Hyssop and dip
it in the blood that is in the
basin.”
Hyssop was used for purifica
tion of lepers and as a digestive
aid.
If you have ever mistaken
Wormwood for a more flavorful
herb, you quickly learn of its bit
terness if you taste it. This bitter
ness is mentioned several times
in scripture. In Proverbs 5:4: “her
end is bitter as wormwood” and,
in Jeremiah, 23:15 “Behold I will
feed them with wormwood and
make them drink the water of
gall.”
Wormwood is also used as an
insect repellent and and as an
antiseptic.
While we all know the modern
day use of castor oil, it might sur
prise some to learn that it was
once used for lighting. Castor Oil
has a low freezing point and is
used in the aviation industry
today as a lubricant.
The small garden is framed
with Biblical trees. Cedar grows
abundantly in many parts of
Pennsylvania and Psalm 92:13
reads: The righteous shall flour
ish likes the palm tree; He shall
grow like a cedar of Lebanon.
King Solomon used the cedar
timber to build the temple in Je
rusalem. The trees were floated
200 miles down the coast to Gaff
and hauled another 25 miles
across land to Jerusalem. It took
183,000 men seven years to build
this temple.
A walk through Rodef Shalom
Biblical Botanical Garden is a
connection to ancient times. The
tranquil setting brings the soul in
touch with the earth and the
many blessings God has bestow
ed upon us.
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