Shemitta at the Jerusalem Botanical Gardens

A few weeks ago, Alanna and I made the ~4 hour trek up north to Tel Aviv and Jerusalem to meet with our respective collaborators. In between these meetings, however, we had a chance to do a little bit of tourism, and found ourselves wandering the grounds of the beautiful Jerusalem Botanical Gardens.

The attendant who let us into the gardens suggested that we go "check out the dinosaurs," which was a little confusing to us, since we thought this was a garden, and not a museum.  While wandering around near the entrance, this was actually suggested to us several times.  It wasn't until we came across the following sign that this made a bit more sense:

After reading the sign, we looked around and noticed that large areas of the gardens appeared to be unattended and left fallow.  It turned out that we were visiting the gardens during Shemitta (or Shmita, literally Sabbatical Year), which is the seventh year of the seven year agricultural cycle outlined in the Torah for the Land of Israel.  During this time, certain agricultural practices, such as plowing, planting and harvesting, are forbidden on land owned by Jewish farmers.  Activities that sustain or protect the land from damage may be performed, however any actions designed to enhance or improve growth may not.  (For more information about this Jewish tradition, see this webpage.)

This also explained why there was a dinosaur exhibit set up on the grounds: large areas of the gardens were closed and left fallow, so they set up a separate attraction for the visitors.  It also explained why we had passed so many farms and greenhouses on the drive up that appeared to be closed and barren.

Thankfully, we were not about to let the year-long holiday stop us from fully exploring the Botanical Gardens the best we could, and despite the fact that parts of the garden were closed, we still found plenty of beautiful groves full of plants and flowers from all around the world, including many examples of plants mentioned in the bible that are important for Jewish and Christian cultures.  Check out some pictures of gardens below.

Grape vines growing on a gazebo, surrounded by fallow bread wheat fields. 

Alanna placing a note containing her promise of a good deed into a hanging capsule in the gazebo as a commitment to the ideals of the Shemitta year.

A small canal left to run dry during the seventh year.

Many beautiful plants and flowers flourish in the garden despite lacking the personal care and water they normally receive.