In ancient times, the Date Palm tree
was a vital resource for the inhabitants of Eretz Israel and it became a symbol
of success and prosperity. The Jews considered the date palm to be the perfect
tree and wished for themselves that "the righteous bloom like a date
palm" (Psalms 92:13).
The Talmudic midrash in Rabbah
Genesis 41:1 explains the preferential status of the date palm tree and details
the tree's good qualities: "As no part of the palm has any waste – the
dates being eaten, the branches used for Hallel, the twigs for covering, the
bast for ropes, the leaves for besoms and the planed boards for ceiling rooms –
so are there none worthless in Israel".
The three products mentioned in the
midrash that tie the date palm to the Sukkot festival are featured on the
stamps in this series, and the other three products appear on the stamp tabs.
Lulav and Dates
On the first day of the Sukkot
festival the Israelites were commanded to take the four species, as stated in
Leviticus 23:40 – "On the first day you shall take the product of the citron
trees, branches of palm trees, boughs of leafy trees and willows of the
brook". Tradition has conclusively identified the term "branches of
palm trees" as the lulav (frond) that grows at the top of the date palm
tree. The four species mitzvah includes blessing the lulav and the Talmud
explains (Sukka 27:2) that one specifically blesses the lulav because it is the
highest and most prominent of the four species.
The Rabbah Leviticus midrash 20:12
equates the four species to different groups within the Jewish people and notes
with regard to the palm frond that "it has flavor but no scent". The
"flavor" refers of course to the sweet taste of the date fruit, which
can be eaten as is or made into various other products. It is customary to identify
the honey that appears in the list of the seven species in Deuteronomy 8:7-8 as
honey that is derived from the date fruit.
Palm Fronds and Fibers
The leaves of the Date Palm were
called by various names in different biblical sources. For example: "palm
branches" (Leviticus 23:40 and "palms" (Nehemiah 8:15).
The midrash in Rabbah Genesis
emphasizes the use of palm branches as covering for the huts (sukkot) in which
the Israelites were commanded to dwell during the days of the Sukkot festival.
Strong fibers that were woven into
rope grow in the base of the palm fronds. These ropes were use to make baskets,
mats, etc. Talmud tractate Yevamot (102:72) mentions a "fiber sandal"
and so the stamp tab features a sandal woven from palm fibers dating from the
late Second Temple period that was found in archeological excavations conducted
in caves in the Judean Desert.
Roofed with Palm Frond Bases
The trunks of felled date palm trees
provided material for building houses and huts. The whole trunks served as
pillars and the worked beams were used as the base for the ceiling.
The palm frond bases, which are the
thin stems where the date fruit grows, were woven to create sieves for sorting
grains. The sieve shown on the stamp tab is from the Israelite Period (8th
century BCE) and was discovered in archeological excavations conducted at the
Kuntillet Ajrud site in the Sinai Desert.
